Kapuso primetime royalty Dingdong Dantes made his first splash in filmmaking via the trilogy film, Angels.
Seeing actors shift from acting to directing or [even] producing is no longer foreign in the local entertainment scene. In the past few years–the likes of Coco Martin, Alessandra de Rossi, Xian Lim, and Piolo Pascual made that leap.
One of the trilogy episodes of the film, Angels–marked Angel Locsin’s debut in producing, too, was directed by Kapuso actor Dingdong Dantes.
The said film was released on June 20, 2007, and grossed more than Php6 million at the local box office. Using his real name, Jose Dantes III, the actor-turned-director, helmed the second episode of the trilogy film, titled Daddy’s Angel.
Daddy’s Angel follows the story of the ex-convict and his bitter relationship with his son, whom he inadvertently left when he got imprisoned for accidentally killing his close friend, who raped his wife. The episode starred Marvin Agustin as the ex-convict, Ruben and Nash Aguas as his son, Angelo, Valerie Concepcion as Lennie, the mother. The cast also includes Jaclyn Jose, Dominic Ochoa, and Paolo Paraiso.
While Daddy’s Angels–was Dantes’s first venture to directing, he already directed several Kapuso shows before it. The actor helmed various episodes of GMA telefantasy Encantadia (2005) and Atlantika (2007), both of which he starred in. Dantes took film and TV production courses at Ateneo de Manila University.
Dantes knew that the shift he was making isn’t something he could easily pull off with ease. He shared in an interview that doing acting and directing isn’t “…I wouldn’t recommend. When an actor, I go into automatic shut-off; but as director, all the details also have to be part of my involvement on the set, and it’s just not easy for me to compromise anyone’s function. If directing, I’d want that to be my only focus — and similarly, when acting, that should also be the sole focus”
Nevertheless, Dantes subsequently immersed himself in a few more directorial stints on TV.
He directed several episodes of the drama anthology, Tadhana, which, interestingly, is currently hosted by his wife, Marian Rivera. He also made ventures into producing movies, including the very successful horror film series, ‘Aswang Chronicles’ where he served as an executive producer.
Do you still remember the film Angels and its episode, Daddy’s Angel? Browse through the photo gallery below to get refreshed. Comment below to share your thoughts about the film:
