We’re going for a three-peat

Jose Rizal – Opened Dec. 25, 1998, grossed P3.8 million on opening day, swept the Metro Manila Filmfest Awards, and went on to gross over P120 million for its theatrical run.

Muro-Ami – Opened Dec. 25, 1999 grossed over P10.3 million on opening day, ran off with the lion’s share of the awards, and went on to gross over P120 million for its theatrical run.

But more than the phenomenal statistics, what made both films exceptional was that it raised the benchmark of Philippine cinema to international heights. Swept the hearts and minds of the Filipino people. Awakened our social consciousness towards history and child exploitation. And when all was said and done, made you and I proud that we are Filipino.

How do we in GMA Films beat that? How does anybody beat that? Many have tried. I’ve seen print ads of other movies saying, "breaking box office records." Some have claimed, "we’re making history." Nice try. But really, past the press releases, that’s all those claims really are…press releases. No doubt those movies were successful in their own right. And I will be the first to congratulate them for their success. But to date, no movie has had the impact nor the box office revenues of Jose Rizal and Muro-Ami.

One thing I learned about making phenomenally and insanely successful movies is that you have to follow Nietzsche’s dictum to "LIVE DANGEROUSLY." And that has been the secret of GMA Films, "living dangerously." We’ve learned how to break out of the box, take risks, roll the dice big time and "live dangerously." The results, two of the biggest, most successful, and socially relevant movies of all time. Jose Rizal and Muro-Ami.

The 2000 Metro Manila Filmfest is a few weeks away. The big question is, can we do a "Three-peat?"

I really want to say, "NO." But inside, my heart screams "YES!"

Not a few have approached me to say that ‘GMA Films is a victim of its own success.’ Some have said that we have raised the expectation so high, even we can’t reach it anymore.

I’ll be the first to admit this is true. The pressure was great to make Jose Rizal successful. The pressure was even greater to repeat the feat with Muro-Ami. Imagine the pressure to do a "three-peat." It’s incredible. All eyes are on you. More than half want you to fail. Less than half are hoping you succeed. The other movie companies have been inspired to launch their best movies which makes the competition tougher. But more importantly, the audience asks, "What next, GMA Films?"

Before deciding what movie to make, or what subject matter to tackle, I usually define the objectives. After the success of Muro-Ami, I clearly listed down the objectives for the follow-up project.

The first objective is to do a movie that will cost half of Muro-Ami. Jose Rizal cost us about P80 M. Muro-Ami cost us about P40 M. I want the next movie to cost only within the P20 M range.

The second objective is that I want it to gross more than Muro-Ami. That means, we want to break the P120 million mark of its theatrical run.

The third objective is that I wanted the subject matter to still have a social impact. I still wanted it to make a difference.

The fourth objective is that I wanted to show the audience something new. Something they have never seen before.

And the final objective was that I wanted the movie to have a simple yet intense story. No philosophical undertones, no overtly artistic directorial treatments, and no open-ended conclusions.

A near-impossible set of objectives for any producer. Just the mere fact that I want to hit a higher gross with a lower budget makes it tougher. But near impossible, is not impossible. And if it isn’t impossible, as far as I’m concerned, it’s worth a shot. I don’t know who said it, but I’ll never forget the words of a visionary when he said, "The difficult I can do, the impossible, may just take a bit more time."

So in the same way Jose Rizal was supposed to have been impossible, and the underwater sequences of Muro-Ami was supposed to have been impossible, the follow-up to these two impossible projects should be, impossible.

Trying to figure out what project would meet those objectives gave me a migraine. I really didn’t know where to begin. Needless to say, we had a lot of suggestions thrown our way from another historical movie, to a two-hour computer animated feature in the mold of Bugs Life, to a totally bizarre art film no one was expected to understand.

The germ of the idea for the follow-up film came in a conference Direk Marilou and I attended. Sometime January, Mar Roxas (Hey, Mar, great decision resigning from Erap’s cabinet) put a conference together composed of what was supposed to be the youngest and brightest minds from all sectors destined to push the Philippines into the new millennium. One of the attendees was Atty. Eric Mallonga who has been fighting for children’s legal rights. He talked to Marilou and told her about the plight of minors in deathrow. Her jaw dropped. When Marilou told me about it, my jaw dropped and deep inside I knew we had our follow-up film.

Minors inside deathrow…what a thought. It is against the law. The rule is that if a minor is convicted of a capital offense, he should be given the sentence one or two notches lower than the actual sentence. Thus, there should be no way minors can be given the death sentence and thrown in deathrow. At worst, a minor can only get life.

I could only imagine what a 13- or 14-year old kid will experience inside deathrow with hardened adult criminals.

Direk Marilou called Ricky Lee to a meeting to brainstorm about storylines. What they didn’t know was I already had the story running through my mind. Before they could even discuss how the story was to be treated, I faxed a concept and storyline complete with characterization and casting options to Marilou’s house. I never saw her face after reading my fax, but I did get a text that said, "WOW."

That was the beginning of the story about a minor in deathrow and an old hardened criminal set to make a difference in the kid’s life. From that basic story, Ricky took over to write the sequence treatment and eventually the script.

Casting the old death convict wasn’t tough. I had two people in mind. Dolphy and Eddie Garcia. A few months before we decided to do Deathrow, Mang Dolphy was kind enough to have dinner with me. I told him that I wanted to put him in a movie he could be proud of. A movie that would take him away from the formula slapstick humor everyone thrusts him into. I didn’t know what the movie was then, but Deathrow could have been it. Dolphy as an ex-convict? That’s living dangerously. Unfortunately, he was busy doing a movie for the filmfest as well.

Kuya Eddie Garcia was also at the top of the list. I had no doubt he could pull it off. No "manoy" type characterizations. Just intense and realistic drama. I knew he would give the movie a realistic dimension no one else can. Besides this, his professionalism is unquestionable, and his acting depth beyond compare. All it took was one lunch with Kuya Eddie, and our Lolo Sinat (short for Sinatra since the character loved Frank’s songs) was in.

Looking for the minor was tougher. There were a lot of choices, and we even had the option of introducing a brand new talent. My main concern was if a budding young teen star would agree to be put in a dark, serious, and role. On the side, I also wondered if any matinee idol would agree to getting a deathrow style haircut. Enter, Cogie Domingo. Relatively new but already making waves. When his name was proposed, the first thing I did was to rush to SM theater to watch his Regal movie. I liked what I saw. He was young, and had a grasp on drama. But most important of all, he had the "look" we wanted.

The stereotyped "look" for youth convicts would have been the rough, and macho personas of Robin Padilla, Mark Anthony Fernandez, Joko Diaz, and the like. But contrary to the stereotype, we wanted the opposite look. We wanted the "look" bullies pick as victims. A fragile demeanor with sad eyes. Cogie was perfect. Choosing the director is as important as choosing the lead stars. But our choice was unanimous. Joel Lamangan was the top choice. The rationale for this is simple. We chose Marilou for Jose Rizal because her love and academic understanding of the Hero was impeccable. We chose her again for Muro-Ami because being an avid diver, she loved and lived for the sea more than anyone. For Deathrow no one can beat a director who has experienced jail life first hand. That director is Joel Lamangan. Aside from this, he is a master storyteller, and well respected.

Re-creating deathrow became a problem. Though the Bureau of Prisons was kind enough to allow us to shoot the exteriors and other areas of the maximum security section, we were understandably not allowed to shoot inside deathrow itself. The security risks were too great.

Fortunately, our hardworking production team headed by line producer Soc Jose and production designer Joey Luna combed almost all of region 4 to look for a jail that we could "re-design" to replicate deathrow. The team found it in Sta. Cruz, Laguna.

Aside from life inside deathrow, we will be showing the audience the lethal injection process not only from the external perspective, but more importantly, from the internal perspective. We want to show what happens to a convict internally. The fears, the pressure and the mental torture. We also want to narrate what happens to him physiologically as the poison is injected to his body. Does his lungs collapse? Is his heart gripped with excruciating pain before it stops? Is he asleep on the outside, but screaming on the inside?

So what’s the story all about? I’ll reserve that for another time. I’ll let you imagine what a poor minor living in poverty, without any family, money, protection, or power will go through inside deathrow. It’s worse than a nightmare.

Jose Rizal, Muro-Ami, and now, Deathrow. Cinema really has transcended mere entertainment. The movie is grinding right now, and hopefully we achieve a "Three-peat." If not, I think it’s still a story worth telling. Minus the awards, minus the humongous box office gross, Deathrow will definitely make a difference in people’s lives. Even if only for the kids thrown inside deathrow today.