Dig into the journey of The Ideafirst Company's BL series to phenomenal success and what its lead stars Kokoy De Santos and Elijah Canlas hope for their characters to attain.
In our previous interview with Raymund Isaac and Perci Intalan, we talked about the recent promotional posters of the upcoming Gameboys film sequel and their insights on the BL show's lead stars Kokoy De Santos and Elijah Canlas. One topic that arose in the conversation was the actors' patience and humility in being part of a project shot at the height of the health crisis. Like other businesses, The Ideafirst Company had to be creative in producing a show, hence doing it remotely and online. They could have done it with a story set in a perfect world where COVID-19 never happened but Intalan and the team behind the show were adamant about using it as one of the series' main storylines.
"There was a school of thought that we were going against," Intalan said, sharing that some producers and television executives advised them that no one would watch a show about the pandemic while we are in one. "We felt it's important to be an educational platform as well about the situation. We have people who don't know about the importance of wearing protective face masks, or how real the danger is for a member of your family to fall sick and pass away. And then there's also the psychological impact of being isolated from your friends, what more for those who are clinically diagnosed with anxiety or depression? We thought that there's not enough content that sheds light on it."
Despite the pandemic being intentionally written as an important part of Gameboys’ arc, Intalan said that they still started the story with two boys who meet online and gradually form a deep bond. Slowly, reality creeps into them and affects their lives every day. "In the face of all this, you can still find love," Intalan said. And truly, Cairo and Gavreel did.
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The upcoming sequel picks up on where the show left off: Cairo and Gavreel are now living together temporarily, a setup their families agreed to. But there's that catch again: the realities of life.
"Sometimes it does not mean that you're physically next to each other, there's no distance anymore," Intalan said, hinting at new conflicts to look forward to in the film and its series counterpart. "It comes with its dynamics and challenges."
Isaac, during the interview, also shared his inkling as to where the show is going. He said that they are at that point in a relationship where there are personal boundaries to be set. "This discovery of being in one's space, it's different from season one because they were in cyberspace," he said.
Another element of the show Intalan emphasised is the fact that in season one, Cairo and Gavreel were in a bubble. Only their closest friends and family know of their relationship. But now as they come out to the world, we encounter a new character, Tita Susan, who we see in the trailer passing judgment towards the two while they are temporarily living together in what seemed like a house resort near the beach.
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