Box-office or awards: What matters more to direk Cathy?

It’s on everyone’s lips these days. I’m talking about the success of It Takes A Man and A Woman, the third installment of the John Lloyd Cruz-Sarah Geronimo trilogy. In a little over a week, the movie has earned more than P200M.

The woman behind the film’s success is director Cathy Garcia-Molina, who has gained fame as the director of several romantic comedies, including One More Chance, Miss You Like Crazy, My Amnesia Girl and, of course, the first two John Lloyd-Sarah movies, A Very Special Love and You Changed My Life. According to direk Cathy (who’s now shooting her next project), neither she nor screenwriter Carmi Raymundo expected that the movie would turn out this way.

Here’s more of direk Cathy’s thoughts on the film, its actors, and how important box-office success is to her.

How do you feel hearing all the comments of people about the movie?

“Overwhelmed talaga kasi laging may fear. When we did Part 1, we had a new tandem na buti na lang, naging successful. Sa Part 2, the problem was, how do you keep the level of interest of the audience? Then four years later, eto na ang Part 3. Tumanda ang artista ko, pati ang nanood ng Parts 1 and 2, tumanda na rin. Takot na takot kami ni Carmi, ano ang gugustuhin nilang mapanood kay Laida at kay Miggy? Ano ang tatanggapin ng tao? Tapos n’ung pumasok na ang comments ng mga tao na favorite nila ito, na it’s the best of the trilogy daw, tagos sa puso, na stress-reliever daw at may iba pa na nagsasabing life-changing daw ‘yung movie because of certain lines that the characters said, ‘yung mga words of wisdom, nakaka-overwhelm talaga.”

Story-wise, how  different is this third movie from the first two?

“Part three is the most real, kasi sinabak mo sila sa problema ng tunay na buhay. Part one was a fairytale. Sa Part two, binukas mo sila sa problema ng isang relasyon kasi mag-on na sila. In this movie, binukas mo naman sila sa outside forces affecting the relationship. Niluwagan mo ang scope, that a relationship is not just between two people, that there are other factors: death of the father, distance between the two, a third party, problems affecting work, the mother na nakipaghiwalay sa tatay, the reality that ang isang relasyon is not just between the two of you.”

Do you think the same story concept could have worked with different actors?

“Anybody could be Laida and Miggy, pero ibang Laida at Miggy. Laida now is someone who could only be portrayed by Sarah. Puwede rin naman, let’s say, si Bea (Alonzo), pero magiging iba ang characteristics ni Laida. Bawa’t artista, may kanya-kanyang strength, may kanya-kanyang galing. If we used different actors, maybe it could also be successful but it would be a different story, different dynamics, different characterization. At this point kasi, si Laida at si Sarah, naging iisa. Si Miggy at si John Lloyd, iisa.”

The movie is a big box-office hit. As a director, are you more concerned with the box-office performance, or with winning awards?

“Box-office. Kasi sabi nga ni (the late director) Marilou Diaz-Abaya, ang awards, ilang tao lang ang pumipili, mga 10 to 12 people. Kapag gumawa ka ng pelikula for the awards, yung laki, o ‘yung dami ng pusong puwedeng ma-touch, hindi gano’n karami. Kapag box-office, mas marami kang naabot. So it feels good, not really because it earned but because maraming nakarinig ng kuwento mo.”

At this point,  the movie has already breached the P300-M  mark. Are you allowing yourself to think that it could set a new record in terms of the box-office, that it could become the highest-grossing local film of all time?

“Parang napaka-ipokrita ko naman if I say I don’t wish that. Ang Sisterakas, naka-P390M yata. It would be a very special gift or bonus kapag narating namin ‘yon kasi medyo tall order siya to beat eh, pero even to come close to it will be very okay.”

Which of the three films is your favorite?

“Wala akong favorite sa tatlo. Pare-pareho ang level ng dugo’t pawis ang ibinuhos ko, mga sleepless nights, sunugan ng kilay. Kaya hindi ako maka-play favorites.”

What is your favorite romantic comedy?

“That’s the funny thing. Ironically, I don’t watch too many love stories. I’m more of an action, adventure and sci-fi fan.”

What are the particular challenges involved in directing a romantic comedy?

“Ang challenge ng romcom is how to make it different everytime. Kokonti lang naman ang formula ng isang romcom: boy meets girl, tapos pag nagkakilala, may problema, mag-aaway, magbabati. It’s challenging because halos romcom ang mga ginawa ko, how to make it different every time. As a director, iisipin mo, ‘Ano ang ang iibahin ko?’ For as long as I am in this business, I will try to make it different every time.”

Do you get tired of being referred to as “The Romcom Director”?

“Not at all. Sometimes, yes I have this thing na sana may iba rin akong magawa, pero bakit mo hihindian ang isang bagay na alam mo, na marunong ka, at nakakapagpasaya ka ng tao? At least meron akong isang bagay na alam kong gawin.”

Bravo, direk Cathy!