JM Ibarra and Fyang Smith officially kicked off preparations for their upcoming big-screen project ‘Almost Us’ after leading a script reading and story conference with director Dan Villegas.
Photos from the session, shared by the production team, showed the lead stars seated together and fully engaged as they discussed the script with Villegas and the creative team behind Project 8 Projects.
The romantic drama is scheduled for a nationwide theatrical release on May 6, with principal photography set to begin Saturday, February 14.
Ibarra and Smith—popularly known to fans as JMFyang—rose to fame as housemates of ‘Pinoy Big Brother Gen 11’ in 2024, a season that ended with Smith emerging as the Big Winner. Their onscreen chemistry quickly gained traction, paving the way for more acting projects together.
Before ‘Almost Us’, the tandem worked on the digital series ‘Ghosting’ and appeared in the Metro Manila Film Festival 2025 entry ‘Shake, Rattle & Roll: Evil Origins’, where teasers for their debut feature film were first unveiled during the premiere night.
‘Almost Us’ marks the first full-length feature film headlined by the young stars as a pair. The project also comes at a busy time for Ibarra, who recently took on his first lead role in the Cinemalaya 2025 entry ‘Child No. 82’.
With filming about to begin and a May cinema release locked in, anticipation continues to build around ‘Almost Us’, as fans look forward to seeing the JMFyang tandem take their chemistry to the big screen under the direction of Dan Villegas.
