We have our Cantonese actors!

To all of you who have been so helpful in our search for CHOP CHOP and MOON, thank you. We are happy to announce we have cast Cheng Sai Ho as CHOP CHOP and Ka Chun Tsoi as MOON. They will come to us from Hong Kong through casting director Zoe Thompson. That chain starts with our co-producer Mario Ontal calling Film Editor Jean Tsien who introduced us to Director Nick Chin who introduced Line Producer Chiu Wah (Lust, Caution) which led to Zoe and finally, to these good Cantonese actors.

To those of you who have made so many introductions, thank you. To those of you who took the time to audition, thank you very much. Maybe next time.

Warm regards, from the global village,
Maggie Renzi
Producer

Day 13 - Cast Diana Malahay, Razl May Fernandez, Ermie Concepcion, & Bodjie Pascua keep fit between scenes

Day 12 - The Director and his DP

John Sayles
Writer/Director/Editor

Lee Meily
Director of Photography

Day 11 - A stray bullet hits Esperanza

Day 10 - "They killed our coolies"

Day 9 - The morning after the fiesta

Day 8 - A False Alarm

Day 7 - The people of the baryo are rounded up

Day 6 - Rio Locsin as Corazon

Day 5 - Ronnie Lazaro as Simon

Day 4 - Plaza, San Isidro (our baryo)

Day 3 - It rained all day

War Anniversary

Joel Torre as Rafael













By coincidence, we started shooting on the 111th Anniversary of the outbreak of the Philippine-American War

Chris Cooper as Col. Hardacre

The shooting has started

This Is Not My Beautiful House

Those who've seen it marvel at the Baryo 'church' that sprang up in Toril in a matter of weeks. They don't realize, or may have forgotten, that it was built around a house that was already at the site.

The house is still there inside the church, minus the kitchen. Many thanks to the house owner, Mr. Diego 'Boboy' Paderog for letting us build our church. The other villagers have taken to calling him 'Father Boy'. They figure he'll make bishop by the end of the shoot.

A surprise in Antequera

Some of us got up early and went to the basket market which is held every Sunday morning in Antequera, north of Maribojoc.

We had a surprise when we stopped to buy fruit. Look past the overlit apples and you'll see Jessica Zafra's piece about John Sayles, with a picture of the director in his fleece vest. No vest necessary on THIS movie.

Jemi gets a haircut

Tita Cecile and her team go after Jemi Paretas, hair and beard. He had just arrived from Barcelona with a stop in Manila, here to play ZUNIGA, the opportunist. We are happy to have him.