Penduko

Penduko (2023)

Pedro Penduko, son of a powerful traditional healer, rejects his destiny and becomes a wastrel in the big city. He is recruited by Midnight, an organization that sends healers out to people in need in exchange for money.

Date of release
2023-12-25
Runtime
1h 49m
Genres
Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Director
Jason Paul Laxamana

Casting

Interesting facts

Penduko is a 2023 Philippine superhero film written and directed by Jason Paul Laxamana. Based on the Liwayway character Pedro Penduko, it serves as a reboot of the character's various film and television adaptations. The film starred Matteo Guidicelli as the titular character along with Kylie Verzosa and John Arcilla. Produced by Sari Sari Network, the film was released on December 25, 2023 as an entry to the 2023 Metro Manila Film Festival.

Production

On August 10, 2017, Viva Films announced their intention to make a film reboot of the Pedro Penduko franchise by casting James Reid as Penduko; Reid had previously voiced his interest in portraying the role during the comic book launch of Regene Estolatan's reimagined Pedro Penduko in August 2016. Nadine Lustre was later cast as Maria Makiling on October 19, 2017.

On May 31, 2019, Reid was forced to drop out of the film due to a spinal injury. On October 22, 2019, Matteo Guidicelli was announced to have replaced Reid as Penduko for the film, with Laxamana now in the helm as both director and screenwriter and Sonny Sison as fight choreographer. Empoy Marquez and child actor Alonzo Muhlach were also cast for the film by this time, with the former to play the regular version of Pedro Penduko.

On February 25, 2020, Guidicelli began attending an acting workshop with Laxamana and fellow cast members Marquez and Nicole Omillo in preparation for the film's production.

Principal photography began on August 21, 2023.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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