As the video call connects, I hear a faint “Hello!” from, I assume, the actor I am scheduled to interview: Jo Koy. As a big fan, I couldn’t suppress my excitement and, although there is nobody yet on screen, I immediately greet him by his name. The voice responds, “No, this isn’t Jo, this is Josh,” before introducing me to the comedian, whose laugh I now hear in the background.
When the actor’s camera is turned on, he’s sitting there wearing a plain white shirt and LA Dodgers cap, fresh from the Tatler photo shoot at Filbert Kung’s studio in Beverly Hills. Behind him is a display for Easter Sunday, the first Filipino-themed film produced and globally released by a major Hollywood studio. The comedy features an almost all-Filipino cast, including Jo Koy, who had pitched the movie to Steven Spielberg’s company Amblin Entertainment.
He admits he wasn’t expecting much when he met with people from Amblin Entertainment at Universal Studios.
“I thought it was a general meeting: I’ll tell them about
