OGIE DIAZ PRODUCES FAMILY FILM WITH ZANJOE MARUDO IN THE LEAD

After his debut as a film producer in 2011 in Sidney Pascua's "Dyagwar: Havey o Waley," with Eric Fructuoso and Boom Labrusca, followed by Benedict Mique's comedy romance, "Two Love You" (2019), actor-comedian-talent manager Ogie Diaz decided to bankroll another film, this time close to his heart.

- By LEAH C. SALTERIO

Under OgieD Productions, the family drama, "How To Get Away From My Toxic Family," carries the story and concept by Ogie. He has been planning the film since last year.

Writer is John Bedia, director is Lawrence Fajardo, line producer is Ethel Espiritu, Kate Valenzuela and Dindo Camara are from KreativDen, the co-producer of the film.

"Our first choice is Z," shared Ogie, who fondly calls his lead actor Zanjoe Marudo, Z. "Pag hindi pumayag si Z, wala kaming second choice kung sino ang susunod na pipiliin nagaganap sa role. (If Z didn't say yes, we had no second choice for who would take on the role.)"

"If Z agreed, that's when we would hold auditions for his siblings, because they needed to look like him. If you notice, there's no mestizo because he's moreno.

"That's why even the mother, Susan Africa, looks like him. So we laid everything out for Z."

The project was offered to Zanjoe in November last year, following his last big screen project in 2022, director Richard Somes' romance drama, "Ikaw Lang ang Minahal."

Then he decided to get married to Ria Atayde and they started a family.

"My last project was more than one year ago," Zanjoe offered. "I took a break. Of all the projects that were offered to me, this was really one of those I liked."

He continued, "Ito ang pagbabalik ko sa pag-arte dahil nakita ko yung pagkatotoo ng storya. (This is my return to acting because I saw how realistic the story was.) It feels good to play a character that's simple — about a family, just at home. There are no big scenes. It's just the kind of discussions that happen in real life."