Laurice: Actor’s director

MANILA, Philippines — As a narrative space, soap opera (also may called drama teleserye) showcases female emotions and aspirations. As a form of entertainment, it is traditionally viewed as for women. Not in the case of Ika-6 Na Utos though. The GMA drama with the adultery theme, helmed by the Laurice Guillen, will have its reincarnate in Ika-5 Utos. Direk Laurice is still on top of it.

“When we did Ika-6 na Utos, not only women watched it, also men did,” said the lady auteur on the teleserye’s audience in an interview with The STAR. “We had fans from both men and women.” This could be attributed to lead star Gabby Concepcion’s women fan base that “finds him handsome and charming” and men who have been following his career, shared the director. “I notice that he has both men and women fans. So in that show, we couldn’t say we only had the female audience, we had male audience, too.”

With Ika-5 Utos, which premieres today on the GMA Afternoon Prime block, the director hopes that “the brand of Ika-, we’ll have the same viewership and even more.” It’s true since this new series intertwines the lives of Lorenzo, Buenaventura and Manupil families, against the Wag Kang Papatay (Thou Shall Not Kill) backdrop.

 “I try not to stereotype,” shared direk Laurice. “Even the default acting of my actors, binabago ko as much as possible so that the story and the characters will not be predictable.” Although stereotypes somehow help people understand the world, they make the creative experience less imaginative.

This is also where the director’s work comes in: “You always give it a fresh approach at maitawid yung storya na kapanipaniwala pero entertaining,” said direk Laurice.

Aside from love of family, the nature of violence will be explored on the show.

“Violence comes from a force from within,” shared the actress-director. “May mga tao na nataon lang na hindi nila kontrolado ang sarili nila (because) at that moment, perhaps they lost self-control or they were drunk, lalabas at lalabas yung violence. Even if one feels it, you’ll see that there’s a point of resistance. Walang mangyayaring violence kung walang force from within.” The topic complements the atmosphere of grief and guilt as shown in the trailer. The narrative involves death due to hazing and extra-marital affairs, and the aggrieved party seeks for truth and justice.    

Direk Laurice translates the written text to visual images that narrate tales with emotional proximity with audiences.

“Bigyan mo lang ng buhay,” she said. “Binibigyan ko lang ng buhay (I’m just breathing life into it).”

Asked what it’s like working on her set, she answered: “May proseso kasi ako at may disiplina. On my set, everyone really works. Everyone respects each other’s process, ma-artista man, ma-production staff man. May proseso lahat yun. I exact discipline. If I don’t, others will be discouraged and (that affects) quality. I’m always trying to push the quality.”
Being an actor’s director, direk Laurice knows the laborious and meaningful work that comes with the craft. 

“Others are conscious (in) trying to maintain consistency,” she said. “Yung dun sa iba na hindi nag-ma-maintain, duon ako medyo napapagod. You know, I have to make an extra effort.” 

“I know the process and I understand it,” she added. “So, I understand if they are preparing (for their scenes and roles) or not, if they are really working with the process or they’re just winging it.”

 Although she is known as a filmmaker, direk Laurice enjoys TV as a medium.

“Napa-practice ako at hindi ako nagiging stagnant,” she said. “Yung bwelo ng katawan ko, yung bwelo ng utak ko, at yung sense of purpose ko ay nanduon.”

(Ika 5-Utos stars Jean Garcia, Tonton Gutierrez, Gelli de Belen, Neil Ryan Sese, Antonio Aquitania, Jeric Gonzales, Valerie Concepcion, Jake Vargas, Migo Adecer, Klea Pineda and Inah de Belen.)