The unstoppable Aga Muhlach

MANILA, Philippines — At 48 years old, Aga Muhlach finds himself discovering many firsts.

For instance, the last five years that Muhlach spent away from the silver screen taught him the true joys of being almost normal and mundane. He talks of his flirtation with retirement, spending much of the year in suburban Nevada, with a lineup of daily activities that includes going for runs or bike rides, long drives and picking up groceries. “That’s the only place where you can be normal. Kahit nasa beach ka or poolside, pwede nakabutata yung tiyan mo, walang nakakakilala sayo,” Muhlach says with a laugh. “Pero you come to a point where you think, ‘I need to work.’”

He came back to television in 2016, as a judge in Pinoy Boyband Superstar, which placed him in a reality format that he had yet to be acquainted with, surrounded by talents that he didn’t quite know. Muhlach found himself in a state of culture shock, saying that while he always felt he enjoyed the work, he couldn’t wait to get home and be himself again. Muhlach says, “Medyo naiilang ako. Parang nawala lang ako ng sandali, biglang ibang-iba na lahat.” He cites the biggest difference as the sudden weight that social media carried in his line of work, a concept still unheard of when he momentarily retired years ago.

Muhlach found himself with a certain luxury of time, wherein things could take more time to produce and digital media was not the restless animal it is now; back when a taping day was just a taping day. But now, on the day he sat down with Supreme, he had come from a taping, then sat through a bloggers’ conference, had a photo shoot and our interview, all before heading to a scheduled dubbing afterwards. His team watched us converse very carefully, waiting for the most appropriate moment to tell us time was up, because he had other pressing engagements. It was Muhlach who brushed them off, saying, “Before, a one-on-one interview like this would be set up. I’d give you a day, we wouldn’t be here (in ABS-CBN), not like this where everything is so instant.” Muhlach adds, “I’m not complaining, but it’s just different! It’s different.”

Familiar But Different

This year finds him reunited with his one true love: filmmaking. Muhlach stars in Seven Sundays, a Star Cinema-produced family drama which teams him with Ronaldo Valdez, Dingdong Dantes, Cristine Reyes and Enrique Gil. As an experience, making the film was both familiar and different. Familiar in that there was none of the gloss of the reality talent search format — no playing to an audience, no having to be Aga Muhlach The Celebrity (which he admits he isn’t very good at being) — and instead surrounded by the privacy of crafting a character that sits well inside a narrative, being able to actually be an actor. “It’s really work. You’re filming your scenes, you’re acting, you’re learning your part, you sit in your tent until you’re called back to work — that’s my love.”

But it was different in that the process had changed. There had always been a separation between the manner of shooting a film and shooting for television, the latter usually involving multiple cameras set up to film scenes from every angle start to finish. Muhlach was trained in a more traditional style of film, where a scene is shot in full from start to finish, and then pick-ups of certain parts of the scene are taken as the cameras adjust and move in as close as necessary. All of his cast mates were adept in the training of television and were used to every take being a full take of every scene, whereas Muhlach felt challenged. He says with a huge laugh, “Hindi ako sanay sa ganon! Lumalapot ako sa gitna.” He adds, however, that working with Cathy Garcia-Molina for the first time as a director was probably the best way to learn the newer ways of the industry. “I told her, ‘This is the way I’m comfortable working, but if this is your process and this is the way things are done now, just let me learn.’ I’m a fast learner.”

Acting His Age

On a larger scale, Muhlach’s portrayed version after version of the beloved leading man, romancing the likes of Lea Salonga, Regine Velazquez, Angel Locsin and Anne Curtis onscreen, just to name a few. And while he was there, he fell in love with each story and each character. He recounts shooting All My Life with Kristine Hermosa, which was set on a cruise ship, and it practically felt like they were dating. So while he was in the shoes of his character Sam, he felt that surge of kilig in every stolen glance, every pregnant pause. Likewise, in Sana Maulit Muli, he literally felt the heartache of making his way to the US to the arms of a woman who’d begged and pleaded for him to come, only to find that she no longer had need of him by the time he arrived. He was Jerry and Raffy and Adie and Alex through and through, but by the time life had given Muhlach the type of experience that comes with age and certain milestones, he found himself searching for just a little bit more.

“I was looking at all these scripts and it just didn’t appeal to me. It was the same thing again and again, and I was thinking, ‘My God, the young are making so many different kinds of films now, tapos ito nanaman.’ So in my mind, I thought, when I go back and do films, I want to offer something different,” says Muhlach. Seven Sundays succeeds as it takes him out of the romantic sphere and focuses more on familial relationships, with Muhlach playing the big brother who was left behind, sacrificing his own dreams for the sake of everyone else’s. “Tumigil ka ng love stories at tumigil ka ng matagal. Siyempre, in six years, you’ve aged. At 48, gagawa ka ba ng pelikula na parang 38 ka?” He groans, adding, “Even my followers would find it off.”

Muhlach also confides that his weight was a major hindrance in accepting any previous roles, that he had maxed out at 218 pounds and couldn’t find any real motivation to lose the weight. It sounds like a rather vain concern for the common man, but for someone whose gifts, skills and charm have been wrapped up in a beautifully dimpled package that has sold many a gallon of ice cream, it’s as difficult as having to play Glastonbury with rusty instruments. His confidence waned, but funnily enough, when Star Cinema approached him with this role and the selling point of “You don’t really have to lose weight for this one,” it turned out to be just the push he needed. Muhlach dropped almost 30 pounds in two months, and is energetically diving into the newer animal of present-day filmmaking, with two more developing projects under his belt.

The Young and The Reckless

Amid all these firsts, Muhlach also finds a place for his own wisdom, and gratitude that he found his footing in a time when every move wasn’t captured by a phone camera. He comments that he’s met so many young actors whose respect for directors and bosses translates into palpable fear, and that the pressure to focus on the social media aspect of the job as much as the craft has watered down some younger artists’ ability to take creative risks. “Kung maglasing ako at magwala sa kalye noon, even if three people or 10 people see me, it stays there. There are no pictures, kwento lang. Kung saan lang hihinto yung kwento nay an eh.” He tells bacchanalian tales about his wedding, where they secured Camp John Hay and Baguio Country Club for four days, inviting all their friends and co-workers. “Men were drinking and throwing up in the streets and it was okay! There were no photographers or press. Iba.”

Muhlach says the recklessness of his youth, and the ability to make those mistakes without prying eyes watching round every corner is what’s made his instrument as an actor what it is. His advice to younger actors is to maintain a comfortable distance in relation to their work. “Don’t take it too seriously! It’s just a job. When I work, I’m there, but when I’m home, I’m home. My training is as an actor, and I’m not saying I’m a great actor, but I was lucky enough to learn from people like Lino Brocka and Mike de Leon. It’s film, not celebrity; so even in popularity, I remember to stay grounded. I appreciate it when fans get excited, but I know where I stand.”

Photo by Patrick Diokno

Produced by David Milan