ABS-CBN Entertainment and Star Creatives officially announced Carlo Aquino, Joshua Garcia, and Anne Curtis to star in the Philippine adaptation of the hit Korean drama series ‘It’s Okay to Not Be Okay’.
The project announcement revealed Carlo Aquino will portray Matthew “MatMat Gonzales”, Joshua Garacia as Patrick “PatPat” Gonzales, and Anne Curtis as Emilia “Mia” Hernandez.
The media conference also officially announced the creative producer, Henry King Quitain and the director, Mae Cruz-Alvia, the director of recent romantic drama teleserye, “Can’t Buy Me Love”.
The remake was announced by ABS-CBN last year for the 2024 new projects. The PH adaptation is expected to be collaborated with Netflix Philippines.
Carlo Aquino and Joshua Garcia’s preparation for their roles
Carlo Aquino and Joshua Garcia will portray brothers inspired by the characters of Moon Sang-Tae and Moon Gang-Tae in the series.
“‘Wag ko raw pakawalan, and sabi nila na macha-challenge ako and ‘yun ‘yung gusto ko as an actor, na ma-challenge ako. I’m up for the challenge, kaya ‘di ko binitawan. Gusto kong masubukan, gusto kong gawin,” Carlo explained.
Joshua also joins the lead roles after a short teleserye break, starred in the 2023 drama “Unbreak My Heart”.
He admitted feeling pressure and aims to give justice to his role.
“Mas ikukwento namin ‘yung kabuuan din ng storya…focus muna ako sa pag-prepare ko doon sa role ko as Patrick Gonzales”.
Similar to Carlos’s experience, Joshua also started watching the K-drama series. Upon watching the first episode, he jokingly stopped and started working out instead, stating it as one of his preparations.
But he seriously expressed that they should also be emotionally prepared for the series.
“I think mas malaki ‘yung importansya na mas emotionally prepared kami kasi iba rin ‘yung ita-tackle naming storya. Medyo sensitive siya”.
Anne Curtis’ series comeback
No hesitations were taken but an instant “yes” was given by Anne, saying “it’s definitely worth it.”
“Hindi naman ako mag-aaccept ng isang project if I didn’t feel it was worth leaving my family for a little bit to shoot.”
Anne mentioned that she watched and loved the original series in 2021 and couldn’t’ let it pass. She revealed that she gave an early heads-up for the role before announcing for the PH adaptation of the series.
“I called my manager in Viva and asked her, ‘Ate kung magbabalik ako sa series, parang I think I would like to do “It’s Okay To Not Be Okay.” Can Viva please check if we can get the rights for it.’ After a week, bumalik siya sa akin. Sabi niya sa akin, ‘Anne nasa ABS-CBN na siya,” she remembered.
Curtis is making her way for a teleserye comeback after a decade since her 2014 “Mars Ravelo’s Dyesebel”.
She focused on hosting on the noontime show “It’s Showtime” and starred in movies: BuyBust (2018), Aurora (2018), Sid & Aya: Not A Love Story (2019), The Mall, The Merrier (2019), and Just A Stranger (2019).
She also acted as a supporting role on the long-running teleserye “FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano”, appeared in an episode of “Maalala Mo Kaya”, and was a guest judge on the “Drag Race Philippines”.
The role of Anne Curtis will be a character inspired by Ko Moon-Young, played by Seo Yea-Ji.
The Korean drama “It’s Okay To Not Be Okay” tackles mental health issues through Ko Moon-Young, a successful children’s book author with antisocial personality disorder, who meets Moon Kang-Tae, a community health worker and caretaker at a psychiatric ward. Kang-Tae is uninterested in the idea of love and is dedicated to taking care of his autistic older brother, Moon Sang-Tae.
With reports from Glaiza Chavez
