Mon Confiado: ‘Villain’ with a heart

MANILA, Philippines — In this presscon for the film, Ang Titser Kong Hindi Marunong Magbasa where he plays the rebel Commander Ahmid, Mon Confiado cuts a very quiet figure as he gives us an idea how he goes about building a character.

He likes to look himself primarily as an actor and not the screen villain he is almost always expected to be.

He chuckles that in the past, he comes handy when there is a need for a very credible rapist.

Joking aside, he says his favorite part in acting is building the character of the person he is portraying. “I study everything about my character from the physical look to his emotional state up to mannerisms and accent. I believe in the saying that ‘there are no small roles, only small actors.’”

Like when he accepted the role of Commander Ahmid in the Perry Escaño film, he took stock of the key figures in the Marawi siege. The first thing he learned is that Commander Ahmid is not just a rebel leader but also a recruiter of child warriors. “Yes, there is a big similarity between him and the Maute brothers. The approach I did apart from studying his physical look is to look into his inner profile. I know that in the heart of every bad person is a good man. So, he is not totally a villain. He is fighting for something from the preservation of his culture and tradition to getting rid of corrupt leaders in his home province.

“Since he doesn’t have that many followers, he has no choice but to recruit child warriors. This is actually pure strategy for him because young boys are easy to recruit and most likely his opponents will not harm them because of their youth. But in the end, I wanted my character to be the voice of the rebels and what they are fighting for.”

The most effective actor’s tool for him is method acting where he strives to look real from his physique to emotions. “I like to research a lot and try very hard to look the part from losing to gaining weight and sporting the right hairstyle. To be very credible, I train a lot from martial arts to sword fighting, horseback riding and doing motorcycle stunts. I like to immerse a lot. I visit the actual locations before the shoot and review my character in his true-to-life setting.”

After 25 years in showbiz, Mon says he has learned a lot and met a lot of screen icons enough to find fulfillment in acting after appearing in more than 300 films.

His first screen appearances were in Shake Rattle & Roll 4 and Dugo Ng Panday in 1993 directed by Peque Gallaga and Lore Reyes.

The actor also had the rare chance to work with Academy award-winning actor Rod Steiger (In the Heat of The Night) in the film Legacy (1998) along with David Hasselhof.  Other Hollywood actors he has worked with include Casper Van Dien, Michael Dudikoff, Thomas Ian Griffith, Isabelle Huppert, (Captive) and Mark Dacascos, among others.

The year 2018 looks good with new roles and new films about to be released among them the lead part in Stateside (about the journey of an undocumented Filipino immigrant struggling to survive in the US), a repeat role of Gen. Aguinaldo in the new film about Gen. Gregorio del Pilar, a role in Signal Rock directed by Chito Roño and a horror film produced by Cine Pilipino.

Indeed, the actor has come a long way from growing up in the streets of Sampaloc to playing roles of national figures and doing his first overseas shooting in Stateside. “I didn’t bring money in my entire shoot even for food, so I can feel the real struggles of a homeless Filipino in the US. I only had four shirts and one pants for the entire stay. That’s how well I wanted to be immersed for the part.”

Mon’s Ang Titser Kong Hindi Marunong Magbasa opens on Dec. 6 in cinemas. It also stars Alfred Vargas, James Banco, Kiko Matos and Lou Veloso, among others.