Direk Juan Miguel 'out of the box'

He loves Martin Scorsese and Alfred Hitchcock’s works. He also admires the films of Mike de Leon (Kisapmata) and Marilou Diaz-Abaya (Karnal). Thus, it is not surprising for those close to Juan Miguel Sevilla, a Mass Communications graduate at the Ateneo de Manila University, to do Cul de Sac (Dead End), an action-murder-mystery movie as a debuting filmmaker.

The Cinemabuhay-PLDT-Smart Foundation-produced film will be shown on Dec. 3 in SM theaters nationwide, and stars Sam Milby, Jodi Santamaria and Chin Chin Gutierrez.

According to Juan Miguel, suspense-mystery is his favorite genre.

“There’s something about it that catches my attention,” he replies when asked why he prefers suspense-mystery over drama, comedy and romance.

“That is the feeling of sympathy with the character and wanting to know what will happen next. This is something that hooks everyone (in the storytelling).”

Before the 23-year-old director tried his hand in mainstream moviemaking, Juan Miguel was a freelance director doing MTV and corporate videos. He was a student of Marilou Diaz-Abaya and Quark Henares. Juan Miguel says Marilou heightened his passion for filmmaking and seeing the importance of the entire process. Quark, on the other hand, showed him the value of working with people.

“It was overwhelming,” Juan Miguel describes his first foray into filmmaking and working with Sam, Jodi and Chin Chin.

“I feel for Sam during shootings because the movie schedule would overlap with his tapings for Dyosa. He worked harder. As an actor, he never gave me any headache. He was intense. I would tell him what he was supposed to do or feel. I would also explain to him the scenes. If he had an idea and couldn’t give what I wanted, we collaborated.”

That’s Juan Miguel as a director. He is never bossy nor overpowering. “I’m just quiet,” says the young filmmaker. “I can be creative inside the box, instead of out of the box. One should take limitations as challenges. If you think out of the box, you have this tendency to get kalat or cluttered.”

In between shooting breaks, he would rather take his time and watch his favorite movie.

At home, Juan Miguel writes poetry and short stories. He also paints.

Cul de Sac is a tale of a man (Sam) who feels he has reached the dead end of his life, without knowing that he can make choices or make a U-turn to leave his miserable life.

Asked how different Cul de Sac is from other suspense movies shown in recent years, Juan Miguel answers. “I think it’s not predictable because I try to guess what the audience will think.”