Happy Times is a 2021 Filipino romantic comedy directed by Ice Idanan starring Ricci Rivero, Sharlene San Pedro and Heaven Peralejo. The film was produced by Reality Entertainment and it premiered in the Philippines on December 17, 2021, via the online streaming website, Upstream.
Synopsis
Toni Santos (Sharlene San Pedro) is a teen high-schooler who has a secret crush on the school's varsity basketball captain Kim (Ricci Rivero). She finally gets a chance to get close to her crush when he asks for her help in winning the heart of her popular older sister, George (Heaven Peralejo).
Cast
Several Filipino sportspeople made brief appearances in the film. Basketball personalities Japs Cuan, a one-time UAAP champion, and former College of St. Benilde Blazers guard MC Abolucion played the roles of Kim's head coach and a college scout, respectively. In addition, University of Santo Tomas track and field player Baileys Acot and former De La Salle University courtside reporter Aiyanna Perlas participated in the film as part of Williams International School students. The actors' fans were also invited to the set and they were requested to be part of the background actors.
The following is a list of the full cast of Happy Times film:
Main cast
Sharlene San Pedro as Antonette 'Toni' Santos
Ricci Rivero as Kimberly 'Kim'
Heaven Peralejo as Georgina 'George' Santos
Kimpoy Feliciano as Mig
Supporting cast
Production
Pre-production
Reality Entertainment, an independent Filipino production company that was established in late 2005, began producing Happy Times in 2018. The project was headed by its executive producer Dondon Monteverde, who had produced several critically acclaimed films including On the Job in 2013 and BuyBust in 2018.
In the movie, it tackles courtship in the social media generation: the message of the movie is that it's important that you have a social media presence... but at a time of social media relevance, even the things that are supposed to be in private are shown in public... It's very important for me that there is an underlying message at the end of the movie: that love can be something that you're proud of or love is something that you keep for yourself. — G3 San Diego
Happy Times was first developed in 2018: G3 San Diego and Dondon Monteverde discussed their plans for Rivero's solo project. This marked Rivero's first starring movie.
According to G3, it was a special request from Dondon Monteverde to create a story specifically for Rivero. Monteverde told G3 to make a film for Ricci Rivero and the song would be "How Can I". G3, then, met with Idanan at a story conference in 2019 to further talk about their plans.
G3 San Diego has been a writer for 21 years; both G3 and San Pedro's first teleserye was Krystala. G3 describes Happy Times as a "first-love coming-of-age kind of movie". When asked about her inspiration to write the film, G3 answered: "I think as a writer, everything that you write comes from a certain experience... When I was crafting it, I was very cognizant of the fact that I wanted to create a perfect boyfriend... and I just looked for his intersection with Ricci. From then, I was able to come up with three concepts."
Multi-awarded filmmaker Ice Idanan just recently branched out from indie films to mainstream filmmaking. She marked her first mainstream movie in Regal Entertainment's 2019 film titled Stranded. Happy Times was her first mainstream movie under Reality Entertainment.
Casting and development
Ricci Rivero has always been wanting to pursue his acting career aside from being a well-known varsity player in the Philippines. He stated: "Ever since, I always wanted something new to do. I always get attracted to [and] enjoy watching Tagalog films." He had his first acting project in the 2018 Metro Manila Film Festival entry OTLUM, which took place after he left the De La Salle Green Archers in April 2018. Rivero then returned to playing basketball for another year and joined the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP) Season 82 as part of the UP Fighting Maroons collegiate varsity basketball team. He had been receiving several TV and film offers after his first film, though he declined them all so he could concentrate on his basketball commitment. Days after the end of the UAAP season in 2019, however, Rivero announced that he will be back in the big screen.