After putting the finishing touches on Rosario, the Cinemabuhay Films’ entry in the 2010 Metro Manila Filmfest which marks his directorial debut, Albert Martinez rushed to the hospital with a 40-degree fever as soon as he arrived from Bangkok two weeks ago.
“I was there for the movie’s post-production work,” Albert told Funfare. “I was dead tired but I have deadlines to meet. Before I flew to Bangkok, I had just come back from the States two days earlier after negotiating with the sponsors for the movie’s US premiere. I had hardly recovered from jetlag and then I had to fly again. Finally, bumigay na ang katawan ko.”
Rosario costs millions to make but Albert wouldn’t reveal the exact amount.
“Basta I assure you that it’s a good movie,” said Albert. “It’s worth it, after all it’s five years in the making.”
A period film starring Jennylyn Mercado and her boyfriend Dennis Trillo, Rosario is the story of a young and liberated Filipina in the 1920s who has just arrived from New York and is spending her vacation in the family hacienda. There, she meets and falls in love with an older man who manages the tobacco plantation owned by Rosario’s family. When Rosario’s father finds out about Rosario’s scandalous affair, he sends her to a convent. She escapes and elopes with her lover to Manila where they raise a family. When her lover falls ill with tuberculosis, Rosario starts committing adultery with impunity, defying moral restrictions of that time. She died at 35 in 1939.
Manny V. Pangilinan (MVP), the financier behind Cinemabuhay, is familiar with the story of Rosario. She was his grandmother.
“I was intrigued by the idea when I met MVP in 2004 during the Film Academy Awards,” recalled Albert. “Nilapitan ko s’ya at kinuwento n’ya sa akin ang buhay ni Rosario. Then in 2005, with the help of some friends, I began doing research; we interviewed MVP and his relatives. I asked several people to write the story pero hindi nag-evolve ‘yung istorya even after we did several revisions and rewrites. Until I met Elmer Gatchalian who did the final draft based on my research and my 300 bullet points.”
The shooting started last January and was finished in March. The post-production work took three months, from August to November, and the work is hardly over. There’s still the promo and the publicity to attend to and the stressful wait for the movie’s fate at the box office, competing with seven other entries that include two money-making franchises (Si Agimat at si Enteng Kabisote starring Vic Sotto and Bong Revilla, and Regal Films’ Shake, Rattle & Roll).
“Because it’s a period film, we used more than 600 costumes by new designer Mike Hahn. We have to be true to the movie’s setting so we were meticulous with the details. We even had to buy in the States the type of Instamatic camera used at that time,” said Albert who used the high-tech camera named Alexa for the shoot, the same one used by Martin Scorsese for his new movie. “There are only three such cameras in the world. One is in Europe, one in the US and one in the Philippines.”
The budget was sky-is-the-limit because MVP wanted the movie done the way he envisioned it to be.
Since he was like nanganganay (giving birth for the first time and, in his case, not just to one baby but to triplets), Albert experienced “birth pains” in all those five years.
“Five years kong kasama sa kama si Rosario,” Albert aptly put it. “Anywhere I’d go, kasama ko s’ya. Rosario was in my mind for five years.”
The load tripled when Albert had to cope with challenges in his personal life. While heaving a big sigh of relief now that his wife Liezl is on remission from breast cancer and his mom declared throat-cancer-free, his younger brother William Martinez suffered a stroke when a clogged artery in his neck ruptured.
“He would have breathing difficulty, his right arm would go numb and he would suffer from upset stomach which he dismissed as indigestion, pero hindi n’ya pinapansin. Alam mo naman si William, he thinks he’s Superman.”
William is okay now, back home mobile but undergoing therapy.
“It was very hard for me emotionally. Mahirap talaga. You can just imagine what I was going through — busy with my first movie and, well…I thank God for keeping me strong through it all.”
Asked where he got the energy that kept him going, Albert said it was from Rosario.
“I invested a lot in that movie,” he added. “And I’m happy that it turned out the way I wanted it to, the way MVP expected it to.”
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BREAKING NEWS: Join Grammy artists Stephen Bishop, Dan Hill and Yvonne Elliman on a breathtaking trip down memory lane as they charm local fans with their chart-topping hit songs during an unforgettable one-night-only concert on Feb. 11, 2011, at the Araneta Coliseum.
The show will also feature as very special guest WT Greer and the J. Michaels Band.
Titled Love Rocks, the musical event organized by the World Entertainment Group brings together for the first time on the same stage the three singing sensations who will showcase their distinctive talents and styles that have earned them great recognition and acclaim as singers, performers, songwriters and producers.
Bishop returns to the local concert scene fresh from his latest international stint, in which he joined Filipina diva Kuh Ledesma and Dan Hill on a successful tour across the US last month.
On the other hand, Hill, who will make his debut performance in Manila, captured the attention of local fans after being seen on a news program while singing his hit song, Sometimes When We Touch, in a duet with world boxing champion Manny Pacquiao in a US event before Pacman’s recent successful title bout with Antonio Margarito in Texas.
Elliman performed once in Manila at a private party arranged by friends of former First Lady and now Ilocos Norte Rep. Imelda Romualdez-Marcos.
She gained popularity for the hit song, I Don’t Know How To Love Him, which she sang in her originating role as Mary Magdalene in the musical Jesus Christ Superstar!
Her other hits include Love Me, I Can’t Get You Out Of My Mind, Moment By Moment and the Grammy Award-winning hit, If I Can’t Have You.
(Tickets are available at all Ticketnet outlets and at the Araneta Coliseum box office. For reservations and inquiries, or call Ticketnet at 911-5555.)
What a difference a year makes!
Can you spot the difference? Last year, Kris Aquino sent me a (2009) Christmas card (right) featuring her and husband James Yap with their kids Joshua and Baby James. The other day, Kris sent me a copy of the Aquinos’ ‘family book’ (more on it in a future issue) with her 2010 Christmas card (above). Take a good look at the two cards. Somebody is missing, isn’t he?
(E-mail reactions at rickylo@philstar.net.ph or at entphilstar@yahoo.com)