If theater/TV/movie actor Jake Macapagal expected anything out of a call from Celine Lopez to meet her and British director Sean Ellis for breakfast, it was to help in the casting of actors, line producers, assistant directors and the like. The director was searching for someone to play the lead Oscar for his film, plus other characters. Jake asked Sean for a character breakdown, and proceeded to call several actors to meet the director that very same day.
After a few days, Jake received an e-mail asking him to assist in reading for several actors which he did. Several days after, Sean offered him the lead saying, “I knew I had found Oscar the moment we sat down for breakfast, the very first day we met.”
Sean started taking pictures at 11, trained as a still life photographer, went into experimental fashion photography that seamlessly led to music videos, commercials for the likes of Jean Paul Gaultier and Hugo Boss, until he realized filmmaking was what he really wanted to do. From 2001, Sean had written and directed three short films and two features that have been premiered and won awards in Chicago, Tribecca, Cannes, Toronto, San Sebastian, L.A. and Sundance. This latest film titled Metro Manila tells of the journey of Oscar Ramirez and family away from the poverty-stricken rice fields of his hometown to fall prey to the machinations of a senior officer of an armored truck operator they both work for and will eventually rob.
Jake to us has been a fixture in Philippine theater for as long as we remember. It appeared to us he was just biding his time for the big break. To say that the lead role in Metro Manila just fell on his lap could actually be true.” It is my first lead in a full-length film, first time to work with an acclaimed British film director and given the role of an associate producer. The responsibility that comes with the experience is daunting. Everyone who has been in the business for quite sometime knows that when a project comes to you, take it — it is yours and meant to be. On the other side of the coin, if it is not for you — it ain’t coming and never was meant. In gratitude, I welcomed this project as a gift,” …a gift of embracing tomorrow.
What we find amazing about this thriller project is that it is a simple story of human survival, written, directed and visualized by a Brit, with an all-Filipino cast which he intends to bring to the international audience.
Some weeks later, we met with Jose Javier Reyes, Joey to most, whom we had also known for his many years as scriptwriter-director of incisive and realistic material for which he had accumulated numerous awards. Joey, however, had never directed an indie and he had the perfect material for it, based roughly on his friendship with the late Don Escudero, Manny Castañeda and Khryss Adalia, and he was excited about it.
When Cinemalaya accepted his script, he knew its initial P500,000 seed money would not suffice and he needed around P3M more. Without much ado, his good friend Judy Ann Santos said she wouldn’t charge for her appearance, with three other girls Janice de Belen, Agot Isidro and Iza Calzado following suit. Joey’s long-time producer OctoArts’ Orly Ilacad (circa 1992, Bakit Labis Kitang Mahal, with Aga Muhlach, Lea Salonga, Ariel Rivera), said he would provide the balance needed. The film Mga Mumunting Lihim (Those Little Secrets) spoke of friendship, its solidity and fragility, and how one doesn’t really know one another completely.
As we fell in line for the film during the Cinemalaya Greenbelt showing, listened to the full audience whisper to one another how familiar each character was, we knew Joey had a killer here. Come awards night, apart from his Best Screenplay award, the ultimate recognition was given each of the four actresses Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress awards “whose acting as an ensemble was unparalleled in this specific film festival.” Apart from this, the film was rated A by the Cinema Evaluation Board, and given an MTRCB rating of PG-13. To us, Joey’s tomorrow had come. We knew he would do more indie-related mainstream projects.
The next step, naturally, was to show the winner commercially. Again, Orly Ilacad comes to the rescue, with prints, ads, promotions and all the expenses a mainstream movie requires. Hopes are high that Mga Mumunting Lihim, as well as director Jun Lana’s Bwakaw with Eddie Garcia as an aging gay with no friends but Bwakaw the dog, would introduce the new cinema to a younger, more discerning audience. Mga Mumunting Lihim opens Aug. 22 in mainstream theaters.
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