In grief-laden 'Ghostlight,' a story of healing and redemption for Dolly de Leon

July 14 ------ Filipino actress Dolly de Leon achieves another career milestone in Hollywood by becoming not only one of the stars but also an executive producer of her most recent film "Ghostlight." In an interview, she admitted being unfamiliar to producing a film but later on learning the ropes of it from her manager, Adam Kersh. "I will not pretend that I knew what I was doing. I didn't understand the way things were done," De Leon said in Filipino. "As an actor, all my life I've been told what to do. Now, I want to be involved in the creative process. It's a beautiful thing." "Ghostlight" is a story about healing and redemption and how art can help people deal with grief. 

Grief and loss are serious themes explored in the story. But it maintains a light touch and is enlivened by De Leon's performance as a theater actress playing Juliet in Shakespeare's famous play. 

She stars opposite actor Keith Kupferer. The film's plot is something that De Leon said she fully relates to. "That's my life," she said. "I survived being a human because of all the jobs I've done, not just in theater but also in film, the soaps, and the 'teleserye' that I've done in the that I've done. [Those] played a big part in helping me cope as a human being." The independent movie is directed by Kelly O'Sullivan and Alex Thompson. De Leon previously shared having gone through depression after filming 'Triangle of Sadness' because she despaired that the wonderful experience she had in its set could be a one-time thing. 

The 2022 award-winning film by Swedish filmmaker Ruben Östlund launched De Leon's international career. "I was able to work in an environment that I have never worked in before, where the artists were well taken care of," said De Leon in Filipino. "To be able to work with people like Alex Thompson and Kelly O'Sullivan, it fueled me. It really helped that I was able to do 'Ghostlight.'" 

De Leon's Hollywood award-season run for "Triangle of Sadness" which included a Golden Globe nomination, was history-making. She also won Best Supporting Actress at the 2024 Urian Awards for "Ang Duyan ng Magiting." "The Urian award was special to me because in my life as an artist then, all of my friends had been nominated or have received awards except me," De Leon said. "The funny thing about it is I was never jealous of them. But, of course, I couldn't shake off the thought of why they seemed to have many accolades and until now this is what I'm still doing. What was I doing wrong? I had a thought like that before." This October, she goes back to the stage through a play co-starring with another Filipino great, Lea Salonga, in “Request sa Radyo.” The actress recently finished filming in Germany for the “Nine Perfect Strangers” TV series where she co-stars with “Crazy Rich Asians” leading man Henry Golding. De Leon will be seen next in Amazon Prime Video’s “Jackpot” starring Awkwafina and John Cena. “Ghostlight” is currently playing in theaters in the U.S. 

Source: news.abs-cbn.com