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<\/p>\n“Gifted” producer Karen Lander has so much to say about working with Oscar winner Octavia Spencer and her character Roberta in the movie, which opens on May 3 in Philippine cinemas.<\/p>\n
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Octavia Spencer as “Roberta” and Chris Evans as “Frank” in the film GIFTED. Photo by Wilson Webb. \u00a9 2017 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation All Rights Reserved.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s a single member of the crew she didn\u2019t reach out to and make laugh on a daily basis.\u201d producer Karen Lunder says of the actress who personified the character of Roberta. \u201cShe brought warmth and humor to this pivotal role. She\u2019s also the one person who knows Frank almost better than himself. Most importantly, Roberta is the comic relief, which comes out of her relationship with Frank. She\u2019s always giving him the business, but she\u2019s also deeply emotional. You care so much about Roberta and worry whether she will be able to continue to have the relationship with Mary.\u201d<\/p>\n The much anticipated film, which also stars Chris Evans, Grace McKenna, Jenny Slate and Lindsay Duncan, is directed by Marc Webb, known of his dreamy romantic hit 500 Days of Summer.<\/em><\/p>\n In Gifted<\/em>, Webb once again gives another heartfelt movie about a single man raising his spirited young niece Mary (Mckenna Grace) in a coastal town in Florida.\u00a0 But Mary is a brilliant child prodigy and Frank’s intention that she lead a normal life are thwarted when the seven-year-old\u2019s command of mathematics comes to the attention of his formidable mother Evelyn (Lindsay Duncan)\u2014a wealthy Bostonian whose plans for her granddaughter threaten to separate Mary and Frank.\u00a0 As family tensions and disconnections flare, uncle and niece find support in Roberta (Octavia Spencer), their protective landlady and best friend, and Mary\u2019s teacher Bonnie (Jenny Slate), a young woman whose concern for her student soon develops into a relationship with her uncle as well.<\/p>\n Spencer recalls what attracted her to the role, \u201cWhat intrigues me about Roberta is that her relationship with Frank and Mary is an integral part of the story. She\u2019s a surrogate mom to the girl and to this habitually single guy, she\u2019s a sister and a mom, whatever the relationship requires. If I were to describe the anatomy of GIFTED, Mary would be the heart, Frank would be the muscle and the sinew and Roberta would be the spine. It all works wonderfully together and that\u2019s why it resonated with me on so many levels.\u201d<\/p>\n Ultimately, Roberta discovers the power she does have in this untraditional family unit: \u201cYou realize that these people coexist in a way that is very much family. They need each other. Frank has a very tough decision to make, and when he makes that decision he asks Roberta for help. I really love that the end of the movie starts the same way as the beginning, with Frank and Roberta\u2019s relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n Gifted<\/em> opens May 3 in cinemas nationwide from 20th<\/sup> Century Fox to be distributed by War.<\/p>\n Watched Gifted <\/em>trailer here:<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/primer.com.ph\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/14\/2017\/04\/octavia-spencer-grace-mckenna-chris-evans-in-GIFTED.jpg\")
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