On Friday, May 27, the brilliance of award-winning director Brillante Mendoza earned the trust of the Virgin Forest cast despite going scriptless.
In the virtual media conference of the movie, Sid Lucero started by saying that the director’s technique was to capture the authentic emotions of the actors.
“Because the thing with Brillante kasi and the way he works, he basically takes normal people and throws them into a situation and then he captures the action when we’re finally there,” he said.
Lucero admitted that he learned a lot from Mendoza’s way of directing a movie as he totally immersed himself in character.
Angeli Khang, his co-star in Virgin Forest, had the liberty to explore her role totally. As an artist, she trusted Direk Brillante just to capture whatever emotion she gave out.
“Kasi it doesn’t have any lines. Puro explanations lang sa surroundings. Kaya ikaw talaga ang magbibigay ng color sa mga ideas ni Direk. More on deep meaning and emotional feelings kaya sobrang natutuwa ako na nagawa namin lahat ‘yung mga nasa script,” explained the sexy star.
Internationally acclaimed actor Vince Rillon even pointed out that getting picked by the director as part of the cast is a responsibility given to the actors to be in character as soon as the camera starts rolling.
“Kapag andoon ka na sa character and andoon ka na sa shooting, automatically, walang tama o walang mali. Parang hindi mo bibigyan ng limitation ang mga dialogue na sasabihin mo. Dahil nga nasa character at nasa puso iyon.”
Katrina Dovey trusted the filmmaker to the point that she came to set always prepared.
“Since there was no script, I just came to the set every day, ready for anything to happen. As soon as I knew what the situation is, just internalizing and getting into character,” shared Dovey.
She also had the opportunity to just focus on her acting instead of memorizing her lines.
Micaella Raz also agreed that Mendoza makes an artist come to set prepared as a director.
“Gaya ng sinabi nila, nagi-internalize, nagpe-prepare talaga kami na into character talaga kami kapag tinawag na kami ni Direk.”
Meanwhile, it was obvious that going without a script put actors like Rob Guinto nervous. She said it was challenging for her to channel emotions without knowing where she would base those.
But being directed by a notable filmmaker like Mendoza, the sexy actress discovered how it was easier to stick to the keywords that the director gave them.
“Bibigyan lang kami ng mga keywords. Tapos doon na po kami humuhugot ng idea kung paano ide-deliver ang lines.
“Naging mahirap noong una. Pero dahil nandiyan naman po si Direk Brillante, hindi naman po kami pinabayaan.”
Lucero, however, had a hard time. He admitted that unnecessary words sometimes come out of his mouth without a script that limits him.
“I honestly have a harder time. I like to adlib, I really do. A lot of my work especially on TV, I really adlib a lot. I find comfort in the script that I have. I know that I have a fence that I can’t get over. Sometimes, in a film like this, I blurt certain things that shouldn’t be in a movie.”
The actor felt liberated at the same time as well. He stressed, “what’s nice about that is that you’re not forced to say anything. The scenes speak for themselves, which makes it really nice.”
The Virgin Forest director has won numerous awards both locally and internationally. His most recent was Kim Jiseok Award at the 26th Busan International Film Festival for his work Gensan Punch.
Mendoza also gave Rillon his first international award during the 19th Asian Film Festival in Rome, Italy. The latter won Best Actor, while the former was given the Lifetime Achievement Award for their movie Resbak.
As for his recent work, the filmmaker’s Virgin Forest will have its world premiere on June 24.
