A learning experience in Malaysia

You appreciate what you usually take for granted the minute it’s taken away from you. Albert Martinez realized how lucky he is at having production assistants at his beck and call when he went to Malaysia last month to shoot A Time for Us, working title of the ABS-CBN series he is doing with Jericho Rosales and Malaysian model Carmen Soo.

“I had to carry my backpack with me in every location, and that means all over Malaysia,” Albert recounts. It was a humbling experience he will never forget.

Albert missed getting assistance — professional and personal — so much he admits being tempted to call Liezl and ask his wife to act as production assistant. After all, he had a luxurious two-room villa at Dusta Vista all to himself. But he decided against it on second thought. Albert must have thought his children would need their mother more. So he let Liezl be.

Albert fished out the camera from his bag instead and took video shots of his room and the sights around him. He can always play and replay the shots for family and friends to ogle at.

And when he did come home, the first things Albert did were catch up on sleep and ask Liezl to make sinigang na baboy for him.

“I slept for three days straight,” he relates. “And, because we didn’t eat pork during my stay (predominantly Muslim Malaysians shun pork), I missed the dish. We subsisted on curry, which I’m not really fond of. That’s why I lost weight.”

Not that he’s complaining. He has no reason to. His Malaysian co-actors (including Soo San, whom Albert describes as the country’s version of Amalia Fuentes) were nice. He enjoyed VIP treatment as he had access to a special entrance reserved only for a privileged few (like Jericho, a big star in Malaysia, thanks to Pangako sa ‘Yo).

It’s just that adjusting to a foreign culture even if it happens to be that of a neighboring country’s is no walk in the park.

For one, the weather is different. If Manila is hot, Albert will tell you Malaysia is hotter, even in the evenings. In fact, he changed T-shirts five times a day (after all, it’s nearer the equator than the Philippines).

But Albert can live with those discomforts, especially when he knows he’ll return to Malaysia end of August or first week of September to resume shooting for the soap, this time with Christopher de Leon. “It’s not my first time to work with him. We were together in Kapitulo Trese,” reveals Albert. “But A Time for Us is more exciting since Boyet and I will have a confrontation scene here.” It’s also a source of pride for the country since the series will also air in Malaysia besides the Philippines, of course. Hence the Malaysian-Cantonese subtitles.

Albert has little time to relax after shooting the soap. He is set to start shooting the 35-mm film Rosario, a period film based on a true story that happened from 1917 to 1936.

As executive producer for his Cinemabuhay Productions, Albert didn’t mind shelling out a whopping P50-M for the film, knowing that it will “make the country proud.”

Maryo J. delos Reyes will direct the film based on the story about a celebrated adultery case that took the country by storm. Director and crew will bring their cameras as far as Bataan, where the grandeur of old houses will come alive once more.

The glorious days of carnival queens will take you back in time when high society girls like Rosario strutted in lavish gowns (to be created by Eric Pineda).

Just as compelling is the story of a 17-year-old girl a 35-year-old man (played by Albert) swept off her feet against her shocked parents’ wishes.

Albert is leaving no stone unturned to make sure the film lives up to its promise.  After its release in the Philippines, he wants to bring Rosario around the world.

The plan is ambitious; the goal as noble as can be. Let’s cross our fingers things will work out just fine.