ONE of the animators who worked on “Hayop Ka! The Nimfa Dimaano Story,” which will be the first Pinoy-made animated film to stream on Netflix, is appealing for people not to boycott their film over Robin Padilla’s involvement.
Padilla, who has in the past provoked backlash over his controversial comments, is one of the movie’s lead voice actors, alongside Angelica Panganiban and Sam Milby.
On Twitter this week, Kevin Eric Raymundo, an animation director, appealed to those leading calls to boycott their work: “Please don’t judge it by its [voice actor]. He doesn’t represent the movie as a whole.”
He said that if he could he would have had Padilla replaced with a different voice actor. “But alas, ako’y isang hamak na animator lamang. Support the artists who have worked hard on this project. Sila naman ang totoong bida dito,” Raymundo urged.
He also reposted a funny suggestion that people view Padilla’s character as the bad guy of the movie. “Isipin na lang na hayop talaga ‘yung isang voice actor diyan. Very fitting,” the joke read.
The criticisms over Padilla’s casting began this week, following Netflix’s announcement that it has acquired rights to stream the premiere of the movie and included Padilla’s character in the promotional poster it sent out.
These were met with appeals against a boycott, arguing that it’s the local animation industry that will stand to lose the most when the movie flops, while Padilla will likely remain unaffected.(ABS-CBN)
