Film director Jun Robles Lana recently opened up about a deleted scene from the Metro Manila Film Festival entry Call Me Mother, which he described as one of the most difficult moments he eventually decided to delete from the final cut of the film.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Jun shared details about the scrapped sequence dubbed as the "Intrusive Thought" scene.
"You’ve been asking about deleted scenes, and this is one of the hardest we had to let go of: The 'Intrusive Thought' sequence. Picture this: Twinkle (Vice Ganda) and Mara (Nadine Lustre) in a heated standoff over who the "true mother" is. The whole PBB squad (Esnyr, Klarisse, Brent, Mika, Shuvee) and Ms. J (Iya Mina) are backing Mara, leaving Twinkle cornered," he wrote.
The director went on: "As the tension rises, so do the weapons. It starts with kitchen knives, but magically escalates into absurdity. The blades grow bigger with every exchange (kitchen knives…bolos… massive machetes) until suddenly, Twinkle is wielding a full-blown Samurai sword! The only casualty? Ms. J's bangs, which get hilariously 'murdered' by the blade."
Despite how entertaining the sequence was, Jun explained that it ultimately had to be removed to serve the story better. "It was chaotic, ridiculous, and so much fun to shoot. Even Nadine was looking for this specific moment while seated beside me at the premiere. But in filmmaking, sometimes you have to kill your darlings for the sake of the story," he highlighted.
The director also expressed gratitude to audiences who supported Call Me Mother during its theatrical run.
"The response to #CallMeMother has been nothing short of phenomenal. Before I sign off on this chapter, I need to send the biggest shoutout to the army behind me: my producers, generals, and the entire crew who made this film the #1 Filipino Movie of 2025," he said.
He added: "We poured our love into this film, and you gave it right back ten-fold. They say a mother knows best, but in this case, the audience knew best. Thank you for choosing us. ❤️"
Call Me Mother follows the story of Twinkle, "a single queer mother whose dream of officially adopting her son [who] gets shaken when the boy's biological mother, Mara, unexpectedly reappears," as per its IMDb.