Works that win Sid's heart

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — “I’ll never forget it. It is scarred for a lifetime in a good way.” That’s Sid Lucero speaking about his experience shooting on the set of Amaya and Captive during the press interview here. Sid along with Claudine Barretto, Isabel Oli, sisters Ehra and Michelle Madrigal, Bubbles Paraiso and Victor Aliwalas took a break from their busy schedule to take part in the recently-held Bacolaodiat Festival: Kapuso Night.

“Before Amaya, I would have to say Captive,” says Sid of his unforgettable assignments. “There’s no other project that will probably come close to that — the way it was treated and how it was shot. It was like Tropic Thunder. They didn’t tell us (where) the squibs (were). There was a script but it was only Isabelle (Huppert, French actress and lead star of Captive) who could read it. They just told us that this is that. We went through training. We got really thin. We carried real live guns for 28 days on the set.”

That’s why when Sid went back to the city, he was culture shocked by its fast-paced lifestyle. You can’t blame him because he and the cast lived in the mountains for a month. “We went to north, south, east and west of Luzon,” Sid recalls. “We went to Tanay and Subic, among other places.”

Legacy star Sid Lucero gracing Bacolaodiat Festival: Kapuso Night: Amaya and Captive top his list

Sid is one of the Abus in Captive which made it to the upcoming Berlin Film Festival. He shares that Abus don’t follow a hierarchy. Thus, one might have a hard time figuring out who is the group leader. In the story, the leadership is passed on to Sid’s non-speaking character. 

As for Amaya, Sid says, ”the dialogue was heavy.” The actors taped from three to five times a week and the pre-colonial village set was their home for eight months.

How was his transition from being an independent to mainstream actor?

“I became more experienced,” Sid answers. “I’m still learning and experiencing a lot of new things… Everything I want to learn I’m learning through my job.” But Sid still plans to study and earn a college degree. 

After his GMA 7 starrer opposite Marian Rivera, Sid will be seen in Legacy. For him, it feels like home on the set as he will be working with his aunt Cherie Gil and cousin Geoff Eigenmann. His character will put up a business that goes up against Legacy by manufacturing the same but cheaper products. Then the business battle between Legacy and his own company begins.

As an actor, Sid uses the “being” approach he learned from mentors like director Peque Gallaga. It is challenging, taxing yet effective as “you go to the set, cry eight times a day and get something from inside.” Acting on TV, he says, becomes reflexive and reactive given its realities. One banks on a filing cabinet of emotions with pocket reactions to meet the demands of TV work. However, this must not be brought if one acts for the big screen.

“I base it on my co-actors,” says Sid of acting as a collaborative work. “I always say that an actor is only as good as the worst co-actor. You might be the best actor in the world. But if you and your co-actor don’t   communicate, walang mangyayari. (There should be) rapport.”

At the rate his showbiz career is going, Sid is delighted at how the indie artist in him has successfully crossed over to the mainstream.

“I’m very happy,” he says. “But I wouldn’t say this is what I expected. This is what (my manager) Ricky (Gallardo) and I talked about. That’s why I’m happy because kung anuman yung sinabi niya sa akin, he really stuck to it. In terms of the path (of) and what happened (in my career), nagkataon na lang. Tanggap lang kasi ako ng tanggap (ng projects).”