Heart, Solenn, Bianca and Rhian talk about Sosy Problems

Q: What are your characters in the movie?

SOLENN: “Ako dito si Margaux, I am half-Filipina and half-French.  Wala na akong dad and my mom is married to a French ambassador.  Super super yaman kami.  Actually, wala naman akong masyadong problema except that lagi lang akong in competition with my bestfriend, Claudia (Heart Evangelista).  Bukod sa amin, yung mga mommies din namin are competiting with each other.”

RHIAN: “My character’s name is Lizzie, and she’s the richest in the group.  She’s very flashy; she’s never subtle.  She likes to flash her money around.  She’s also bossy.  Her problem is actually more of an internal problem.  Her friends and family just give up on her because she’s really a brat and she’s very annoying.  She finds herself by finally living a life of simplicity.  The funny part in it is that when you take someone who doesn’t know how to do what common people do and you put them in a situation where they have no choice, like Solenn in Survivor (laughs).”

BIANCA: “My character’s name is Danielle.  Yung pamilya ko dito ay naghihirap na kasi my dad who is a former politician hinuli na ng pulis dahil sa mga kasalanan niya.  Kahit naghihirap na yung family ko I still try to keep up with my “sosy” friends.   Aside from the whole family issue, my character is also the one who is looking for love but for the wrong reasons: I’m looking for somebody rich to fall in love with me to solve my family’s financial problems.  Mabait pa rin naman si Danielle kasi ang iniisip pa rin niya ay yung family niya.  But in the end, she realizes that love is not like that pala.”

Sosy Problems

Q: How similar or different is “Sosy Problems” from the real world of the socialites?

SOLENN: “The film is really a parody and an exaggeration of the real world of the socialites.  For sure may mga tao na ganun talaga but maybe they’re just like 10 or 20 percent of the total socialite population.  Wala naman sigurong tao na ganun talaga ka arte.  We can’t even name a real person we know as a peg for our characters.

BIANCA: “Sa case naman ng character ko, possible siyang mangyari in real life.  Kasi ako dito anak ng politician na corrupt at makukulong dahil sa ill-gotten wealth, and things like these happen in real life.”

RHIAN: “Pero the execution of it is really meant to be funny, it’s really meant to be a little outrageous than in real life.  You know, we made the movie to make people laugh.  It’s not naman like a documentary on sosy people.

            “I’m happy with the way the movie turned out.  Kasi feeling ko ang dami na kasing lumalabas na films pero puro pampaiyak.  I mean, bakit lagi nalang tayong nagpapaiyak.  Puwede naman tayong matawa na lang and have fun with people of all ages, everyone can get in.

            “Maiba naman.  Wala na yung mga ‘internal battles’ so to speak.  This movie is meant to make people happy.”

Q: You said the story of the movie is an “exaggeration” of the real sosy world, does this mean that the production budget for this movie is also “exaggeratedly high” (laughs)?  Anong pinaka-sosy in terms of production cost na dapat abangan ng mga moviegoers dito?

RHIAN: My helicopter is my favorite accessory.  It makes me look good (laughs).  I can skip traffic all the time.  Let’s just say that the amount invested in this film is the kind of amount that one would invest in a film with special effects, except that we didn’t have special effects.

SOLENN: Siguro, for me, ang pinakamahal was the helmet I wore in a scene where I arrived riding a Ducati (laughs).  Imagine yung character ko na medyo tatanga-tanga pero at least naka-Ducati (laughs).

BIANCA: Ako, nothing.  My character has nothing much except for my addition to Evian water (laughs).  Kasi diba wala na siyang pera kasi the banks sequestered all her family’s properties.  But even if wala na kaming pera, I still would brush my teeth and gargle ONLY with Evian Water.  There was a scene where I am seen opening a fridge full of Evian Water -- that’s my treasure!

Q: How do you think your movie will fare in the Metro Manila Film Festival?

RHIAN: I don’t really see the film fest as a competition.  I agreed to make this movie because I wanted to make people have the option to not cry and enjoy their holiday.  I want the people to have to option to see something that is light comedy and at the same time worth the while.

BIANCA: We are not really pressured because we’re confident naman that people will like our film.

RHIAN: I cannot imagine the scenes going better than how they were done.  I mean, from the script to the actual shoot, everything was really done with care and creativity.  Everyone did their best to make the movie funnier, more creative, more out-of-the-box than we thought it could be.

Q: How was it working together?

RHIAN: I’m so excited, happy and thankful for this newfound friendship that I have with these girls (Solenn, Heart and Bianca) to the point where my family and “lovelife” is making tampo because I am always with them.

BIANCA: Actually we’re together almost every day, kahit walang work we always find something to do together.  Kaya naman work didn’t feel like work on the set.

SOLENN: Yeah.  Kahit minsan ‘pag sinabi nilang ang call time is 5:00am, excited pa rin kami, sige na game! Ganun.

BIANCA: Kapag may downtime kami sa taping, all four of us are in somebody’s bed and we spend the whole time talking, eating and gossiping (laughs).

Q: Do you think you can sustain your newfound friendship after this movie?

SOLENN: For sure.  Even if we’re going to be busy with our individual projects, I think we will still going to find time to see and hangout with one another.

RHIAN: Well, we’re working on it right now (laughs).  We’re sustaining it.

BIANCA: We’re trying to come up with something to do together like run together or exercise together.  Pero work-wise, we really hope that we can work together again.

Q: What is it that you like the most about this movie?

RHIAN: This movie is packed with moral lessons and it shows in the end what really matters, what’s really important – and it’s not only the material things.

BIANCA: The heart of the story of this movie is really about people and relationships.  That regardless of the capriciousness of the material things we enjoy in life, in the end, what really matters most is what bonds us together as people – and this transcends age, sex or socio-economic class.

Q: How do you asses your 2012?

SOLENN:  The year was good.  I received a lot of blessings and I also worked hard.  I am very happy, I am very thankful for all the blessings, for the support of my family and friends and excited for the coming year.

RHIAN: It has been a big, crazy and rollercoaster ride this year for me and I started it off in a very different way from how it’s ending.  I feel the same as when I first entered showbiz, when I was fifteen and I did my first movie, saw my first billboard. The same things are happening to me again; I’m getting the same feeling.  I’m excited, I can’t leave when I’m at work kasi I wanna see what’s happening on the set.  When I see myself in something, it’s as if my heart skips a beat and I go, “I think I’m back.” I’m just really excited and I will not take anything for granted, never!

BIANCA: For me, I think 2012 is by far my most fulfilling year.  Kasi I have this checklist of my life, I set goals like what I want, what I want to do and how I’m going to get them, this year I checked almost all of them already:  I graduated from college this year, I have two really good shows – one in the afternoon, the other one in primetime, I played really nice roles, and then this movie.  Parang I feel like this is the year that closed one chapter of my life and now I’m about to open a new one, 2013, which has bigger goals and more exciting things, and that makes me so excited.

Note: Heart Evangelista, who is also one of the lead stars of the movie, was not available for the pocket interview because she was dubbing her dialogues in the film.