Brash Young Cinema
by Joey Fernandez

The revolution is starting.

Filipino filmmaking is going to take the world by storm.

Morgan Creek Productions just announced today that they have just casted the boy who is going to portray the new face of evil in the upcoming Exorcist prequel, being directed by John Frankenheimer. And the name of this actor is Billy, Joe, Crawford. Yes, this is the same Billy Joe Crawford that we used to make fun of in That's Entertainment type movies and TV shows. The same guy that would hang out with people like Chuckie Dreyfus and Isabel Granada. Billy Joe Crawford (or Billy Crawford as he is now called) is on his way on becoming a mega-star.

Now why is this movie going to take the world by storm? Because it is directed by John Frankenheimer. And because it is the prequel of what could possibly be the scariest horror movie of all time, The Exorcist. The Exorcist has a following all over the world, and the fact that Billy Joe was asked to play the leading role will make him as famous as Linda Blair was for the first movie.

To quote the exact words from the FilmThreat.com article

"After an extensive casting search spanning fifteen months and three continents, actor/musician Billy Crawford has been cast in one of the lead roles in the untitled prequel to "The Exorcist," it was announced today by James G. Robinson, Chairman and CEO of Morgan Creek Productions."

"Nineteen-year-old Billy Crawford was born in the Philippines; in addition to spending eight seasons as a regular on the Filipino variety show That's Entertainment, he also appeared in a series of movies before his family relocated to Texas in 1994. There Crawford continued his singing career, and after winning a Dallas talent show, he traveled to New York to begin writing and recording material for his self-titled debut album, released in mid-1999 on V2. After this, he achieved double-platinum status with the theme song to Pokemon: The First Movie and co-starred alongside actor John Lithgow on the album ‘Ogden Nash and The Christmas That Almost Wasn't’, which benefited the National Theatre of the Deaf. He also completed a string of dates in North America with 'N Sync and another tour with 98 Degrees and Monica. In spring 2002, V2 in Europe will release Billy Crawford's new album titled 'Ride'."

""The Exorcist" prequel is directed by director John Frankenheimer ("The Manchurian Candidate," "The Island of Dr. Moreau," "Ronin") with Liam Neeson starring as the young Father Merrin. The film is produced by James G. Robinson and is executive produced by Jonathan A. Zimbert. Best-selling author Caleb Carr (“The Alienist”) re-wrote the script based upon an original screenplay by William Wisher. Warner Bros. will distribute the film domestically and Warner Bros. and Morgan Creek International will distribute overseas."

a link to the exact article

http://www.filmthreat.com/News.asp?File=NewsOne.inc&Id=693

Now why do I have such a strong feeling that this is going to revolutionize Filipino filmmaking as we know it? Coz this is the theory, after the Americans and the rest of the world see Billy Joe's intense acting in the movie as being exoricised, people are going to start wondering where this great acter came from, and then they are going to find out that he came from the Philippines. And then these people are going to wonder if there are any other great actors and actresses in the Philippines, coz they finally found a good one. And so their scouts are going to come here and dig up some more. (Who could it be? Maybe Donita will be snatched up. Sure as hell won't be Ruffa or G. Toengi.) And then we'll have more and more movie acters and this will start a trend. Why am I so optimistic? Well because it's happened before with Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and John Woo, Hardboiled and Chow Yun-Fat. It happened with Guy Pearce, Russell Crowe and Mel Gibson. And so now its gonna happen here. So hang on to your seats everybody, coz we are going to have a wild ride!!! =)