MARIFE Necesito, who landed an important role in “Mammoth,” which stars Academy and Golden Globe Award nominee, Michelle Williams, and acclaimed actor Gael Garcia Bernal, shared with us the link to the trailer of her international film (posted on the bottom of this blog). “Mammoth” is the first English-language film of Swedish writer-director Lukas Moodysson.
As we reported earlier, in “Mammoth,” Marife plays Gloria, a mother of two sons who leaves the Philippines to work as the nanny of the daughter (Sophie Nyweide) of a successful New York couple, played by Gael and Michelle. When Gael’s businessman character goes to Thailand, he realizes that he wants to change his life. This development sets off a dramatic chain of events that impact the characters of Marife, Michelle and Sophie.
Marife informed us that she filmed her scenes in New York, Sweden and the Philippines, specifically in Subic and Bataan. The trailer of the film prominently features Marife, including an emotional scene where she speaks in Tagalog to her two sons on the phone. The two sons are also shown on a beach in the Philippines, as shot by Lukas’ cinematographer, Marcel Zyskind, whose credits include Angelina Jolie’s “A Mighty Heart.”
Marife shared that she had to dub a few of her lines in a dubbing studio in Makati. She also told us via e-mail that in anticipation of the film’s release early next year, she is doing phone interviews with the Swedish press, as arranged by Memfis Film, one of the production companies involved in the making of “Mammoth.”
The Filipina actress added that Lukas is still making final editing work on “Mammoth.” Lukas is the highly praised filmmaker of films like “Lilja 4-ever,” “Show Me Love” and “Together.” Lukas, who made the final decision to pick Marife for the part, was hailed by his esteemed compatriot, the late Ingmar Bergman, as a “young master.”
Marife said she enjoyed working with Michelle, whose credits include Ang Lee’s “Brokeback Mountain,” and Gael, the Mexican thespian who’s enjoying a sterling international career with such films as “Babel,” “The Motorcycle Diaries” and “Amores Perros.”
Here’s the link to the trailer.
January 19th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
well, its not a big a deal whether a filipina is portrayed as a whatever. for as long as she can portray the role in a remarkable way, then why not.
January 19th, 2009 at 1:11 am
correction: *filipinos portrayed as housemaids.
January 19th, 2009 at 1:08 am
what’s wrong with filipinos portrayed as a housemaid? it’s a decent job. it’s one of the many things we filipinos are capable of. are you a domineering class A citizen or just plain stupid?
January 18th, 2009 at 5:24 am
Maid again,im sure they sh0t the film in the depress areas in the phils,sayang lng gnagastos ntn para sa advertisement na mganda ang pilipnas para mggrow tourism kc pg my m0vies gngawa dto puro squatter at khrapan pnpakita.Wlang mgnda!
January 16th, 2009 at 8:32 pm
ano naman masama sa pagiging housemaid?