Director Jun Lana optimistic My Neighbor’s Wife will pass MTRCB

DIRECTOR JUN LANA is noted for the horror films he did with Regal, like “Kulam” and “Tarot”. He now gets to direct his first serious drama, “My Neighbor’s Wife”, which is about infidelity. “I based it on the real life story of couples who are also friends,” he says. “Dennis Trillo and Jake Cuenca here are good friends. Jake is rich and married to Carla Abellana. Dennis is struggling and married to Lovi Poe, who’s ambitious. They’re neighbors in the same condominium, which is owned by Jake, who’s a playboy. One night, nagkalasingan sila ni Lovi and something happened. Tinigil nila agad but somehow, Carla learns about it. Then Dennis also learns about it at sa kanila naman ni Carla may nangyari.”

Isn’t he worried the film might have problems with the MTRCB? “Sana hindi. The love scenes here are graphic, meron sa banyo, sa sahig, sa kusina, sa mesa, but they’re all needed in the story. Based on recent films, like ‘Ligo na U, Lapit na Me’ that has breast exposure but approved without cuts, I’m confident we’ll also get an R13. Kung hindi, sayang naman ang pinaghirapan ng mga artista namin dito kasi lahat sila magagaling.”

Is it true he almost left GMA-7 to move to TV5? “Yes, nag-resign na ko, but GMA stopped me. I felt kasi there was no growth for me, but they made me creative director in charge of the entire drama group. We also put up a school, a writing institute to help train new writers for free. Nakaka-3 batches na kami.”