Jacob Batalon, a 20-year-old actor born to Filipino parents and raised in Hawaii, is playing the character of Ned Leeds, Peter Parker's high school best friend on the forthcoming film Spider-Man: Homecoming.
Batalon has appeared in all of the film's trailers, including the third one released last week. His character of Ned Leeds was introduced by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko back in 1964, in The Amazing Spider-Man #18 comic book, as a Daily Bugle reporter. In the 2008 animated television series The Spectacular Spider-Man, Ned Leeds was portrayed as an Asian character renamed Ned Lee.
Batalon said in an interview with USA Today, "Ned understands Peter's life and he thinks he's the one who can help him deal with being a crimefighter."
Spider-Man: Homecoming is only Batalon's second film project after appearing in Anthony Raus's horror feature North Woods last year. He is expected to return for another Spider-Man film due in 2019. Batalon has also been cast in Chris Poche's forthcoming film adaptation The True Don Quixote, playing the role of Sancho Panza, Don Quixote's squire.
After finishing high school in Hawaii in 2014, Batalon enrolled in a two-year programme at the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts. "Singing and playing the ukulele really was my thing," Batalon told the Star-Advertiser in an interview. "My mother would make me go up and sing in front of everyone all the time, and I didn't particularly enjoy it so much as a child because I thought it was torture. But in retrospect, I think that's what helped me get over my fear of being in front of people."
Spider-Man: Homecoming is scheduled for release in the UAE on July 6. Directed by Jon Watts, the film also features actors Michael Keaton, Marisa Tomei, Donald Glover, Robert Downey Jr and Zendaya.
Actress Devon Seron to star in Filipino-South Korean film
Filipino actress Devon Seron has been cast to star opposite South Korean actors Kim Hyun-woo and Jin Ju-hyong in a feature film titled You with Me.
Seron, 24, started her showbiz career in Manila back in 2010 after appearing in a teenage edition of the reality television franchise Big Brother.
In You with Me, she plays Kim, a girl who moves to Korea to work as an English tutor. She meets Hyun-woo and Ju-hyong, who both become her romantic interests.
Filipino actress Hazel Faith dela Cruz also appears in the movie, playing Seron’s best friend.
Directed by Filipino filmmaker Rommel Ricafort, You with Me is a co-production between Gitana Productions and the Korean Film Commission. It begins filming in South Korea this month, with a few scenes also set in Manila. The film is scheduled for release in late September.
Chinese short film edited by Filipino wins Palme d’Or
Filipino filmmaker Carlo Francisco Manatad edited Chinese director Qiu Yang's A Gentle Night, which won the Palme d'Or for best short film at this week's Cannes Film Festival.
A Gentle Night tells the story of a mother searching for her lost daughter during Chinese New Year.
Manatad, 29, told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that he met Yang several years ago at film festival in France. "I worked on the film in Manila, and Qiu flew in during the editing process," he said.
Manatad was in Cannes this week not only for A Gentle Night but also for his own short film Jodilerks dela Cruz, Employee of the Month, which competed in the International Critics' Week section.
Though it did not win a prize, the film was acquired by the French production studio Stray Dogs. Jodilerks dela Cruz is currently available for streaming on the film website Festival Scope, along with other movies that competed in the International Critics' Week section.
Filipino films to screen in Shanghai festival
Two Filipino feature films have been selected to screen in the Shanghai International Film Festival in China, which will be held from June 17 to 26.
Saving Sally, directed by Avid Liongoren, is a live-action animated film headlined by Rhian Ramos and Enzo Marcos.
Bradley Liew's Singing in Graveyards stars Filipino rock icon Pepe Smith as a 68-year-old rock impersonator.
Both films will screen as part of the festival’s international section called The Belt and Road.
artslife@thenational.ae
