Did You Know? Maris Racal's Movie Was Not Originally Titled "Sunshine"

Sunshine just dropped on Netflix and it’s already number one on the streaming platform. In honor of its newest milestone, lead star and November 2025 Preview cover girl Maris Racal gave fans an insider look at her personal script for the film. She also revealed the working name director and writer Antoinette Jadaone called the project by before landing on the now iconic title.

Maris Racal took to Instagram to share with fans some behind-the-scenes deets on her creative process for Sunshine. “I still can’t believe this role found its way to me. Forever grateful to my director @tonetjadaone and the entire @project8projects family for trusting me with Sunshine,” she wrote in the caption.

In her video, she showed off her script, loved-in, dog-eared, half soiled by rain water, and still bearing its original project title, “Gymnast.” As seen on the front cover, Director Antoinette Jadaone only gave the film its final name seven drafts into production, on October 18, 2023, a year before Sunshine debuted at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival.

As part of her acting process, Maris organizes her script into sections with tape, so it’s easier for her to flip to a specific scene. “Mga ilang oras ko ‘tong ginawa…nag gupit-gupit ng mga masking tape and then manually sinusulat ko yung mga numbers ng sequences,” she said, calling her script her “bible,” one that’s extremely personal to her. This habit allows her to memorize and learn her scripts “by heart.”

Ever the disciplined actress, she also annotates on the margins of her script. After the pivotal scene in Sunshine where the titular character learns that she’s pregnant just months shy of an Olympic opportunity, Maris noted for herself that Sunshine goes on “autopilot” for the rest of the film. “May isang goal na siya. She really did not want to be pregnant or to have a baby…Hindi mo siya makikitang really present, she’s seems to be always so distracted. She’s there in the scene but she’s thinking about something else.”

Watch Maris’s full video below!