PIOLO Pascual reveals the budget for their Marawi movie titled Children of the Lake. Since he is wrapping up ABS-CBN's teleserye “Since I Found You,” Piolo is now gearing up for his upcoming film about the Marawi siege.
Piolo said about his character: "Sundalo ako. Classmates ko sina Jess Mendoza, Marc Felix. Team leader namin si Kuya Robin [Padilla], kasama namin si Mylene. We're there, the whole entire time during the Siege [of Marawi]."
The ABS-CBN actor said about his character: "He's the more violent one.
He's been in a lot of wars. This time, he's more of a vigilante. He wants to take revenge and take matters into his own hands. I just want to take revenge and finish this war and save my country."
How are they preparing for this action war film? "We've been doing a lot of training like gun handling. Kanina lang, we did AirSoft and we did a simulation. We went firing the other day."
Piolo says he enjoys shooting action scenes such as those he did for past projects such as the ABS-CBN teleserye Lobo (2008). "All my guns we used. I love to train. I love to get sweaty. I'm just really motivated. I grew up watching war movies and I wanted to portray a soldier."
How is it like for Piolo being an actor and a co-producer at the same time?
"Mahirap. Ginawa ko 'yan sa Manila [2009]. Pag umulan, nandun kami sa Malabon, dumpsite. Sobrang shallow ng inuupuan namin. I couldn't call na packup kasi made-delay. May mga ganung hazards. Pag producer ka, wala kang cutoff. Ang hirap pag producer ka, nakikita mo yung expenses, pag nade-delay, mas malaki ang gastos. But when you see the support of a lot of people, nawawala ang pagod mo."
The cast members of Children of the Lake will be shooting at actual Ground Zero in Marawi City. "We'll be there for about a month. I'm going to be there for a whole month. Around 100 people will be there."
Asked Piolo how big is their budget for their Marawi movie. He disclosed, "More than P50 million. It's ambitious."
Piolo then pointed out that the movie Children of the Lake is part of Robin's Tindig Marawi project, a campaign to help rebuild war-torn Marawi City. "Tindig Marawi itself is an ambitious project. We need to come up with P250 million to put up 100 houses for the displaced people. All the proceeds will go to the rehabilitation of Marawi."
Are there plans for Piolo to do a movie with Claudine Barretto in the future? "Wala pa, e. I'm still relying on what my management is telling me. ABS-CBN hasn't told me anything with regards to the film that I'll be doing after the soap [Since I Found You]."
Is he be open to reuniting with Claudine for a movie? "Of course! Oo naman, Clau yun. Clau helped me a lot. Lifetime na yun. The kind of relationship that I have with Claudine, it's gonna be lifetime."
In a previous interview, Piolo revealed that he has already several movies lined up for him. "Meron akong dalawang na na-oohan na magandang proyekto. Another one with Lav [Diaz], another one with Raya Martin, yung mga indie directors. And, of course, Marawi movie [referring to Children of the Lake]."
Piolo previously worked with Lav Diaz for the 2018 movie Ang Panahon ng Halimaw and the 2016 film Hele sa Hiwagang Hapis. As for Raya Martin, he directed the 2009 film Manila, which Piolo produced. Piolo is also slated to do another movie with the film production arm of ABS-CBN. “Naghihintay din ako because depende yun sa schedule, e, pero nakatango pa ko ng isa pang pelikula sa Star Cinema."
***
Dimples Romana admits she was shocked when her Bagani role became controversial. In this ABS-CBN series, she plays Babaylan Gloria, a seer in the land of Sansinukob who helps the Baganis in their mission.
The character is also known to supply comic relief through her chants ("mekeni mekeni dugdug doremi") and dance rituals that have gone viral on social media. However, the character became controversial when GMA-7 headwriter Suzette Doctolero did not agree with the depiction of babaylans in the series.
Doctolero is known as the creator of the Kapuso epicserye Amaya, which was based on the way and life of pre-colonial Filipinos, including babaylans.
When asked for her reaction, Dimples said, "Ako, sa totoo lang, ang stand ko doon, nirerespeto namin lahat, e. Kasi siyempre, kahit naman hindi roles, kahit tayo bilang tao, we cannot really be on the good side of everybody. Siyempre, meron at merong mag-o-oppose, magkakaroon sila ng opinyon, e, okay lang naman yun. Ako naman ay artista, handa ako sa mga ganong bagay."
However, she admitted that she was shocked by Suzette's opinion which she expressed through social media.
Dimples said, "Na-shock ako kasi sa totoo lang, when that came out, she praised my acting ability, e. So basically, when I was looking at it, hindi ako nag-take offense kasi may respeto ako. Just the same as when kunyari, hindi kasi ako nakakapanuod noong sa kanila, pero kung napanuod ko yun, I would also have things to say, may it good, may it be bad, pero yun ay normal kasi ito ay trabaho, e. Even for writers, di ba? I'm sure not everything you write will be amicable to everyone. But you have to be ready for that because this is a creative world. We have to be ready for that. Ako, nirerespeto ko yung sinabi ni Ma'am, okay lang yun, walang problema sa akin. Ako talaga, lumaki na ako sa industriyang ito and what I learned from all the veteran actors I've worked with is to always respect. And my respect goes not only to my co-actors but also to our writers, may it be from our station or the other, I always have respect for everybody. Sabi ko nga sa 'yo, noong binasa ko, nagulat ako kasi hindi ako sanay na pinag-uusapan, in that way, hindi ako sanay. Pero kasi noong binasa ko, because there was a phrase there which she said my acting is good, parang doon pa lang, ano na ako, okay po. Wala namang ano sa akin."
Dimples recalled the times when her character Amanda in the 2016 teleserye The Greatest Love was roasted on social media.
"Sa totoo lang, ako, nine-nerbiyos nga ako pag tinatawag na controversial, maski yung kay Amanda noon. This is also basically the same feeling I had with Amanda because back then, Amanda was being bashed because of how dark the character has become but it's the reality. With Bagani, because it's fiction, there's more room for that, I guess."
The 33-year-old actress also admitted that she was not privy to the development of her character.
She said, "Kasi every time that I accept a role, I'm more to go with the flow. And even with Amanda, I knew parts of it were going to be dark but I didn't know it was going to be that dark. So I guess parang ako rin, respeto ko yun sa writer, e, kung saan nila gustong dalhin. Ang konti lang naman ng parameters na iniiwasan ko, e—no bold scenes, no kissing, no drug scenes, no smoking, hindi rin ako marunong noon, e. Yun lang naman, so other than that they can basically explore as much."
With regards to her chants and dance steps in Bagani, Dimples said that she did not do any ad lib in her scenes for the show.
"Actually, alam mo, when we were doing the Babaylan scenes that were controversial, I was just really going with the flow and I listen to my directors. I read the script, it's all in the script, even the mekeni mekeni. Kasi a lot of people are asking, 'Did you make that up?' You know, in a fiction like this, we're basically tied to just saying what's in the script kasi it's hard dahil masyado kaming maraming characters na gumagalaw. Baka mamaya pag may ginalaw ka na linya, tapos mababago yung intention ng ibang roles, hindi yun maganda."
Bagani, which is top-billed by Liza Soberano and Enrique Gil, has already announced its nearing conclusion in the following weeks.