(SPOT.ph) You might recall that one year of Metro Manila Film Festival when all the entries were actually pretty good (it was 2016)—one of them being Jun Robles Lana's Die Beautiful. The film stars Paolo Ballesteros as Trisha, a transgender woman who competed in beauty pageants. Trisha's life story is told in flashbacks as she (not-so-spoiler alert!) lays in a coffin, already dead. Her final wish is to look like different celebrities—like Miley Cyrus, Angelina Jolie, and Beyonce—during her week-long wake. The makeup artist, of course, is none other than her best friend Barbs.

Barbs was played by Christian Bables in Die Beautiful. But you'll soon see the funny and thoughtful character played by Martin del Rosario in Die Beautiful's sequel, Born Beautiful.

Born Beautiful was first announced as a TV series on Cignal cable, with Bables reprising his role. He has expressed his support for del Rosario taking over as Barbs, saying, "I know he's a good actor. He's one of the actors na magagaling at tinitingala ko bilang baguhan sa industriya. And I know adding his own flavor to the character will make it a new lovable, relatable, and three-dimensional Barbs."

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The full trailer for Born Beautiful yet to be released, but it has been announced that del Rosario will be paired up with Kiko Matos (Alimuom, Mga Anak ng Kamote, and Beastmode: A Social Experiment). The film will be directed by Perci Intalan who also produced Ang Babaeng Allergic sa Wi-Fi, Gusto Kita With All My Hypothalamus, Mr. and Mrs. Cruz, and Die Beautiful. Born Beautiful is also reportedly being submitted as an entry to the 2018 Metro Manila Film Festival. Fingers crossed we'll get to see it on the big screen soon!