“AMO” will premiere on September 20, 2017 on TV5. It is a television series directed by Cannes Film Festival 2009 Best Director Brillante Mendoza, a native of San Fernando, Pampanga, Philippines.
Led by Derek Ramsay, the cast of the upcoming series is packed with some of the Philippines’ most promising stars today. Among them is actor-mixed martial artist Francisco Manabat Perestelo De Matos, who is professionally known as Kiko Matos.
Another interesting addition to the “AMO” cast is Baron Geisler, who was entangled with controversies with Matos in 2016. There are still no details whether or not the two will be in the same scene in the upcoming TV series.
The roles played by Matos and Geisler in “AMO” are still under wraps, as well. The exclusive photos released by The Web Magazine, however, appear to reveal that Matos is playing a cop while Geisler is playing a prisoner.
This serves as a reunion for Geisler and Mendoza. In 2013, the actor starred in the director’s horror film “Sapi” opposite Meryll Soriano and Dennis Trillo.
In 2016, Geisler played one of the cops in “Ma’ Rosa,” Mendoza’s fourth entry to the Cannes Film Festival. Among Geisler’s co-stars in the award-winning film are Julio Diaz, Andy Eigenmann, Felix Roco, Jomari Angeles, Mon Confiado, Mark Anthony Fernandez, Neil Ryan Sese, Vince Rillon, Mercedes Cabral and Cannes Film Festival 2016 Best Actress Jaclyn Jose.
Ramsay, Roco, Rillon and Allen Dizon play the main characters in “AMO.” Joining Geisler and Matos as guest actors are Angela Cortez, Alvin Anson and Mark Dionisio along with real-life cops Mister International 2014 Neil Perez and Gwapulis 2016 grand winner Willy Quinto.
Matos, Roco and Cortez co-starred in the film “Partee” in 2015. Directed by Jill Singson Urdaneta, the film was about illegal party drugs.
“AMO” is Matos’s first project with Mendoza. In 2016, Matos starred in “Kabisera” with Nora Aunor, the lead actress in Mendoza’s 2015 Cannes Film Festival entry titled “Taklub.”
Also in 2016, Matos starred in “Higanti” with Ruby Ruiz, who has played several characters in Mendoza’s films. In “Ma’ Rosa,” Ruiz played Elvie, one of the neighbors of the title character played by Jose.
Inspired by true events, “AMO” is written by Gawad Urian 2017 nominee Troy Espiritu. The series with 12 episodes tackles the issue on the illegal drug trade in the Philippines, which Mendoza discussed in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
“The challenge is that children will be watching, so we have to be careful what we include,” Mendoza told the publication. Among the things included in the story are “the police, corrupt officials, the people ordering killings and those who are getting protected,” according to the director.
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