61-year-old dramatic actor Albert Martinez considers his role in ‘The Iron Heart’ one of the most challenging in his career.
Seasoned actor Albert Martinez differentiated his character in the action drama series, The Iron Heart, from the previous roles he played. During our set visit to the show’s taping locations in Cebu, last February 6 and 7, the dashing actor underscored the importance of Priam, the character he plays, in his career.
The actor shared, “Well, (in terms of) physical to begin with, is…may pagka-recluse—hindi siya fashionable. He doesn’t care of what he wears,” he shared, describing the character’s fashion sense.
Martinez notes that Priam is by far the most painful character he has ever played.
In the series, Priam is notably the main antagonist, whom Richard Gutierrez’s character, Apollo, is eyeing to take down. He is also the head of the criminal organization known as ‘Tatsulok’, which Apollo blames for his father’s demise.
“Ang mahirap talaga eh, this is the first time that I play a character who is pain-driven, especially si Engineer, pain-frive siya. All of his actions are the results of pain: pain from the loss of his son, then he lost his second son, and now there is no more reason to live,” he said.
“Ang point lang niya, ma-avenge lang niya ‘yung pagkawala ng anak niya. So pain-driven. It’s a totally new persona, kasi when you’re pain-driven, the way you think is different. That I think is the hardest part,” Martinez added.
The actor confessed that each time he portrays the role of this “Engineer”, he feels the pain.
Calling it the scariest character he has ever played, Martinez shared that Priam is the kind of person who does not think when responding to betrayal and threats.
He expressed, “This is the scariest character that I’ve played, kasi in a wink of an eye you’re dead, without thinking. Hindi siya ‘yung maaawa sa’yo. Kasi he’s so sharp, alam na niya pag he was wronged by this person…ganon ang persona niya.”
He shared that he studied characters similar to Priam, and how such a character behaves, in order to play the role effectively.
‘The Iron Heart’ airs from Monday to Friday on ABS-CBN’s Primetime Bida block across multiple platforms, including free-to-air channels, A2Z and TV5, and pay channels, Kapamilya Channel, and Jeepney TV. It also streams online via iWantTFC and Kapamilya Online Live.
