Enrique Gil ready to show unseen sides of himself in ‘Strange Frequencies’
MANILA, Philippines — Enrique Gil, the actor, is entering into a narrative world, where he also takes on the role of an amateur ghosthunter in “Strange Frequencies: Taiwan Killer Hospital.”
Enrique as himself makes an interpretation of a character that the public and even the people closest to him are not privy to.
In the 2024 Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) official entry, Enrique, the person we know, and Enrique, the character we are about to get to know, are “strangely” one and the same. That is commonplace in the meta genre, in which the real and the reel intersect.
“We were portraying characters. We were portraying ourselves,” said Enrique of his experience starring in a film, described as meta found footage horror in a brief chat with The STAR, “but of course, it’s an interpretation of my character in the movie, in the film story just to make things interesting.”
“It’s something I would not normally do, to make the story more interesting,” added he, hinting at one of what Enrique, the character forays into this realm. That is the leader of newbie ghosthunters, plus being a producer of the content and the film.
“All our cast members were playing as themselves,” shared he, who was referring to fellow actors, Jane de Leon, Rob Gomez, MJ Lastimosa and Alexa Miro, whom he invited to be part of the show, being filmed within “Strange Frequencies.”
Also part of the film are real-life tarot reader Raf Pineda and content creator Ryan “Zarckaroo” Azurin.
“We were shooting (scenes) on our own, it was like candid and vlog style na hindi pa nagagawa (that had never been done locally).”
So, the stars were not just portraying themselves, but also as cameramen and “documentarists.” Thus, the preparation was not a requirement, but also a must prior to the production.
“Yeah, we had camera workshops,” recalled he, implying the value of maximizing their shooting days because of the limited time the cast and crew had in Taiwan.
“We wanted (the filming of) the show to be as easy as possible and as flowy as possible,” added he. “We had to learn the camera works, yung pag-ilaw (as well as the lighting aspect).”
Every actor should be aware of how the lights would bounce for they might “white out” their faces, aside from learning the script the film was based upon.
“We had to bounce it off. Minsan may mga scenes na kailangang ulitin (sometimes there were scenes that needed to be reshot). Dapat naka-bounce lang sa pader, naka-bounce lang sa chest ko para naka-highlight yung mukha (the lights should bounce off on the wall or on my chest to highlight my face and reaction),” said he. “So, there were many factors to consider. (I’ve come to realize more that it’s tough doing the lights and camera work in a film).”
As they entered and explored every nook and cranny, as a manner of speaking, of a haunted hospital as the film setting, Enrique and the rest were equipped with three cameras.
“One face camera, one shooting our POV (point of view) and one handheld with the flashlight,” enumerated Enrique, who also happens to be the film co-producer. The other producers are filmmaker Erik Matti and Dondon Monteverde.
As for the basic story of “Strange Frequencies” and the personal path of his character, Enrique said, “(With) my character in the movie, I’m ready to try new stuff (and) more exciting things,” said he. “Since I’m a big fan of horror, I’ve said, ‘This is really a cool thing.’ We actually capture something in there and we showcase it to the world within the livestream, it’s the biggest show and it will blow up the Internet. It could be the bigger show. Our goal (is) to discover something, to showcase to the world that guys there are entities (in it) and they are existing.”
Yes, the film enthusiasts and moviegoers will see some characteristics of narrative and documentary films in “Strange Frequencies” as they navigate the story that Enrique, the actor, visits a YouTube channel of a content creator, who embarks on traveling to haunted places around the world, and gets invited to do an episode.
It was an exciting and refreshing experience for Enrique and a dream fulfilled for someone who has a penchant for horror.
“It’s to make it as real as possible, yun ang gusto naming atake (that was the approach we wanted to take in the film). It’s super fun and I’m super excited (for the movie to be shown),” concluded Enrique.
(‘Strange Frequencies: Taiwan Killer Hospital’ will open on Dec. 25 in theaters nationwide.)
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