The force behind direk Jeffrey Tan

At 23, Jeffrey Tan is the youngest director in mainstream cinema today. Mother Lily Monteverde and her daughter, Roselle Teo, give him his break as a filmmaker in the youth-oriented horror flick, White Lady.

We remember Jeff as the gangly teener who used to hang around when his mom, the late Universal Records exec Bella Tan, would launch the latest album of one of their artists at the Universal Tower along Quezon Avenue. Little did we know that he would be a movie director someday.

"It was my mom who encouraged me to direct," he says. "She told me to put up a production company that will make the music videos for the songs of our artists. So that’s how I started directing, with music videos. Many people think I studied film directing in the US, but the truth is everything I know about film, I learned through self-study. I finished multi-media arts at the College of St. Benilde and I was able to get hold of the best books on filmmaking and I also watched a lot of music videos and films that help me gain more knowledge about the art of cinema."

After his mom passed away in April of last year, he refused to go to the Universal Tower again. "Her passing away is very painful for me. Up to now, hirap na hirap ako each time I remember her. And when I’d go to Universal, I’d see her office and I just get reminded that she’s gone. When my elder sister, Jaclyn, got married on July 2, my dad and I cried as we really miss my mom so much at wala na siya in that important event in our family. I’m so happy when Mother Lily and Roselle gave me the chance to direct my first full length movie as it made me really busy."

How did he get to work with the Monteverdes? "When they did Mano Po 3 shown in the Metro Filmfest of 2005, they got two of our artists, Karylle and Jerome John Hughes, to sing the theme song. I was assigned to direct its music video and Mother Lily was very pleased with my work she offered me to direct a full length film for Regal. But my mom’s cancer recurred then and I had to accompany her to the States for the chemotherapy, so hindi natuloy. After my mom was gone, Mother Lily asked me again to direct the music video of their 2006 filmfest entry, Blue Moon, and also offered me to direct a movie. This time, I was just too happy to accept their offer and it turned out to be White Lady."

He felt reluctant at first. "Kasi, I was dreaming my first movie would be a dramatic love story, like The Notebook or Message in a Bottle. Kaso nga, horror movie ang na-assign sa akin. The script has been written by Don Michael Perez and Joel Nuñez a long time ago and when I read it, wow, I told myself, this would be difficult to do as it calls for a lot of special effects. I also wasn’t really the first choice as director, but I didn’t mind. I considered it a challenge na lang to do it, and now, I’m happy I accepted their offer. I’m grateful to Mother and Roselle as they gave me full support once we started shooting. Since I am not familiar with our local stars, they did the casting of the movie for me."

The movie was shot on location in UP Los Baños and revolves on a ghost who haunts the campus. The story starts when the school janitor, played by Nanding Josef, sees a mysterious lady in white writing on the blackboard inside one of the classrooms while singing an Ilonggo lullaby. He approaches her and when she turns around, he sees a horribly disfigured face that shocks him out of his senses.

The white lady is played by Angelica Panganiban, a shy probinsyana from Iloilo who falls in love with the campus heartthrob, JC De Vera. But JC’s friends, who include Iwa Moto, Katarina Perez, Glaiza de Castro, Jason Abalos, Gian Carlos and Ketchup Eusebio, are all against her. They make fun of her and once, while playing a cruel joke on her, she dies accidentally in a fire that engulfs the hut where she was locked in. She then comes back to take revenge on her tormentors, using a new girl in the campus, Pauleen Luna, to help her in her acts of vengeance. It’s also Pauleen who discovers how Angelica was killed, with the help of Angelica’s grandma, Boots Anson Roa, whose role here also has a surprising twist in it.

How long did it take him to finish principal photography? "Thirteen days," says Jeff. "I had to make a lot of adjustments with the time constraints as I was used to shooting a music video for three days. I’m thankful that all the stars are good and very cooperative. Hindi nila ako pinahirapan, even Iwa and Gian, considering this is just their first movie. They all deliver and since we’re all young, parang classmates lang kaming lahat sa set. All the members of the barkada who caused Angelica’s death die according to their respective phobias, like Ketchup is terribly afraid of rats, so Angelica appears to him as an image full of rats who then starts chasing him. Iwa becomes terribly afraid of the ghost of Angelica who then appears to her as her own reflection in the mirror. The mirror then breaks into little pieces and pierces her face and body. Hats off ako kay Angelica rito as she was made to appear with heavy prosthetic make-up in several scenes. It was so hot and she had it on for 24 hours and she became allergic to it, but she’s really a professional who never complained. I shot the movie on a high definition camera, so hindi limited ang footage that I can expose. It was then blown up at Ignite Media, where we also did the editing, the sound design and the special effects. I saw to it that I have my hands on sa bawat aspect ng post-production. Talagang I supervised everything from start to finish to make sure hindi ako mapapahiya kina Mother and Roselle."

Has he seen the finished film? What does he think of his work?

"Yes, I’ve seen it and, modesty aside, I can say it’s a very fulfilling experience. I have so many blessings these days. The music video of Gary Valenciano’s song, Break Me, which we did as a tribute to my mom, won honors for Gary at the Awit Awards and it garnered six nominations in the coming MTV Awards."

Jeff is turning 24 on July 23. The movie will open in theaters nationwide on July 19. His birthday wish is for moviegoers to flock to the theaters to watch it. "I’m satisfied with my work, but I don’t know yet if I really succeeded in scaring the audience. So, on the first day of showing, I’d go around the theaters where it’s shown to see how the viewers will react to it."

How does he think his mom would have received the movie if she were still around? "I did my best and I think she’d be proud of me. Sayang nga at wala na siya rito to watch my very first movie."