EXCLUSIVE: Gallaga protégée Jo Macasa makes her directorial debut with suspense thriller ‘Siren’

Years after the iconic filmmaker’s death, Jo Macasa takes the helm for suspense thriller “Siren.”

For years, filmmaker Peque Gallaga would ask his longtime collaborator and protégée Jo Macasa a simple question: Did she want to direct?

Her answer was almost always the same.

“Maybe. I don’t know.”

Now, years after Gallaga’s passing, Macasa finally has an answer. She is making her directorial debut with “Siren,” a suspense thriller starring Analyn Barro, Althea Ablan, Royce Cabrera, and Ryan Eigenmann.

Production of “Siren” is set to begin next week, marking a major turn in the career of Macasa, who spent years working behind the camera as an assistant director, production manager, and producer.

“When I was still working as AD/PM/Producer for Direk Peque Gallaga, he would often ask me, ‘Do you want to direct?’” Macasa recalled. “And every time, my answer was always some version of, ‘Maybe. I don’t know.’”

Macasa said directing was never something she felt compelled to pursue while working alongside Gallaga, the acclaimed filmmaker behind such classics as “Oro, Plata, Mata” and “Scorpio Nights.”

“I just never felt that burning need to direct,” she said. “I genuinely enjoyed what I was doing behind the scenes. I was comfortable there. I knew my strengths, and I was having fun.”

That changed after an unexpected professional connection.

Macasa met Korean-American producer Michael Hong of Peach Studios through LinkedIn. Hong was looking for someone in Manila who could help connect him with the right people for a project. What began as a professional contact eventually led Macasa somewhere she had never planned to go: the director’s chair.

“And now, here I am, finding myself in a place I never really planned for: directing,” she said.

“Siren” is produced by international film outfit Peach Studios, owned by Hong and Chinese producer Yuyu Fang, in collaboration with Filipino filmmakers and talent. Macasa also wrote the film.

For the first-time director, however, the milestone carries a bittersweet weight. Gallaga, who repeatedly saw the possibility of a director in her long before she apparently saw it herself, died in 2020.

“For years, Peque kept asking me if I wanted to direct. I kept saying, ‘Maybe. I don’t know,’” Macasa said. “And now, when I finally know—he isn’t here to hear it.”

Macasa said the opportunity became possible through the trust placed in her by Hong, Fang, and Peach Studios.

“Sometimes, you don’t realize you’re ready until someone else gives you the chance to prove that you are,” she said.

With “Siren,” Macasa steps out from behind the scenes to take on a story filled with suspense, mystery, and unexpected turns. At the same time, she carries with her the creative influence of one of Philippine cinema’s most distinctive filmmakers while beginning to forge a filmmaking voice of her own.

“So, here we go,” Macasa said. “My first film as a director.”

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