Safety is still the No. 1 priority of actor Richard Gutierrez, the lead star in the widely-followed primetime action series, The Iron Heart, especially in doing fight scenes.
Undeniably, the intense fight scenes got physical, at times. “Sometimes, we got bruises, but that’s okay to me,” Richard explained. “Although in our fight scenes, you cannot avoid really hitting each other, sorry to the one I’m fighting with.”
Since he often figured in grueling fight sequences with the villains in the series, Richard couldn’t specify a particular fight scene that really challenged him.
“We try to level up in each fight scene,” he explained. “The challenge is the time. Sometimes, we had limited time because of the location and the schedules of the artists, so we had to finish everything fast.”
One of the favorite fight scenes he executed recently was that with Baron Geisler. “Baron is really good,” Richard commented. “You’ll get carried away. His character is intense and he always taunts you, so you’ll get peeved.
“Recently, my and Baron’s fight scenes were one of the highlights of the series, because he kidnapped the family of my character. There was the drama aspect aside from the fight scene. Very challenging.”
They shot the fight scenes in their first two days in Cebu during one of the cycles of the tapings of The Iron Heart.
“Imagine coming from Manila, coming from a rest period, then reaching Cebu, we readily shot that fight scene and it took us two full days to finish just one fight scene,” Richard shared.
In charge of the fight scenes of the actors in The Iron Heart are directors Lester Ong and Singaporean action director Ace Wang Yang Bin.
“I give my inputs, as well,” Richard said. “It’s a collaborative process for us. We always think about what we can do differently. Sometimes, we would think of something different on the spot, so we would adapt.”
Richard is thankful that his directors are open to suggestions about certain scenes.
“So, it really feels good to have that collaborative process,” he said. “We know each other. They know my strengths by this time. My directors know what will look good for my fight scenes.
“We are making the process easier now compared to the first few months. Sometimes, we have fight scenes which we can finish faster than the scenes with dialogue.”
He further shared, “We can do the fight scenes 30 minutes to one hour. We always discussed the fight scenes. There are instances when I would tell them what I feel about doing a certain scene.
“I think it’s but normal to have a discussion and break down the scene, but I never said no to doing a certain scene. There are days when I don’t have any fight scene, so I really feel good about it. I can rest.”
However, there are days when his shooting schedule is loaded with fight scenes and that hardly gives him time to work out in the gym.
“I’m saving my energy for all the fight scenes,” he said. “Our taping is like work out for me, too.”
An avowed action fanatic since he was a kid, Richard has many references or ideas for his work. “Today, the standard for hard action is John Wick,” he said. “I was telling the team, ‘Guys, alam niyo ba si John Wick did that climactic Sacre-Coeur steps scene for six weeks? Tayo six minutes lang ang rehearsals.’
“We are always given such limited time to do the fight scenes, but we always manage to do something visually good. When we need some comic timing, we do Jackie Chan-style, with witty movements or ideas from Jet Li.”
James Bond is another inspiration and even the Mission Impossible films. “We always try to get different ideas and make them our own,” Richard granted.
Interestingly, every character in The Iron Heart has been given his own storyline and back story — from Baron Geisler to Diether Ocampo, Jake Cuenca, Ryan Eigenmann, Christian Vasquez, Dimples Romana.
“As of now, I can see we don’t need to introduce another character because it is only now that the characters of the villains are allowed to shine and given his own storyline,” explained Richard.
Ian Veneracion, who was earlier introduced in the series as Menandro Enriquez, is slated to return to The Iron Heart as soon as his schedule permits.
“We are like one big, happy barkada on the set with Dimples (Romana), Sue (Ramirez), Sofia (Andres),” Richard said. “Even Tito Albert Martinez has bonded with the cast. On days when he doesn’t have a taping schedule, instead of going back to Manila, he would rather stay (in Cebu) and hang around with the other cast.
“No egos. We all have a common goal to make the show better. We all have a common task and obligation, but try to have fun while we work. We are one big happy family.”