For a long time, director Erik Matti was unsure of how or when On the Job: The Missing 8 would finally make its premiere. After years of research, pre-production, and shooting came the COVID-19 pandemic and along with it, uncertainty in Philippine cinema.
“It took us four years to do this film. And each time, every several months, we’d say: ‘Ay, maluluma na ‘tong movie kasi andami nang nangyayari (Oh, this will no longer be timely because a lot of things are happening).’ But each time din, you realize it’s supporting the film even more,” said Matti in a Rappler Talk Entertainment interview that aired on Tuesday, September 7.
Four years after they first came up with the idea of a sequel to the hit 2013 feature On the Job, Matti and his team are in Italy for the world premiere of The Missing 8.
The sequel will stream as a six-episode HBO Asia Original series, alongside the first On the Job movie.
Its timing could not have been better. The movie, about small town broadcaster and columnist Sisoy Salas and Roman Rubio, an innocent convict-turned-hitman, is set in the lead-up to a national election, as the two characters come to terms with the power of town mayor and local kingpin Pedring Eusebio.
In real life, the Philippines is gearing up for the 2022 presidential elections – when the nation is set to pick who’ll replace President Rodrigo Duterte, himself a longtime mayor before he gunned for the top post.
“All this news, the craziness, ang pagka-surreal ng news cycle natin sa Pilipinas, parang it supports [the movie] (the surreal news cycle in the Philippines supports the movie plot),” he added.
On The Job: The Missing 8 expands the world Matti established in the 2013 film, which focused on convicts hired as hitmen and the conflicts of interest in Philippine law enforcement and politics.
But in the first movie, the 2021 sequel is set in a small town and follows a corrupt journalist and commentator, who tries to seek justice for his missing colleagues.
Matti explained that they considered three topics for the sequel – journalism, the medical field, or gambling.
It was news of the Cambridge Analytica data scandal and the revelation that the 2016 Philippine elections had been used as a “petri dish” ahead of the US, that made Matti decide to focus on journalism.
The Missing 8 makes clear reference to real-life issues and incidents in the Philippines – the Ampatuan Massacre and the harassment of media organizations and journalists.
“We were on the right track because fake news were happening already, and ang gulo-gulo ng media and journalist climate natin sa Pilipinas…. A lot of it has been dictated kasi hindi naman ganito kagulo dati ‘yung use of media, ‘yung trolling – lahat ;yan hindi naman nangyayari prior to this government,” said Matti, when asked if the current administration affected how the sequel was made.
(The media and journalism climate in the Philippines is a mess. A lot of the movie [was dictated by the events in this administration] because it wasn’t this bad, the use of media, trolling – that wasn’t happening before this government.)
“I think most of the topics really came from the tenure of Duterte,” Matti added.
And while the On the Job franchise – as well as his other films – have covered both political and societal issues, Matti is the first to say his work is not about advocacy.
“OTJ is the pinaka (ultimate) representation of Philippine politics and society, and how it works when it comes to corruption, when it comes to crime… [It] gives everyone a glimpse of what it’s like to be in the Philippines.” – with reports from Jana Torres/Rappler.com
On the Job: The Missing 8 debuts at the Venice International Film Festival on September 10. It will have its Asia-wide release as a six-part series via HBO Go on September 12.
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