On the Job (2013) on Netflix
In the Philippines, inmates Mario and Daniel are let out of prison to kill for pay. A drug lord's murder pulls NBI Agent Francis Coronel and Sergeant Joaquin Acosta onto the case.
- Netflix4.1/5
- IMDb6.9/103,512 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes94%
Trailer
Plot summary
Two inmates in a Philippine prison, Mario and Daniel, are regularly let out and paid to carry out contract killings, then returned to their cells. Mario's earnings go to Lulette, his estranged wife, and to his daughter Tina. Daniel wires money to his own family and uses the rest for goods and privileges behind bars, and he looks up to Mario as a mentor and a father figure. After the two murder drug lord Tiu, the case goes to NBI Agent Francis Coronel, handed to him by Congressman Manrique. Coronel and his partner Bernabe clash at a local precinct with PNP Sergeant Joaquin Acosta, who thinks the case was pulled from him for political reasons.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about On the Job (2013)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Erik Matti got the idea for On the Job from a Viva Films service driver, an ex-convict who said he had been temporarily freed from prison to commit contract killings and then reincarcerated.
- Star Cinema refused to produce On the Job in 2010, calling it too violent compared with its usual romantic comedies, but by 2012 it agreed to co-produce the film with Erik Matti's own company, Reality Entertainment.
- The hitman Daniel was written for John Lloyd Cruz, who was interested but had to decline because of scheduling conflicts; the role went to Gerald Anderson instead.
- Sergeant Joaquin Acosta was to be played by Richard Gomez, but he chose to pursue a political career in Ormoc, so Matti cast comedian Joey Marquez in the part.
- Erik Matti screened an eight-minute trailer for On the Job, in which Joel Torre tried to pitch the film; Twitch Film editor Todd Brown then urged him to write the screenplay while Brown looked for financing.
- Cinematographer Francis Ricardo Buhay III used a Red EPIC camera and its available-lighting function, which could light a whole set, instead of rigging lights shot by shot, giving the film a modern noir look without seeming low-budget.
- For the prison scenes, the crew built a set inside an abandoned building in Marikina and hired 200 extras to play convicts.
- Gerald Anderson had only two weeks to film his scenes as Daniel because he was also shooting a soap opera at the time.
