All Eyes on THE ROAD!

My friends in the US, please mark your calendars for May 11th!   Following a red-carpet premiere at the Arclight Hollywood, major US cinemas nationwide will open their doors to Yam Laranas’  THE ROAD, a psychological thriller with stunning cinematography and beautiful soundscaping parallel to an art form….

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4IVywGmjd8]

To find the theaters nearest you, please click on this US Theater Listing for THE ROAD.

Even more groundbreaking for this Filipino film, it will be out on iTunes (THE ROAD on Apple itunes) AND Netflix, Hulu, Reelz Channel, PS3, X-Box, YouTube On demand, Facebook, Amazon On demand, etc simultaneously on May 11th, 2012.

As The Road’s Costume Designer, wardrobe was crucial in character development, so the only costume design insights I can offer without giving away the movie is this….

The enchanting Ynna Asistio as Martha, the most beautiful labandera (laundress/laundry woman) in the world as seen here in these exclusive, behind-the-scene stills by Gari Buenavista….

A stark contrast to the rest of the other characters, Director Yam Laranas and I discussed how Martha’s character was a breath of fresh air.  Her introductory appearance would be akin to a ray of sunshine, butterflies and rainbows…

Although I had to maintain a muted color palette in sync with the mood of the movie, I was able to exaggerate her wardrobe with a finer sundress silhouette rather than your usual provincial duster.  Since these scenes were circa 1980’s, Martha’s costume changes consisted of the popular styles in the Philippines associated with that era.

I wanted the dress to have those 80’s off-shoulder features. If one or both naturally drops to the side, it just becomes unassumingly alluring.

Even dusky tones didn’t prevent Ynna from absolutely glowing…

Although, it is not realistic for labanderas to be as put-together as we portray Martha, overstatement was the key to connote “fresh as a summer’s day”….

I still had to “treat” all of the dresses to age it a bit and look worn and not as new and crisp, one of the biggest differences with costume designing  and fashion styling.  Another key thing for this type of movie and its story line, there needed to be discipline in making sure that the wardrobe would not stand out, but rather assimilated well with the character and the entire scene…

Award-winning production designer, Joey Luna (who has worked with Francis Ford Coppola and Wong Kar Wai) had live butterflies on the set for some of Martha’s scenes.  Of course all our fluttering friends were unharmed….

All butterfly shots by Gari Buenavista…

And they were friendly! My assistant, Aibel, and her new butterfly friend…

More of my exclusive behind-the-scenes COMING SOON!!!

Read more about The Road in the article that came out in the entertainment trade publication, Variety and receive updates and view some of the great international reviews in Official The Road page and Official THE ROAD website.

And in true American Idol form, “You’re going to Hollywood!!!”…