Sid & Nico in Katipunan: Friends for real, foes in reel

MANILA, Philippines - Hollywood hype rouses curiosity about A-listers maintaining lasting friendships.

As publicized, friendship between Leonardo DiCaprio and Toby Maguire began and built up in the late ’80s after they met at an audition; and the two — who recently worked together in an adaptation of The Great Gatsby — are touted as best friends forever. Ben Affleck and Matt Damon — who co-wrote and starred in the smash hit Good Will Hunting — were childhood buddies and former school pals that remain close friends up to now that they are both married with three children each and still collaborating in film projects.

In the local entertainment sphere, one can find the same friendship between and among several talented television and film actors. Ironically, the actors, who play the roles of Andres Bonifacio and Emilio Aguinaldo, fit into this mold.

Sid Lucero and Nico Antonio were similarly childhood buddies and Ateneo de Manila grade and high school pals who remain close friends up to now that they are both fathers with a child each and working together in showbiz.

The two grew up together in a neighborhood that afforded them almost unlimited freedom to relish street games and have other outdoor fun. Indoors, they indulged their mutual interest in pre-historic animals, browsing through volumes of encyclopedias in Sid’s house. Nico delightfully remembers the good food Tita Bing Pimentel, Sid’s mom, would serve during such larks.

In their teenage years, Sid and Nico continued to hang together. Video games superseded Hide and Seek; Langit, Lupa; and Monkey, Annabel.

To this day, they remain good friends. There’s a lot of banter between them about their experiences as little kids. One episode that is difficult to put behind them was when Sid, during a game, chose to hide in a spot full of wasps and consequently suffered from a sting. Lessons from their childhood adventures come in handy now that they are both parents. Sid has his daughter Halo with girlfriend Bea Lao; Nico, his one-year-old son Jello with wife Angel Garces. The longtime chums have even agreed to be a godparent to each other’s child.

Thoughts on fatherhood take the backseat to views on national history, albeit temporarily, as Sid and Nico are pitted against each other in Katipunan, a powerful docu-drama series on GMA News TV to mark Gat Andres Bonifacio’s 150th birth anniversary this year. Sid plays Bonifacio while Nico portrays the Supremo’s archrival General Emilio Aguinaldo.

Katipunan is Sid and Nico’s second project together. The first was Brillante Mendoza’s Captive. Nico enthuses, “Timmy (Sid’s nickname) was one of the Abu Sayyaff rebels while I was one of the hostage victims. He killed me in one scene.”

This time around, in Katipunan, it could be Nico killing Sid. According to some historians, the upper-class politician Aguinaldo instigated the death of the Katipunan Supremo. GMA News TV vows to expose the truth, through the powerful series, about the intrigues and internal strife within the KKK. Dramatic scenes will be sprinkled with interviews with experts for historical accuracy.

Both Sid and Nico have made indelible marks on Philippine television.

Sid’s baptism of fire was in GMA’s soap opera Hanggang Kailan while Nico’s was in ABS-CBN’s fantasy telenovela Panday. Sid has since established himself as a boob tube icon, playing lead roles and rendering major performances in various shows on GMA and ABS-CBN like Krystala, Mga Kuwento Ni Lola Basyang, Kung Fu Kids, Dahil May Isang Ikaw, Magkano ang Iyong Dangal, Habang May Buhay, Amaya, Legacy, Hindi Ka Na Mag-iisa, Love and Lies, and Magkano Ba Ang Pagibig, to name a few. His buddy Nico, likewise, has slowly racked up a list of TV credits. He scored roles in the sitcom M3, the musical Idol, the telenovela Panday, and the teleseryes Nasaan si Elisa, Reputasyon and currently, Bukas Na Lang Kita Mamahalin.

So far, it is for their work on the silver screen that the two have clinched deserved recognition.

Sid won the Gawad Urian Best Actor award in 2011 for his sterling acting in Muli. He reaped top accolades for his exceptional performance in Selda, bringing home the Best Actor trophy of the 31st Gawad Urian Awards and the Best Actor in a Lead Role award at the Gawad Tanglaw in 2008. He tied with Emilio Garcia for the Best Actor award at the 2008 Thessaloniki International Film Festival in Greece for the same film, which also earned him Best Actor nominations at the 24th PMPC Star Awards and fifth Golden Screen Awards. A year earlier, Sid was named Best Actor at the Cinema One Original Awards for his work in the movie Tambolista that also made him a Best Supporting Actor nominee at the 24th PMPC Star Awards. He received the prize for Breakthrough Performance by An Actor at the fourth Golden Screen Awards for his role in Donsol and was nominated for Best Actor at the 2007 Gawad Urian for the same film project.

Nico proved himself worthy of an investment in creative recognition harvests by turning in riveting acting in his very first lead role in a movie. He merited a Best Actor nomination from the Gawad Urian for Posas, which bagged the Best Picture award in last year’s Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival and the Hanoi International Film Festival and competed in Cairo and Brazil.

Prior to Posas, he was nominated as Best Supporting Actor in the 2010 ENPRESS Golden Screen Awards for his portrayal of a demented murderer in Magkakapatid. The silver screen has allowed Nico to display the ease by which he swings from one role to another — from a jilted lover in Minsan Pa (2004) to a bet collector’s sidekick in Kubrador (2006) to an orphan in Baliw (2007) to a gay lover in Ang Laro Ng Buhay Ni Juan (2009) to a singing farmer in Emir (2010) to an unwitting suitor of a possessed nanny in Here Comes The Bride (2010) to a gay BFF in My Amnesia Girl (2010) to an obnoxious motorist in Amok (2010) to a hilarious buddy in Pureza (2011) to an unwitting protege in Babagwa and a scene stealing gay host/wedding coordinator whose performance was described as “wonderful” in Sana Dati.

Devoted friends and seasoned actors, Sid and Nico bring their close affinity and artistic proficiency to the set of Katipunan. Akin to good friends DiCaprio and Maguire and Affleck and Damon who team up and exert joint efforts for box-office hits, Sid and Nico can only be expected to staunchly support each other towards the success of the Katipunan mini-series, and for the furtherance of their own careers as well.

The pair’s respective roles as Bonifacio and Aguinaldo beckon a shift from real-life amity to reel-time enmity.

Katipunan vows to present the real Bonifacio, the real Aguinaldo and the real events that took place during the Philippines’ struggle for liberation from Spain’s colonial rule. It hopes to do so by tapping historians whose spoken accounts will be interspersed with dramatic sequences. The bigger challenge falls on lead actor Sid’s shoulders as Katipunan explores the life, loves, battles and death of the KKK Supremo and self-proclaimed president of the Philippine revolutionary government.

But equally demanding is supporting actor Nico’s mission to accurately depict the character and disposition of the winner in a rigged election for president of the revolutionary government. The rivalry between the patriot and the politician that both ironically belonged to a supposed brotherhood may rage as cameras roll; but genuine camaraderie will undoubtedly reign off camera as the actor-friends assess their takes.

Katipunan will reveal how the real-life friends will give life to the real-life rivals in the reel.