Once a TV executive, now a film director of scary movies, Perci Intalan is a man passionate about creating memorable films. He has directed Nora Aunor (who could have been a National Artist) recently in Dementia and currently just finished his part in a trilogy of films that make up Shake Rattle and Roll XV — his segment is called Flight 666. The entire movie is shot on a plane and I believe was his most challenging to film. How to contain your cast made up of Matteo Guidicelli, Lovi Poe, Kiray Celis, Yael Yuzon, Khalil Ramos, Daniel Matsunaga, John Lapus, etc, in a hot plane? Watching the rushes, I had my eyes closed a few times. For a frequent traveler like myself, I am always disturbed by plane movies but to my surprise it was quite entertaining. After the sneak screening, I asked direk Perci if he would share with us his favorite books. These are his top 10.
1. Once and Future King by T.H. White. “I grew up on musicals. One of those was Camelot (1967) starring Richard Harris and Vanessa Redgrave. During my younger years, the classic love triangle of Arthur-Guinevere-Lancelot fascinated me. Later, I was focused more on Arthur as a king and the idea of a utopia that was too good to last. In my 20s, I stumbled upon Once and Future King, the book on which the musical was based. I was enthralled by it. The texture and the language, the humanity of Arthur, the complexity of Lancelot, and Merlin growing old backwards (precursor of Benjamin Button!)… I was lost in it! By the end of the book, I was teary-eyed.”
2. The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. “First, I can proudly say that I read these books years before there was even news of Peter Jackson turning them into a movie. Second, I can proudly say that, yes, I finished them. Even if it took me years to do so. I love tales of dragons and quests and heroes. But I must say, that love was really put to the test when I started reading these Tolkien books. At first, I thought it tedious. I gave up on reading them more than a few times. But soon, everything started to sink in. The world that Tolkien painstakingly described started to form in my head. And I kept going back to the maps. I feel like I watched the movies before Peter Jackson ever began filming.”
3. The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. “Of course, who hasn’t read these? I still remember a friend of mine raving about it. I was skeptical because it was in the juvenile section, for Pete’s sake! But read them. I read the first one as Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (yes, not the Sorcerer’s Stone that it later became in the American edition). I recall I boarded a plane to Hong Kong (where I was based then) and started reading it. I couldn’t put it down until I landed, until I got to my apartment, until the next morning. And of course, the rest is history.”
4. Sandman graphic novels by Neil Gaiman. “Ironically I was not really a big comics reader when I was young. I did not collect anything. I always felt they were a bit too, well, comical. But when a friend introduced me to Neil Gaiman’s Sandman series (I started in the middle of the series, Season of Mists), I knew I wasn’t in Clark Kent’s Kansas anymore. Dream, the hero of the series, is to me the embodiment of that tortured, brooding, cloud-over-my-head 1990s cool. After Sandman, I had a newfound appreciation for graphic novels. And I think the comics industry started to shift to more mature, more complex, more unpredictable characters and stories too. I can put a long list of my favorite graphic novels, but that’s for another time. For now, suffice it to say that Sandman is where it all began for me — and these books are among my treasured possessions.”
5. Dekada ’70 by Lualhati Bautista. “When my brother moved out of the house and went to New York, one of the books left in his room was Lualhati Bautista’s Dekada ’70. It was the mid 1980s and I was in high school. I had no social and political awareness whatsoever. Then, for some reason, I decided to read this book. It wasn’t because it was an assignment or anything. I just decided to read. And it really did open my eyes. When I finished I remember having a sense of guilt, all this time I grew up a rather sheltered martial law baby whose only concern was the cancellation of Voltes V. This book was my awakening.”
6. Vampire Chronicles: Books 1-5 by Anne Rice. “Okay, so I will admit, this was already the mid-‘90s and I was very much aware that a cool movie was coming out starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Antonio Banderas and (then quite the star) Christian Slater. So I read the book. And I started with the wrong one, haha! I read The Vampire Lestat before Interview With the Vampire. But I think that was why I found it so engaging. Indeed, Anne Rice can rival Tolkien in her level of lengthy detail in describing each and every room in each and every house. And yet, I got bitten by the vampire bug. I loved Queen of the Damned, I kinda breezed through Tale of the Body Thief and somehow decided to end it with Memnoch the Devil. There were more titles that followed but I was quite done by then. And maybe that’s why I never quite got into the Twilight books or all of those vampire shows and movies. It was Lestat that first turned me and so I am loyal to him.”
7. Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.
“If people ask me what’s a good, funny fantasy book, I would recommend his collaboration with Neil Gaiman on Good Omens. This one is seriously funny. It was not just how the Anti-Christ got baby-swapped when he was born, or how the Hound of Hell got all confused when he went to the wrong child and suddenly realized his mission is now superceded by an unusual desire to chase cats — every little detail in the book made me laugh.”
8. Positioning by Al Ries and Jack Trout. “I know it’s strange to put an advertising book in this list, but this was the book was a big ‘Aha!’ moment for me. The idea for positioning products in consumers’ minds was, to me in the early years of my career, quite revolutionary. I was a junior copywriter doing TV promotions at GMA when I read this. Then it just clicked. I started doing better promos, starting winning awards here and abroad, and later, I headed the promo department of TV5. Since then there have been many ‘hot’ new marketing principles in so many ‘hot’ new marketing books.But for me, it all boils down to the simplicity of Positioning.”
9. Mythology by Edith Hamilton. “This is a book from my childhood: a collection of stories from Greek mythology that is so beautifully and succinctly written it helped me learn to visualize what I read. What young child would not be enraptured by tales of dueling gods and goddesses, lovers like Orpheus and Eurydice, heroes like Perseus, Jason and Theseus, and an epic war as great as the Trojan War? Whenever stories from Greek mythology are developed into movies, I must admit feeling a bit underwhelmed sometimes. Because of Edith Hamilton’s book, I felt like I grew up in this world. I flew on winged horse, found the Golden Fleece and survived the Labyrinth of the Minotaur. It was quite a childhood.”
10. Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman. “Obviously I’m a fan of Neil Gaiman. This collection of stories has some of my favorite ones: “Chivalry” is about a nice old woman who finds the Holy Grail in a thrift shop and winds up bargaining with a Knight. “The Price” is about a cat who always appears bloodied every morning as if it came from battle — but with whom and for what? “Snow, Glass, Apples” is for me the best twist to a fairytale bar none (yes, even compared to Maleficent). And then there is the book’s introduction. Only Neil Gaiman would put a story in the Introduction that is so unforgettable and so magical, I would put it up there with “The Gift of the Magi.” And thus I decided that, when I grow up, I want to be Neil Gaiman. And until I do become him, I will simply refuse to grow up.”
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“The Reading Club” recommends The Legend Trilogy — Legend, Prodigy and Champion — by author Marie Lu who recently visited the Philippines. Available at all National Bookstores and Powerbooks.
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You may reach me for comments and suggestions at gr.rodis@gmail.com. Follow me on Instagram and twitter as @showbizmanila.