Luis still doing drama and loving it

MANILA, Philippines - As the taping for Ina, Kasusuklaman Ba Kita? nears its homestretch, Luis Alandy can’t help but feel restless. After all, just like a good workout, the past three working months have become a cathartic experience — a sacred ritual of sorts where he gets to purge his acting demons.

With his experience in the soap biz, it’s way too easy for Luis to succumb to the pitfalls of the profession — clichéd mannerisms and dialogues, stereotyped character pegs and worst of all, the unforgiving tirades of a gullible viewing public who erroneously believe that “you are who you portray.”

Indeed, how does one break away from such acting clichés?

“For the past three years, I’ve done like six soaps with the network, mostly character roles,” Luis recalls. “And it’s always been a constant challenge to veer away from the norm. Like for instance, when they say kontrabida, it’s not everytime that they want you to be a galit na kontrabida. There’s always room to give it an extra dimension.”

“You can never be too complacent with your acting,” Luis shares. “I’m still learning, honestly. There are times when I feel that I want to do double takes. We’re on a much faster shooting mode these days. It’s hard to plan your frame of mind from scene to scene.”

Thankfully, Luis is given ample leeway to go out on an improvisational streak. “But most of the time, what the director says, goes. You have to give respect to what the writer conceptualized.”

So, what’s it like doing his current drama series with the mother and daughter tandem? Are take one scenes a common occurrence?

“When you’re doing 40 to 50 sequences in a day, it’s hard to breeze through everything without glitches,” Luis confesses. “You have to remember that we’re dealing with different personalities for one scene alone. It’s only normal that someone fumbles.”

And when the going gets really toxic and stressful, count on good-natured fun and humor to ease their tension. “Jean is a very good and serious actress, but when it’s her and her daughter doing a scene, trust me, there will be those times when they just burst out giggling,”

Luis says. “They always make fun of each other, just to keep things lighter on the set. It’s a very good stress-buster.”

Despite his hectic taping schedule, Luis finds time to do indie films. More recent stints include Panahon Na, a story of redemption and second chances, where he starred with Irma Adlawan, Joseph Bitangcol, Joem Bascon and Mercedes Cabral. Directed by Sean Lim, it premiered at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology last June 2009, under the auspices of Gawad Kalinga and the City of Taguig.