Cholo Laurel: From commercials to movies

We always greet the initial work of a debuting director with excitement, hoping he will be a new filmmaker who will help save the moribund film industry by coming up with more sensible cinematic fare. One such new director is Cholo Laurel, whom Star Cinema plucked out from anonymity and given the break to meg his first movie, the thriller-romance Nasaan Ka Man. His original script must have been really impressive for Star usually gives such breaks only to homegrown talents who have honed their directing skills in ABS-CBN drama shows.

Born on July 26, 1961 in San Juan, Cholo is the youngest of five children. He finished high school at Marist School in Marikina then took up Masscomm in UP. "It took me several years to finish the course," he confesses. "I was a delinquent student and only graduated in 1986. Jessica Soho of GMA 7 was in my batch. "

It was in UP that he met Ricky Lee. "I took up scriptwriting under him but I never thought I’d one day direct a film which he co-wrote. He taught me how to format a script well, leading to the logical progression of the story. I learned so much from him as he also has the biggest collection of old films, then in VHS format."

After graduation, direk Cholo worked with different advertising agencies. "I was an executive producer for many TV commercials. In 1995, after 10 years of doing the same thing, I decided to take up filmmaking in New York University. I was then working with Electromedia and my boss, Mr. Amar Gambol, a very good man, saw my potential and agreed to give me a grant to study there. I took up two six-month courses, filmmaking and advanced filmmaking. I stayed in an apartment with other Filipino students, one of them Ed Lejano, who now teaches in UP. I returned here in 1996 and Mr. Gambol also gave me the break as a director. My first directorial job was Gary Valenciano’s Until Then music video that won in the MTV Awards. Then I directed Gary in his Bioderm commercial. Since then, I’ve been directing one or two commercials every month and I’ve lost count of how many commercials I’ve directed."

Three years ago, he got the itch to direct a full-length film. "I felt I’ve become more preoccupied with the basic concerns of life like paying the rent, food and rearing the children under my care. I have three. One is a 10-year-old boy whose father is blind and whose mother is a market vendor. He’s so bright but he’s not going to school since they lack money so I offered to take care of him. The other two are children of my mom’s nurse who took care of her until she died. After my mom passed away, they had nowhere else to go so I asked them to stay with me."

His dream of making a movie continued to nag him. "I decided to pursue that dream, didn’t accept offers of directing TV commercials, and concentrated on writing a screenplay. I got the germ of the story from the children I’m taking care of. What if two of them really fall in love with each other when they grow up? The look of the film is also old kasi mahilig ako sa luma. As a child, I’d get my mom’s old letters and be fascinated with the stories and people I read in them."

He first tried to pitch his story with Viva Films. "Vincent del Rosario liked it but someone from Viva told me they already have something similar to my story concept. By divine intervention naman, Star Cinema called me and asked if I have any story I might want to direct for them. I said yes and I gave them my story. They later called me up to say they’d do it, but I have to work with Ricky Lee to streamline the script. This is, of course, just fine with me as Ricky is my mentor. Soon after that, Viva called me up again saying they want to get the script na, but I told them Star Cinema got it na."

This is how his film, Nasaan Ka Man, came to be. The story concerns three people, Claudine Barretto as Pilar, Diether Ocampo as Ito and Jericho Rosales as Joven, the adopted children of two spinster sisters, Hilda Koronel and Gloria Diaz. They are all living happily in an old house in Baguio until Pilar and Joven announce that they intend to get married as they have fallen in love with each other. The sisters cannot take it as they were brought up as brother and sister. Meantime, it turns out Ito is also in love with Pilar and something snaps in his head, leading to some morbid consequences.

How did they cast the film? "From the start, Star Cinema already told me it will be a Jericho movie so I wrote the character of Joven with him in mind. Initially, they were considering Desiree del Valle as Pilar but when they decided it’s going to be Claudine, I had to rewrite it to make her role more prominent. They also chose Diether. At first, people were telling me, ‘Huwag yan, hindi magaling yan,’ so I told him, ‘This is a difficult role I wish you could put yourself into it.’ And he did. I asked naman for Hilda and Gloria. I’ve always loved Hilda since I saw her in Insiang and I was impressed by Gloria in Batang Westside. I’ve seen the films at ang kahusayan nila was so overwhelming."

Why did he choose to set the story in Baguio? "It has to be Baguio because of the mystery, the fog, the coldness that’s all in the story. At first, I was about to give up na rin when we cannot find the right house as I want something on top of a hill and facing a forest. Then, as we stopped near Mines View Park to smoke, when I turned to my left, I screamed, ‘This is it!’ It turned out to be the ancestral home of the Puyats but it’s condemned as the 1990 earthquake destroyed it. We had to rebuild one half of it to be able to use it and I’d like to thank Star Cinema for financing the construction."

How did he get his technical people? "Most of them, galing sa Star, like Jesse Lasaten as musical scorer, Marya Ignacio as editor, and Charlie Peralta as cinematographer. I want to get sana a cinematographer I’ve worked with in commercials but Star Cinema wanted Charlie. Later on, I was so thankful as he turned out to be a blessing. Kasi amateur director lang ako, so he helped me a lot with my shots. The only one I insisted kunin ko was Jon Cuyson, my production designer in my TV commercials. Very particular kasi ako sa design and, in fairness, Star Cinema was impressed with him. Jon even got all the costumes with the ‘luma’ look from the ukay-ukay in Baguio. He designed even the makeup. Iba ang make- up ni Claudine when she’s pretty at iba rin when she’s scared. If there’s one aspect of the film that should win an award, it’s the production design."

So what’s next for him? "Star Cinema has asked me to submit a new script. This time, I want to do a feel good, light and bubbly movie."

Would he also direct TV shows? "No. Nawawalan ng buhay ang mga tao sa TV sa magdamagang taping. I don’t need that much money naman so I’d be content to make one film every two years, with me also doing TV commercials every now and then."