Mikhail Red was 21 when he made his first feature film, Rekorder. Itwas about a drifter who pirated movies, a film that was enamored with the behavioral effects of the overconsumption of technology and violence. The movie was screened at the Cinemalaya Film Festival before making rounds internationally, where Red won Best Director at the Vancouver International Film Festival and the Gwangju International Film Festival.
Seven years later, Red has signed with a Hollywood talent agency, has a miniseries brewing for HBO Asia, and is the first Filipino to produce a film for Netflix now streaming worldwide.
PHOTO: Artu Nepomuceno
Post a Comment
Shirt by Carolina Herrera
Smuggling Subtext in Different Genres
Yet up until the day we were set to meet, I had admitted to him: “I have to be honest, I just watched three of your movies back-to-back last night, for almost six hours straight.” He sat across me inside a barren photo studio, his demeanor serious and inhibited, his eyebrows furrowing with curiosity. “Which ones?” he asked.
My first impression of Red was how quiet he can be. So soft-spoken, generally expressionless, and unhurried with his movement. It’s hard to imagine this 20-something commanding a film crew to organize themselves and steering massive productions to yield notable filmography.
But the wunderkind, born a '90s baby, is a force to be reckoned with. Red’s second feature film Birdshot, a police chase with a young farm girl who kills an endangered Philippine eagle, was selected as the Filipino entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards. After that, Red worked on Eerie, a full-blown horror film starring industry mavens Bea Alonzo and Charo Santos-Concio.
ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOW
He went back to the local festival circuit with his noir thriller Neomanila, then shot a zombie blockbuster Block Z with Joshua Garcia and Julia Barretto. His first movie for Netflix, Dead Kids, is a black comedy inspired by a newspaper headline: A group of privileged college kids in Manila stage a ransom of one of their classmates. Dead Kids is hilarious, and Red admits it was his first attempt at comedy.
“So you can see they’re all different,” he says as we run through his filmography, jumping from one genre to another (binge-watching them all together is quite the experience). But the interesting thing is how he manages to strike all the right chords. The horror is scary. The comedy is funny. The subtexts he suggests about society are painfully accurate, and the films are always mostly well done. He skips genres so effortlessly. In fact, his dream directorial role in the future is Star Wars.
CONTINUE READING BELOW
watch now
“The way I see it, I still feel like I’m a student of cinema, I still feel like I’m learning. So while it’s still early in my career, I like exploring and trying new things,” says Red of not having yet settled on a signature style a la Wes Anderson. “Maybe eventually I can settle on a certain niche, but right now I’m enjoying the challenge. I like showing my versatility as well.”
If there’s anything that ties his films together, it’s that the protagonists are always morally ambiguous—good people getting into trouble with the law. “And maybe the trademark there is that, even though I change genres, I’m always trying to smuggle subtext, but using genre as the vehicle,” says Red.
PHOTO: Artu Nepomuceno
Post a Comment
Jacket by MSGM, Distinqt
Mastering the New Order of Filmmaking
After Rekorder, Red had earned lauds from global programmers and audiences. But he came home to Manila only to realize that he had just made an internationally acclaimed film that couldn’t even get a theatrical run in his country.
“It was the sort of film that was appreciated outside the country but didn’t really pay well. So at that time, I was questioning myself, ‘Where is this going?’ ‘Is this just going to be like an expensive hobby?’ I mean, it was satisfying as an artist to get the story of Rekorder out of my chest, to put that pent up angst into this film that no one asked for. But then I started to question, ‘How do I sustain myself just by making film?’”
ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOW
So that by the time he was ready to make Birdshot, he worked smarter. Not only was Red experimenting with genre and tone, but he was also working around different distribution models, adjusting his work and what the project required to the available business models.
We run through his filmography again, except this time he’s completely switched off his director mode and put on the producer’s hat, highlighting his entrepreneurial chops.
“Birdshot was all pitching and soft money, that took two years to make. Neomanila was a local grant. Eerie is a studio co-production: 50 percent of the financing came from a Singaporean company that invested and 50 percent was from Star Cinema. Dead Kids was straight to video-on-demand commissioned work, so that was something totally new. Block Z is total studio work, so it was financed and greenlit by them.”
It’s impressive actually, the kind of self-awareness that he carries, entirely woke to the reality of what it takes to make it big, or make it at all, in the film industry—one that can be very unsparing. “I’m very lucky that I got to do both more arthouse festival circuit films and studio movies. But I always wanted to move out of my comfort zone. I like exploring genres. I also like exploring distribution models. So I alternate between doing my own personal, you’d say, outré works, and then I also do studio work because it’s a different challenge.”
Breaking into Hollywood
Growing up, Red admits he was always entranced by the Hollywood hits, gorging on the usual suspects, Spielberg or Kubrick, all while his father, Raymond Red, a pioneer of independent Filipino cinema and the first Filipino to win a Palme d’Or in Cannes, brought home a German expressionist movie like Metropolis or those by Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa. Naturally, the younger Red, later on, found his own exploration into cinema and began storytelling first as a writer before ever delving into the visual medium.
PHOTO: Artu Nepomuceno
Post a Comment
Jacket by Carolina Herrera
Late last year, Red went to L.A. to put his name out to the bigwigs of Hollywood, to the production houses that made the very films he would watch as a kid. He visited Paramount Pictures, Columbia, Sony, and A24. He was able to visit Scott Free productions, where he politely asked if he could take along his dad—a big fan of Blade Runner. “Too bad Ridley [Scott] was shooting in Europe, but usually he’s there every morning,” says Red casually of one of the most reputable filmmakers in Hollywood. “So we sat at his table, and we had the meeting there.” He jokes his dad almost cried.
ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOW
This year, it was announced that Red signed with Paradigm Talent Agency, the same group that represented the directors of movies like Saw, Insidious, and The Conjuring. “I’m happy that someone saw my films and believed that I have what it takes to work there,” says Red of the opportunity. “I’m starting to learn that the process there is different. They send me scripts, and then eventually if I zero in on something I want, they’re going to campaign for it,” he shares. “Now I’m reading scripts. So when I finally pick a script that I think I can do, that I won’t screw up (laughs), then eventually we’ll land a project.”
Working With Chill Millenials
For early morning shoots, Red plays Wagner’s “Ride of the Valkyries,” and imagines himself and his film crew like the fleet flying in the helicopter of the movie Apocalypse Now. The score boasts a crescendo of notes, which are overly dramatic enough to get pumped for a long day of work.
PHOTO: Artu Nepomuceno
Post a Comment
Suit and tie, Carolina Herrera
He says his filmmaking style is probably very similar to his father’s. “We are both very introverted and meek. We’re very chill on set, and we never had that old-school director, uhm, megaphone vibe,” says Red, referring to the classic trope of the terror film director with a high temper and an occasional tantrum. “He taught me how to make a good film without screaming at anyone. Maybe it’s in our personality that we don’t get mad, we’re just chill. Sayang energy. We can always find a way and work around the problem.”
It helps, too, he says, that he works with a predominantly “millennial” crew, and many of his creative collaborators are family: He co-writes with his brother and cousin and his production designer is his uncle.
ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOW
Storytelling in the Post-Pandemic World
Right now, with his HBO Asia miniseries Halfworlds halted mid-way in production due to the global pandemic, Red is isolated in his home playing lots of Destiny 2 and Diablo 3. He ruminates over the effects of COVID-19 on the film industry, saying that it’s definitely shaken things up, even for people in Hollywood. “Timetables for everyone would have shifted so people in the film and entertainment industry need to regroup and re-cluster,” he comments.
Imagining an entertainment industry post-coronavirus, he says, “Theater chains will be hit the most because of social distancing, resulting in a big shift to streaming. Most films are now rush-releasing on online platforms.
PHOTO: Artu Nepomuceno
Post a Comment
“Filmmakers and writers will have to adapt their stories. This pandemic is a significant world event and contemporary stories that do not acknowledge it will feel dated. Also, most story conflicts will easily be outclassed by the gravity of reality. We might see a rise in fictional world-building, fantasy, period films, futuristic or post-apocalyptic films.
“Production protocols will also change—so we will probably see a lot of small scale studio shoots with less people on set or isolated lock-in rural shoots.”
Fortunately for Red, his two upcoming projects Arisaka, a revenge western, and the prequel horror film, Eerie Zero, fit the model of smaller productions.
The young filmmaker did not waste any time, starting his deep dive into this art at 16 and making movies until he made it to the big screens. But despite all the accolades, and in light of everything that is going on now, Red ponders, “I think all of this has reminded me of the saying ‘The biggest mistake we make in life is thinking we have enough time.’ This whole pandemic blindsided us, but now we get the opportunity to reframe our lives and pursue what truly matters to us.”
ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOW
In this story: Produced by Paolo Chua and Roland Mae Tanglao • Photographs by Artu Nepomuceno • Styling by Paolo Chua • Interview by Kara Ortiga • Makeup by Joan Teotico • Hair by JA Feliciano • Cover design by Warren Espejo
We use cookies to ensure you get the best experience on Esquiremag.ph. By continued use, you agree to our privacy policy and accept our use of such cookies. Find out more here.
