KASAMA si Daniel Padilla sa original cast ng Marawi movie titled Children of the Lake. Ngunit nitong nakaraang linggo, nang ihayag na ng producer na Spring Films ang ilan sa cast members ng pelikula ay out na si Daniel.

Nitong July 21, sa storycon ng nasabing pelikula ay inihayag ni Direk Joyce Bernal na pinalitan na si Daniel ng isang baguhang aktor.

‘Supposed to be, meron siyang (Daniel) gagawin, pero ‘yung Ground Zero po kasi, ipa-flatten na po ‘yun. ‘Pag hinintay po namin siya, baka zero na talaga ‘yung Ground Zero, kaya mahihirapan kami sa part na ‘yun.

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“Pero alam namin, kaisa namin ng puso si Daniel Padilla, kasi napag-usapan namin ‘yan ni Piolo (Pascual) at Robin (Padilla) na ginagawa namin ‘to. Alam po niya ‘yun, pero hindi namin siya mahihintay for that.”

Isa pa, busy si Daniel sa ginagawa nilang movie ni Kathryn Bernardo titled The Hows of Us.

Sino ang newcomer actor na humalili kay Daniel sa Children of the Lake?

“Si Marc Felix po ‘yung nag-replace kay Daniel,” sey ni Direk Joyce, sinabing nag-audition ang aktor para sa role.

Children of the Lake is directed by Sheron Dayoc, who helmed the Gawad Urian-winning movie Women of the Weeping River (2016).

Direk Sheron summed up the story by saying, “It’s an intertwined story of Basoy. We basically follow their journey. Basoy is trying to survive the war.”

He also said that the movie revolves around soldiers who are “trying to clear the ISIS out of Marawi and save as many hostages as possible.”

Matatandaang nawasak ang siyudad sa limang-buwan bakbakan ng puwersa ng militar at pulisya laban sa Maute-ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) noong nakaraang taon.

“War is not about who’s right or wrong. It’s about who’s left,” sabi ni Direk Sheron.

As for the timeline of the movie, sinabi ni Direk Joyce: “Ang start po ng pelikula namin ay Day 46 of the Marawi siege, that’s the first act. Second act is Day 70 then third act is Day 100. Medyo nasa ratratan po.

“Lahat sila (cast) ay nasa training na sila at linguistic training, kasi may Tausug, Maranao, Bisaya. ‘Yun po ang training ng mga hostages at cast.

“Ang target playdate po nito ay second anniversary ng Marawi Siege next year or baka Independence Day,” sabi pa ni Direk Joyce. “One hundred percent of the film will be filmed in Marawi.’

Jasmine Curtis Smith is cast as one of the hostages of this movie, which is co-produced by Direk Joyce and Piolo, among others.Mismong si Piolo ay umamin na muntik na siyang umayaw sa pagganap sa Children of the Lake dahil sa kanyang hectic schedule.

“I was just in as one of the producers but when Direk Sheron asked me to be one of the cast members, I initially tried to bail because I was working on a soap [Since I Found You] and doing a lot of things.

“Then suddenly my schedule opened up, ending the show. And I said, I couldn’t commit. I’m committed as a producer but as an actor, I’m under contract.

“Good thing, when I presented this to ABS-CBN, we didn’t have a hard time with Sir Carlo [Katigbak, president and CEO of ABS-CBN].”

Nag-share ang Instagram account ng Spring Films ng group shot ng mga gaganap sa Children of the Lake.

Saad sa caption: “Spring Films proudly presents An Advocacy Film entitled, ‘Children of The Lake’ to be directed by Sheron Dayoc, starring Robin Padilla, Mylene Dizon, and Piolo Pascual, with Jasmine Curtis-Smith, Sid Lucero, Ronnie Quizon, Mark Anthony Celebrado, Marc Felix, Jess Mendoza, Mariam Zimadar and Ronnie Lazaro.”