Piolo Pascual and Jasmine Curtis-Smith Take on Their Most Daring Roles Yet in "Real Life Fiction"

For the first time, Piolo Pascual and Jasmine Curtis-Smith pair up for Black Cap Pictures’ Real Life Fiction. This intense drama thriller takes the audience inside the mind of Paco (Piolo Pascual), an actor going through an existential crisis, and his relationship with actress Paula (Jasmine Curtis-Smith), his on-screen and off-screen lover. An actor past his prime, Paco questions everything he has accomplished, taking matters into his own hands. Real life and fiction overlap as Paula gets caught in the middle of it all.

At the press day of the movie, members of the media got a sneak peek of Real Life Fiction and had a chance to get up close and personal with the lead stars. Piolo and Jasmine candidly answered questions that reflected how the movie made an impact on them, how the pandemic challenged them and what the movie would bring to its audience.

Written and directed by Paul Soriano, Real Life Fiction was shot during the height of the pandemic. This, however, helped Piolo as he shared, “This happened at a time wherein the world was unsure of what’s going to happen in the future so when Paul [Soriano] pitched it to me, we were at a point in our lives we weren’t sure of what’s going to happen the next day or what would happen to us as humans. So, I kind of related to the character in such a way that I saw myself in Paco.”

The pandemic also added to the surreal feel that the movie gave as the characters are isolated from the world despite being in the metropolitan. 

Jasmine turned to method acting for her role, saying, “It’s just so easy for me to allow myself to become Paula, so close to reality and at the same time the lock-in, the proximity, everything, all the dynamics that allowed us to work into towards the material kind of did call for me to also just be Paula. ’Cause it wouldn’t work if we didn’t. You’d see a detachment.” 

An established actor, Piolo found it easy to say “yes” to the film. He said, “With the emergence of the streaming platforms, you get to choose roles that don’t have to be mainstream, such as this because you already have different markets that you can tap so it’s to our advantage.”

The movie, noticeably made in the English language, would likely also be welcomed by an international audience.

Piolo and Jasmine gave their characters complete authenticity as Paco and Paula’s intimate scene had the emotional weight to show how two people can lose themselves to each other. 

When asked if this was their most daring role to date, they both coyly answered, “Yes, it is.” Jasmine playfully added, “Hope you enjoy it.”

Piolo hopes the movie is able to deliver its message to its audience, saying, “It’s not abnormal to acknowledge and question your thoughts, but you also have to have a grasp of reality.”

He emphasizes the importance of having someone to talk to otherwise we tend to believe our own thoughts. He explained, “For me, as a character, nagkaroon siya ng blurred lines because he was so into his head, he was just in his own world. Even his girlfriend, hindi alam ang pinagdadaanan niya, because he made his life more complicated by choice. So, I guess this is a question of how you are going to deal with yourself. And where are you going to go from there?” 

Jasmine also gave her take from Paula’s view: “In any relationship, you should always know the fine line of your commitment to yourself and to your partner, the same way you commit to your job and to your real life. There is always that fine line of work commitments and self-commitment because you can tell yourself, ‘Oh I’m at work naman!’ This is separate but it does cross over to your personal life. So, you have to give yourself a boundary and only you can set that.” 

Produced by TEN17P, Viva Films, Spring Films, and distributed by Black Cap Pictures, Real Life Fiction opens on August 28 exclusively at SM Cinemas nationwide. Rated R16 by the MTRCB.

Text by Bambi Camus

Photos courtesy of Black Cap Pictures