Angel back in fighting form

MANILA, Philippines — Angel Locsin is “reporting for duty” as the lead star of the new ABS-CBN series The General’s Daughter. This marks her return to primetime TV and to the genre where she was and — from the looks of it — still is the queen.

You could say the 33-year-old star is in fighting form, not just physically but also mentally and emotionally after a “very challenging” five years that saw her suffering from spinal injuries, doing less teleserye work and giving up the chance to reprise the iconic Filipino super-heroine role Darna.

In a recent Instagram post, Angel wrote: “2015 challenged me. 2016 broke me. 2017 changed me. 2018 opened my eyes. 2019, I’M COMING BACK.”

And now she is back and breathing life into the title role, the military nurse Rhian Bonifacio who is both skilled and trained to fight and save lives. In this season of the Filipino action heroine, no other actress but Angel (who first shot to fame through fantaseryes) can claim a record of strong and kickass female roles as extensive as hers.

“Yes, it’s about time,” Angel said of the “emergence” of the Filipina action figure that departs from the sexy stereotype. With “women empowerment” as one of the things she advocates, she told The STAR and other reporters that doing action is a way of educating people that “you should not be limited to certain things.”

Asked if there’s any female action hero she looks up to, she cited the Hollywood superstar Angelina Jolie. “Ever since, my idol has been Angelina Jolie. When I did Asian Treasures before, siya yung (inspiration) dun, Tomb Raider. I admire Gal Gadot, but her character (Wonder Woman) has superpowers. In my case, I try to humanize my character. Rhian is not a superhero. She has no powers. She has struggles, she has mistakes, she falls down, she fails, but she doesn’t give up.”

In her comeback project under the Entertainment unit Dreamscape Productions, Angel is surrounded by a powerhouse cast including Albert Martinez, Tirso Cruz III, Maricel Soriano, Eula Valdez, Janice de Belen, Paulo Avelino, JC de Vera and others. The action-drama series is directed by Manny Palo.

“The feeling is you’re ready and inspired by your team and of course, you want to please them. Yes, there’s fear. I’m not going to be plastic about it. There’s fear, but you’re not anxious. I think it’s a healthy kind of fear. If you don’t have it, that’s scarier,” Angel said. 

She acknowledged that for every new project, she’s always nervous. This time, however, the feeling is more pronounced because it’s been five years since she last topbilled a show.

She came prepared for her character’s journey by visiting military camps — her own initiative — before the shoot started. “Nag-request ng mag-shadow sa AFP. Medyo natagalan kami mag training noon kasi siempre inayos ang mga permits. We were delayed for seven months but they (AFP) were, especially the AFP nurse corps, very supportive. They toured me to the hospitals because my character is a military nurse. So, somehow I had a glimpse, a little idea of what life is like or what is a day in the life of a military nurse is like, how they handle (things) and other training.”

Angel also learned how to handle guns and do drills, even the proper way of giving a salute. But those probably paled in comparison to the actual experience of cleaning the wounds of a soldier injured during the Marawi siege.

“I had the chance to clean the wounds of a soldier who came from Marawi,” she shared, the memory of it making her teary-eyed. The soldier’s legs were damaged, she recalled, and he was just very sad and stunned. “I cleaned his wounds and I tried my best to be gentle because it was my first time. I tried my best to be gentle para kahit papaano ma-comfort siya,” Angel paused and sighed, “pero tulala talaga.”

This experience raised her respect for military nurses, and their role in saving the lives of people whose responsibility is to defend the country.

The General’s Daughter’s teaser trailer also heightens expectations for action scenes. When asked how it felt filming such scenes, Angel said she hasn’t gotten a body double yet, except for one scene that required her character to jump into the Manila Bay, which is reportedly due for a Boracay-level cleanup and rehab. “May isang scene na may double ako, hindi ko kinaya tumalon sa Manila Bay. Yun lang naman kasi skin disease (laughs). Sabi ng mga seaman dun, kahit sila di sila tumatalon talaga doon kasi iba yung bacteria, you need to have an anti-tetanus shot, etc. I actually contemplated on it, thinking I could do it, but then when I saw the fish… kahit yung mga isda nag-suicide eh. Nakalutang yung isda eh. Hindi kinaya nung isda paano pa ako, di ba (laughs)?”

Nevertheless, doing her own stunts and fights is giving Angel a different kind of happiness, especially with what she went through health-wise. “Di ko alam kung makaka-relate kayo ha pero para sa taong nasabihan ng doctor mo na may possibility na di na makalakad tapos nagagawa mo pa yung mga bagay na ito, very careful ka pa naman, feeling mo nalampasan mo yung chapter ng buhay mo na yun. You were able to overcome it,” she said, adding that after an action scene, she applies an ice pack or warm compress. Before she does one, she undergoes physical therapy and some stretching exercises.

“You were able to strengthen your body. That’s why it’s fulfilling. You’re not just doing this so you can say that you can do it. Maybe I needed to prove to myself na ‘Gel, di ka pa inutil ha. Alam mo yun? Gel, di porke’t nasabihan ka ng ganyan, wala ka ng future, wala ka ng magagawa, di ka na pwede maging active. So ito, nilalaban ko.”

Has the doctor given her the go-signal to execute such scenes? “Sabi niya bahala na daw ako sa buhay ko (laughs),” Angel said. “Di naman. He’s very conservative kasi. My PT (physical therapists) are OK. My PT are sports PT. But my doctor in Singapore is very conservative, he doesn’t want you to jump, twist, bend, carry a leather bag, a lot of don’t’s. But my doctor said that should I feel anything, I’ll just contact him.”

Angel assured that she’s okay now, breaking into a wide smile, “It’s been one year already.”

The actress looked back and reflected on how tough it was getting to where she’s now. Now it can be revealed that she nearly quit, even reaching the point of handing in her resignation letter to the network bosses. She had an exit plan in mind, buying a lot and going into farming. “Ayoko na. Ayoko na eh. As in nag-re-resign na ako. I had a letter and all. So parang feeling ko, di ko deserved. Di ko nagagawa yung trabaho ko. I felt like ‘I am big disappointment’ because of my (body), I wasn’t able to do my responsibility to ABS-CBN… Nahihiya ako kasi I’m paid eh. I thought that was the proper way to deal with it buti nalang yung mga boss sa ABS-CBN kinausap ako.”

Angel was presented with four project offers, including two from Dreamscape Productions (under Deo Endrinal). The General’s Daughter is one. “Because you’re given a chance, you’re given an opening, you’re given the next step, so what do you do?” she said.

So, Angel grabbed it.

“In fairness, very challenging talaga sa akin yung five years na yun. Daming nangyari kaya nung pinost ko yun (referring to the Instagram post), hindi para ipabalik sayo yung mga memories, gusto ko parang sabihin na I’m human. There are moments when you are down but always become better. It will not get you anywhere, so stop worrying about stuff that you can’t do anything about. Just think of what will be your next step. If something happened, then it happened. So, you have to move on to the next.”

(The General’s Daughter will premiere on Jan. 21.)