Die Beautiful

Die Beautiful
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Jun Robles Lana
Screenplay by	Rody Vera
Story by	Jun Robles Lana
Produced by	Jun Robles Lana Ferdinand Lapuz Perci M. Intalan
Starring	Paolo Ballesteros Christian Bables Joel Torre Gladys Reyes Luis Alandy Albie Casiño
Cinematography	Carlo Mendoza
Edited by	Benjamin Tolentino
Music by	Richard Gonzales
Production companies	Octobertrain Films The IdeaFirst Company
Distributed by	Regal Entertainment
Release dates	October 27, 2016 (2016-10-27) (TIFF) December 25, 2016 (2016-12-25) (MMFF)
Running time	120 minutes
Country	Philippines
Languages	Filipino English
Budget	₱15 million
Box office	₱98 million[1] (Official 2016 MMFF run) ₱110 million (Official Worldwide Run)

Die Beautiful is a Filipino LGBT comedy-drama film produced and directed by Jun Robles Lana and co-produced by Ferdinand Lapuz and Perci M. Intalan, from a story by Jun Lana and screenplay by Rody Vera. It stars Paolo Ballesteros as Trisha, a trans woman who suddenly died after she was crowned winner of a gay beauty pageant and her friends who transform her into a different person on each night of her wake in a different location as a way to avoid being buried as a man by her father. It also tackles her whole life when she felt and dealt with problems and successes on living as a Filipina transgender as well as controversy in her family.

The film had its premiere at the 29th Tokyo International Film Festival on October 27, 2016, in Tokyo, Japan^[2] and it became an official entry to the 2016 Metro Manila Film Festival.^[3]

Plot

Trisha Echevarria is a trans woman whose sexuality is greatly opposed by her father, causing her to leave their house and live with her best friend Barbs.

The film starts at Trisha's wake. She died after she was crowned as Binibining Gay Pilipinas. Everyday during her wake, Trisha transforms into a different female celebrity through Barbs' skills in putting makeup. When Trisha was alive, the two enjoyed doing makeup transformation together.

Iza Calzado, who crowned Trisha during her final pageant, visits the wake at the time when Trisha is wearing makeup that depicts her. During Trisha's transformation as Miley Cyrus, the funeral parlor owner Flora takes a selfie with her and uploads it online. The photo goes viral, inadvertently making Trisha's wake an attraction, much to Barbs' disapproval. Couturier Eugene Domingo also visits the wake and brings a white gown for Trisha to wear during her transformation as Julia Roberts from Runaway Bride.

Throughout the film, several flashbacks of Trisha's life are shown. During her teenage years, Trisha, then using the name Patrick, study in the same school with Barbs. Patrick has a crush on Migs, a basketball player, and goes out with him one night after Barbs' encouragement. There, he is gangraped by a drunk Migs and his friends, causing anal bleeding on Patrick. His father visits him on the hospital together with his sister Beth, and finds out about what happened. Enraged, Patrick's father slaps him.

Patrick's relationship with his father is further strained as Patrick begins entering gay beauty pageants in secret. This leads his father to disown him. As he leaves, Patrick announces his new identity: Trisha Echeverria.

Trisha stayed at Barbs' house, with Barbs' mother's approval. She adopts an orphaned child named Adora, giving her a new name as Shirley Mae. Jobless, Trisha and Barbs continued to enter different pageants. Trisha often loses during the question-and-answer portion of these pageants. She then gets breast implants, thinking that it will help her win pageants.

Trisha dates a young gay club dancer named Miko. She even pays for Miko's rhinoplasty, but soon learns that Miko is having an affair with a gay beauty parlor owner, ending their relationship.

Trisha meets Jesse at a bar. Although Jesse is married, they start dating. On their sixth monthsary, Jesse fails to arrive. A month after, Jesse's wife Diana invites Trisha to the hospital where Jesse was confined due to leukemia. Jesse tells Trisha about his condition and confesses that their meeting was not accidental. Jesse is urged by his conscience as he was part of the group who gangraped Trisha during their teenage years. Although he tells Trisha that he grew to love her, Trisha is left distraught by the revelation and promptly leaves.

Trisha joined Binibining Gay Pilipinas and picks a question she had encountered before. She delivers her memorized answer well: saying that if she dies and gets to live again, she would choose to be nobody but herself. At backstage, Trisha jokingly tells Barbs that if she won the pageant, she is ready to die. She further envisions her wake to have a makeover as different celebrities every day. Trisha finally wins but dies shortly of cerebral aneurysm.

In the morgue, Trisha's father and sister arrive. Her father orders to have Trisha's breast implants removed. Beth disagrees. Their father ends up having Trisha dressed in a barong Tagalog, a garment traditionally worn to a deceased male. Barbs, Paola, and Erica are disappointed at the sight of their friend and asks for Beth's help to sneak out Trisha's corpse and give her the burial she wished for.

In the last day of her wake, Barbs announces that the final makeover of Trisha is what she really is: the Trisha they knew who lived a glamorous life. The movie ends with Trisha's final walk message, showing a younger version of herself.

Other celebrity transformations of Trisha during her wake are Angelina Jolie, Lady Gaga, and Beyoncé.

Cast

Main cast

• Paolo Ballesteros as Trisha Echevarria / Patrick Villar^[4]
• Christian Bables as Bobby/Barbs Cordero

Supporting cast

• Joel Torre as Mr. Villar - Patrick's Papa
• Gladys Reyes as Beth Villar
• Luis Alandy as Jesse
• Albie Casiño as Migs
• Faye Alhambra as Adora/Shirley Mae
• Inah de Belen as teen Shirley Mae
• IC Mendoza as Paola
• Cedrick Juan as Erika
• Lou Veloso as Mama Flora
• Mimi Juareza as Mommy

Guest cast

• Iza Calzado as herself
• Eugene Domingo as Maumau Zaldriaga (famous couturier)
• Mel Martinez as gay parlor owner
• Jade Lopez as Diana
• Adrianna So
• Kokoy de Santos as Michael Angelo

Production

Die Beautiful is a film funded by Hong Kong – Asia Financing Forum and produced by Regal Entertainment, The IdeaFirst Company, and Octobertrain Films.^[5] The film was directed by Jun Robles Lana and produced by Lily Monteverde, Roselle Monteverde and Perci Intalan.^[3][6][7]

Release

Die Beautiful was selected in the Main Competition of the Tokyo International Film Festival, which ran from October 25, 2016, to November 3, 2016.^[8][9]

The film is an official entry to the 2016 Metro Manila Film Festival, and was screened at the 2017 Luang Prabang Film Festival.

Reception

At the awarding ceremony at the Tokyo International Film Festival which was held on November 3, 2016, at the Toho Cinemas in Roppongi Hills in Japan, Paolo Ballesteros was named the festival's Best Actor. The film also won the Audience Choice Award.^[10][11]

The jury was headed by French director Jean-Jacques Beineix, and included Hong Kong director Mabel Cheung, U.S. producer Nicole Rocklin, Italian actor Valerio Mastandrea and Japanese director Hideyuki Hirayama.

A total of 16 films, with Die Beautiful being the only one from the Philippines, were in competition.

Sequel

It was announced that a sequel was in production to be a 12-part spin-off television series to be aired on Cignal Play entitled Born Beautiful with Paolo Ballesteros reprising his role and Martin del Rosario picking up the role of Barbs which was originally portrayed by Christian Bables.^[12][13] Instead, the producers decided to make it into a full-length film with majority of the story focusing on Barbs.^[14]

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Recipient	Result
2016	29th Tokyo International Film Festival[15]	Audience Choice Award	Die Beautiful	Won
		Best Actor	Paolo Ballesteros	Won
	21st International Film Festival of Kerala[16]	Special Jury Award for Outstanding Performance		Won
	42nd Metro Manila Film Festival[17]	Best Picture	Die Beautiful	Nominated
		Best Director	Jun Lana	Nominated
		Best Actor	Paolo Ballesteros	Won
		Best Supporting Actor	Christian Bables	Won
		Best Supporting Actress	Gladys Reyes	Nominated
		Best Ensemble Cast	Die Beautiful	Nominated
		Best Screenplay	Rody Vera	Nominated
		Best Production Design	Angel Diesta	Nominated
		Best Float	Die Beautiful	Won
		MMFF My Most Favorite Film		Won
2017	Film Development Council of the Philippines[18]	Film Ambassadors Awardee	Paolo Ballesteros and Jun Lana	Won
	19th Gawad Pasado Awards[19]	Pinakapasadong Pelikula sa Kamalayang Pagkakapantay-pantay ng mga Kasarian	Die Beautiful	Won
		Natatanging Gawad Pasado para sa Taong 2016	Paolo Ballesteros	Won
	15th Gawad Tanglaw Awards[20]	Best Actor		Won
	Guild of Educators, Mentors and Students[21]			Won
	Gawad Bedista Awards 2017[22]	Actor of the Year (Film)		Won
	48th GMMSF Box-Office Entertainment Awards[23]	Global Achievement by a Filipino Artist (Tokyo Best Actor)		Won
	1st Eddys Awards (Entertainment Editors' Choice Awards for Movies)[24]	Best Actor		Won
		Best Editing	Die Beautiful	Won
		Best Production Design		Won
	40th Gawad Urian Awards [25]	Best Actor	Paolo Ballesteros	Won
		Best Supporting Actor	Christian Bables	Won
		Best Production Design	Angel Diesta	Nominated
		Best Editing	Benjamin Gonzales Tolentino	Nominated
	33rd PMPC Star Awards for Movies	Movie of the Year	Die Beautiful	Won
		Movie Director of the Year	Jun Lana	Won
		Movie Actor of the Year	Paolo Ballesteros	Nominated
		Movie Supporting Actor of the Year	Christian Bables	Nominated
		New Movie Actor of the Year		Nominated
		Movie Screenwriter of the Year	Rody Vera	Won
		Movie Cinematographer of the Year	Carlo Mendoza	Won
		Movie Production Designer of the Year	Angel Diesta	Nominated
		Movie Editor of the Year	Benjamin Tolentino	Won
		Movie Musical Scorer of the Year	Richard Gonzales	Nominated
		Movie Sound Engineer of the Year	Armand De Guzman and Lamberto Casas, Jr.	Nominated
2018	5th Paragala Central Luzon Media Awards[26]	Best Film	Die Beautiful	Won
		Best Actor	Paolo Ballesteros	Won

References

1. "MMFF 2016 Total Gross: 'Vince & Kath & James at PHP 125 million; 'Die Beautiful' at PHP 98 million". Movie Journals Ph. Retrieved January 8, 2017.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
2. "Paolo Ballesteros' Angelina Jolie Transformation In Tokyo Filmfest Red Carpet". International Business Times PH. October 27, 2016. Archived from the original on January 15, 2017. Retrieved November 4, 2016.
3. Calderon, Ricky (August 8, 2016). "Paolo Ballesteros stars in 2 upcoming films". philstar.com. The Philippine Star. The Freeman. Retrieved August 23, 2016.
4. Acar, Aedrianne (July 12, 2016). "IN PHOTOS: Paolo Ballesteros as a transwoman in 'Die Beautiful'". GMA Network Portal. GMA Network. Retrieved August 23, 2016.
5. Dabu, Bianca Rose (March 2, 2015). "Paolo Ballesteros to star as transgender woman in indie film". GMA News Online. GMA Network, Inc. GMA News. Retrieved August 23, 2016.
6. "LOOK: Paolo Ballesteros bares 'boobs' for upcoming film". inquirer.net. Philippine Daily Inquirer. July 5, 2016. Retrieved August 23, 2016.
7. Gabinete, Jojo (June 29, 2016). "Paolo Ballesteros bares prosthetic boobs for Die Beautiful". pep.ph. Philippine Entertainment Portal. Retrieved August 23, 2016.
8. "PH film 'Die Beautiful' to compete in Tokyo Film Festival". Rappler. Retrieved October 27, 2016.
9. Sallan, Edwin P. "Jun Lana's 'Die Beautiful' premieres at Tokyo International Film Festival". InterAksyon.com. Archived from the original on January 15, 2017. Retrieved October 27, 2016.
10. "Paolo Ballesteros wins Best Actor at Tokyo film fest". ABS-CBN News. Retrieved November 4, 2016.
11. "Paolo Ballesteros wins Best Actor at Tokyo film fest, accepts award as 'Julia Roberts'". Rappler. Retrieved November 4, 2016.
12. "'Born Beautiful' on CignalTV". Retrieved November 17, 2017.
13. "Martin del Rosario tells Christian Bables: "Itutuloy ko lang ang laban mo."". Retrieved November 17, 2017.
14. Aldana, Ida (September 27, 2018). "The Sequel to Die Beautiful Is Almost Here". spot.ph. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
15. "Paolo Ballesteros wins Best Actor in Tokyo International Film Festival". gmanetwork.com. GMA News Online. November 3, 2016. Retrieved December 30, 2016.
16. "Paolo Ballesteros wins another int'l award for 'Die Beautiful'". inquirer.net. Philippine Daily Inquirer. December 19, 2016. Retrieved December 29, 2016.
17. "MMFF 2016 winners revealed: Paolo Ballesteros, Irma Adlawan named Best Actor and Best Actress". pep.ph. Philippine Entertainment Portal. December 29, 2016. Retrieved December 29, 2016.
18. "FDCP honors film ambassadors". bworldonline.com. BusinessWorld. Archived from the original on November 15, 2017. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
19. "Your Guide To 19th Gawad Pasado". www.psr.ph. PSR. Retrieved March 21, 2017.
20. "Charo Santos, Jaclyn Jose,Paolo Ballesteros at Allen Dizon, big winners at the 15thGawad Tanglaw". push.abs-cbn.com. ABS-CBN Corporation. Retrieved February 9, 2017.
21. "Paolo nakatanggap ng 4 bagong award para sa 'Die Beautiful'". bandera.inquirer.net. Bandera. Retrieved February 7, 2017.
22. "Paolo recently won the Actor of the Year award in the Gawad Bedista". gmanetwork.com. GMA Network. Retrieved February 23, 2017.
23. Aquino, Anne Charmaine (April 23, 2017). "Kapuso program and stars, wagi sa 48th Box Office Entertainment Awards". GMA Network, Inc. Retrieved April 25, 2017.
24. Policarpio, Allan (July 12, 2017). "Vilma, Paolo top entertainment editors' choices". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Retrieved July 19, 2017.
25. Rappler (July 20, 2017). "FULL LIST: Winners, Gawad Urian Awards 2017". Rappler. Retrieved July 21, 2017.
26. "Mga Kapuso, wagi sa 5th Holy Angel University Paragala Central Luzon Media Awards". GMA News. March 12, 2018. Retrieved March 13, 2018.

External links

• Die Beautiful at IMDb