Astrid Lee caught between passion and peril in ‘Lunok’

Astrid Lee takes on a thrill-seeking character whose vacation escape with her best friend leads to unexpected turns and buried feelings coming to light

Sexy actress Astrid Lee headlines Lunok, VMX’s upcoming erotic thriller, playing a woman drawn into a game of desire, secrets, and unexpected feelings during a beach getaway with her best friend.

Directed by Rain Yamson, the film casts Astrid as May, a thrill-seeking woman whose choices pull her into a complicated story with her best friend, Jena, played by Allison Ross.

Rain Yamson (left) and Astrid Lee discuss ‘Lunok’ as a story that looks beyond desire and into the emotions people choose to keep hidden 

Lunok follows May and Jena as they take a break from their usual lives and embark on what first appears to be a carefree escape. But the trip changes when attraction, dares, and hidden emotions begin to surface.

Astrid said May was not difficult to understand.

“May is very wild. She always wants the thrill, and I feel that’s the part of her I can relate to,” Astrid said during the film’s press conference.

The actress said the film should not be viewed only through its sensual scenes. Behind the VMX packaging, she noted, is a story about two women dealing with feelings they have kept to themselves.

“You should watch it because it’s not all sex scenes. The story has depth, especially with a plot twist in the end that people won’t expect,” Astrid said.

She added, “This is where people will see the emotions that the two best friends have been hiding, which are the characters played by me and Allison.”

The real-life closeness between Astrid and Allison also affected how they approached their intimate scenes. Astrid said their first love scene felt awkward at the start because they are close friends off-camera.

“During our first scene, which was a love scene, she wasn’t comfortable with me because we’re best friends [in real life],” Astrid recalled.

She shared that Allison initially had doubts about doing the scene.

“She told me, ‘Babe, I don’t think I can do this.’ I told her, ‘You can do it.’ We really motivated each other so we could do it properly,” she said.

Eventually, Astrid said they became more at ease with the scenes.

Rain, who also wrote the script, said the title carries a meaning beyond its sexual connotation. For him, “lunok,” or “swallow” in English, also refers to the emotions people choose to keep inside because they are not ready to face them.

“Lunok may sound sensual, and yes, it can help attract the audience. But beyond the sensual side of the title, lunok, or swallow in English, is also about those moments in life when we tend to swallow our emotions,” Rain said.

He added that the film also reflects his view that love should not be boxed in by gender.

“Love is something you feel. It is not dictated by anything or by who you are supposed to love,” he said.

Lunok streams on VMX on July 17. — Jasper Valdez