SOMEONE'S AFTER REBEL WILSON'S FAT AMY IN “PITCH PERFECT 3”

Rebel Wilson reprises her lovable Fat Amy role in Universal Pictures' Pitch Perfect 3, the next chapter in the beloved series opening in Philippine cinemas on Monday, January 8.

In Pitch Perfect 3, after the highs of winning the World Championships, the Bellas find themselves split apart and discovering there aren’t job prospects for making music with your mouth. But when they get the chance to reunite for an overseas USO tour, this group of awesome nerds will come together to make some music, and some questionable decisions, one last time.

Director Trish Sie catches us up on where Fat Amy has landed after college graduation: “Fat Amy has her own one-woman show she's trying to get off Broadway. So she's off of Times Square with her street performer set-up-complete with hecklers and hot-dog men interrupting her every day."

Wilson appreciated that the audience gets to learn so much about Fat Amy in this chapter. Always enigmatic, the character reveals more to her fellow Bellas than they ever dreamed possible (or true). "You find out a lot more about Fat Amy in this movie, which is cool," adds Wilson. "At the start of the film, she is trying to make it on Broadway. She's put together a little show called Fat Amy Winehouse, which is an amazing and hilarious one-woman show that she's performing on the street. But she keeps getting contacted by someone very mysterious..."

That mystery is embodied by award-winning actor John Lithgow, who portrays Fergus, Fat Amy's very sketchy father.


Producer Max Handelman gives us a bit of backstory: "Fat Amy ran away from her gangster father in Australia seven years ago, and she turned up at Barden University to escape him. He's a bad guy, so she tried to reinvent herself as Fat Amy, as opposed to her original name of Patricia. Now that she's left the States, he's tracked her down, and is trying to reconcile with her. Originally, seemingly in a positive way, but then his ulterior motives get revealed."


"If we're going to be moving forward in these girls' lives, we'd also need to deal with the past and have them resolve some of their own issues. I was always intrigued by the fact that we do not know anything about Fat Amy," shares Sie. "We've met Beca's dad. We've heard Aubrey talk about her father, but we don't know who Fat Amy is or why she came from Tasmania and landed at Barden.

Wilson gives us a glimpse into what to expect from Fergus: "You find out that her dad has tracked her down. He wasn't allowed in America because he's done some dodgy things, but when the girls go to Europe he's able to track Fat Amy down and meet for the first time in seven years."


When it came to her co-star, the performer echoes the lauds of her director. "I cannot talk highly enough about him," raves Wilson. "First of all when they told me your dad's going to be John Lithgow, I thought, 'He's crushed movies, TV, Broadway, and I grew up watching him on television.' To have him be my dad and for him to also learn the Australian accent in three days was incredible."


Pitch Perfect 3 stars Anna Kendrick, Rebel Wilson, Hailee Steinfeld, Brittany Snow, Anna Camp, Alexis Knapp, Hana Mae Lee, Ester Dean, Chrissie Fit, Kelley Jakle, Shelley Regner, John Lithgow, John Michael Higgins and Elizabeth Banks.


Pitch Perfect 3 is distributed in the Philippines by United International Pictures through Columbia Pictures.

"How To Be Single" and loving it

Single in New York City?  Or London, L.A., Munich, Miami, or anywhere in between?  These days, in cities big and small, there’s a nightlife rife with girls’ nights out, singles’ bars, online dating and one-night stands arranged on apps—no romance required.  Today’s singles aren’t necessarily looking for Ms. or Mr. Right, or drowning their sorrows in their lonely bachelor/ette pads.  “How to Be Single” is an all-out comedy that shows how they’re all out there making the most of the single lifestyle, in the most outrageous ways imaginable.

The film’s director, Christian Ditter, states, “I wanted to make a really modern and fresh take on the comedy genre as it deals with partying, having fun, dating—a snapshot of what it really means to be single today.  A lot of movies that deal with men and women and dating are about finding the right one, but this is not that; it’s about embracing the most fun and free time of life while you’re also finding your place in the world, finding friends, finding out what you want to do with your life.”

Led by an ensemble cast that includes some of today’s hottest comedic actresses, including Dakota Johnson, Rebel Wilson, Alison Brie and Leslie Mann, and such rising comedy stars as Damon Wayans Jr., Anders Holm, Nicholas Braun, Jake Lacy, Jason Mantzoukas and Colin Jost, the film follows a host of singles at various stages of—and with varying opinions on—the single state.

Producer John Rickard notes, “It’s a universal experience, being young, right out of college and discovering a whole big world.  Or a few years later, hitting another one of those crossroads: what do I care about, what do I want to spend my life doing, does another person even figure into the picture?  We often think it’s a partner we have to find, but it’s really ourselves, and that can be scary.”

Happily, what’s scary in real life can make us laugh the hardest when it’s played out on film. Screenwriter/producer Dana Fox, a comedy veteran, offers, “Romantic comedies are always centered on the romance, but this is a comedy about the time in between the relationships, when you’re out there to have a good time in this crazy age of staring at your cell phone, having entire conversations in 140 characters or less and ‘swiping right’ to meet people.  There are so many advantages to a film with so many funny stories to tell.

“In any movie,” she continues, “you want audiences to feel like they’re along on the journey.  We have Dakota Johnson’s character, Alice, to provide the heart and soul of the story, and we have all these other great women and men to follow along and laugh with.”

Or laugh at.  Returning to her comedy roots, Johnson deftly handles Alice’s fumbling attempts to meet men upon finding herself newly single, especially when paired with Rebel Wilson’s extreme party girl, Robin, the perfect tour guide through the world of free drinks, hook-ups and text message protocol.  Alison Brie’s Lucy is a girl on an online dating mission, and Leslie Mann’s Meg has been on the career track and sort of forgotten to have a personal life.  Along with the guys they all meet along the way, they exemplify the wide range of what it’s like out there.

Ditter says, “I loved the script, I thought it was hilariously funny but also true to life, and it continued to evolve once we got on set with Dana and all these amazing comedic talents and their incredible improv skills.  So what we ended up with in the film are characters and stories I see a lot of my own experiences in, and friends’ experiences, too.  I think that anyone who’s been single—and that’s, well, everybody—will have a lot of fun and find a lot to laugh about when they relate it to their own life.”

New Line Cinema and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures present, in association with Flower Films, a Wrigley Pictures Production, “How to Be Single.”  The film will be released theatrically worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company on Feb 11, 2016.

*Photo images courtesy of "Warner Bros. Pictures".

Dakota Johnson is back in "How to Be Single"

To those who have seen "Fifty Shades of Grey", Dakota Harrison has become one of Hollywood’s fastest-rising stars after landing the coveted role of Anastasia Steele in the box office record for which she received a BAFTA Rising Star Award nomination.

Now, Dakota Johnson headlines New Line Cinema's romantic comedy “How to Be Single,” based on the book by Liz Tucillo (TV’s “Sex & the City”). Also starring Rebel Wilson and Leslie Mann, the film follows a host of singles at various stages of—and with varying opinions on—the single state.

Returning to her comedy roots, Johnson deftly handles her character, Alice’s fumbling attempts to meet men upon finding herself newly single, especially when paired with Rebel Wilson’s extreme party girl, Robin, the perfect tour guide through the world of free drinks, hook-ups and text message protocol.

Just out of college, Alice is worried she’s missing out—on what, she’s not quite sure, but taking a “break” from longtime boyfriend Josh in order to make sure he’s the one is the right thing to do…isn’t it?

“How to Be Single” takes us along with Alice as she ventures into a new job, a new city—New York—a newly unattached life, and all that goes along with it. Johnson says, “I loved how believable the story was—we’ve all been that person who is stumbling through, trying to figure things out.”
Screenwriter Dana Fox, who worked with Johnson previously, was happy to see the actress go back to a comedic role after several more dramatic parts. “Dakota is just naturally talented, especially when it comes to comedy, both physical and verbal,” she states. “As a writer, it’s such a pleasure for me to work with her again, because nothing comes out feeling ‘written.’”

When we first meet her character, Johnson observes, “She is sort of this doe-eyed, curious young woman starting college. She meets a boy right away and is quickly in a comfortable and nurturing relationship.”

Fast forward four years. “Like so many of us, Alice has always depended on someone, whether it’s her parents, her sister or her boyfriend. Suddenly, she has this profound moment of realization and forces herself into what she thinks is an awakening, but which is really just a break up,” the actress acknowledges. “But taking a break turns into a total explosion of life as she knows it, and now she has to figure out how to handle it.”

After persuading her very serious boyfriend she needs to experiment with being on her own, Alice heads to Manhattan to start a new job as a paralegal. “Right away, she falls into the hands of Robin, who’s kind of insane,” Johnson laughs. “Alice has been sheltered and established a lot of boundaries for herself; Robin has zero boundaries and doesn’t care what anyone else thinks of her, so long as she’s having fun.”

The role of Alice required a convincing amount of girl-next-door naiveté in order for moviegoers to slip into her shoes, or at least remember a time when they did. Director Christian Ditter found Johnson to be “absolutely gorgeous but at the same time completely relatable. She’s talented and gives a very authentic performance, which makes it easy for the audience to see themselves in her place. She grounds the story for all the other characters, who are much more outrageous.”

Opening across the Philippines on Thursday, Feb. 11, “How to Be Single” is distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, a Warner Bros. Entertainment Company.