Mylene Dizon uncovered - CONVERSATIONS with Ricky Lo

It was exactly three hours before midnight on the eve of Halloween Night when Mylene Dizon, unescorted, breezed into one corner of Melo’s Restaurant on Wilson Street (San Juan). She was bathroom-fresh, with hardly any make-up on, dressed in simple jeans and T-shirt, hair wind-blown.

When she walked in, other customers in the busy restaurant stopped eating, spoons and forks suspended between plates and mouths, and in their minds they must be asking themselves, "This pretty girl looks very familiar. Who could she be?"

For sure, as soon as Mylene’s launching movie, Crown-Seven Ventures, Inc.’s Gatas, is shown hopefully as one of the "Magic 7" (not only six as in previous years) in the Metro Manila Film Festival next month, nobody will doubt who "that pretty girl" is. In fact, everybody will be looking not only at that "pretty face" (a cross between Hilda Koronel and Dawn Zulueta) but at Mylene’s asset below the neck because in Gatas, set during the Japanese time, Mylene does what most actresses won’t dare do – breast-feed a baby in frontally-shot scenes, that is.

"She’s game," says direk Gil Portes who, even now, is basking in the praises for what may be his masterpiece. "She’ll go far as an actress. She has the looks and the talent of an important actress."

After the hour-long Conversations, Mylene excused herself. She was going to attend a Halloween party scheduled to start at midnight and last until the witching wee hours the following day.

Tomorrow, she’s flying to Chicago for a reunion with her family with whom she’s celebrating Thanksgiving (Nov. 23).

Let’s start first with the rumor. Did you or didn’t you have some parts of your body enhanced for the Gatas role?

(Smiles enigmatically) "What do you think?"

Well, I don’t think...Anyway, how did you prepare for the role, especially for the breast-feeding scene?

"Believe it or not but that’s the part I forgot to prepare for. Kasi nga, I was more focused on imbibing the environment of that era; I was preparing myself psychologically. I read books, I did research on the Internet, I watched old movies about that era, I talked to my Lola. In the process, parang hindi ko napaghandaan nang husto ’yung breast-feeding scene. Doon ako sa setting nag-concentrate — you know, the feel of things... how the women felt and acted at that time, their fears, their anxieties."

So you didn’t really, according to the rumor, prepare yourself physically for the breast-feeding scene?

(Smiles even more enigmatically) "What do you think?"

How did you feel during the shooting of that scene?

"It was done on the first shooting day but not the first scene that I did. Siguro, direk Gil wanted to condition me na muna. I was...shocked! Medyo napatalon ako when I held the month-old baby, a real baby, in my arms. In the story, the baby is three months old. Actually, I breast-feed two babies in the movie; one is supposed to be mine and the other, that of the Japanese."

How did you internalize the "mothering" part?

"I guess ’yung maternal instinct is inherent in every woman. But I was, as I’ve said, shocked by the breast-feeding part because the baby, the two babies, were actually sucking my breasts. Gutom pala ’yung mga baby so napatalon ako because they were sucking hard and they were hurting me. Remember, wala naman akong milk. I was screaming, ‘Direk, cut, cut!’ I was panicking! So I called the baby’s mom and she confirmed that the baby was hungry. So, the mom breast-fed the baby first before we resumed shooting. I play Pilar."

What sort of character is Pilar?

"In the beginning, she’s the typical Filipino wife. Poor. She’s torn between her instincts as a mother and the desire to be patriotic. She’s fighting, along with other Filipinos, against the Japanese and yet she also wants to be a mother to the infant of a Japanese general. Should she let the baby die of hunger because it’s a Japanese’s baby? That’s Pilar’s dilemma. The gatas plays a vital part in the movie; it’s also symbolic because milk sustains a baby’s life, di ba? There’s war and there’s no more food; the babies are starving because there’s no more milk, except mother’s milk."

Did you have to consult your family before you accepted the role?

"My grandmother. I talked to her when I saw her in the States before I started shooting the movie. Even when she was here, my Lola was fond of telling stories about her time, wartime."

What about the rest of your family? How do you think they’ll react to it?

"Oh, I’ve told them about it already. At first, I told them that I was going to star in my own movie and they were very happy. They’re all in the States, except for my sister who’s here. When I told them that I was going to show my breasts in the scene, parang they didn’t like it. My family is very conservative. So I had to explain everything to them, the circumstances that make the character Pilar breast-feed her own and a Japanese’s baby. I’m sure they’ll like the movie when they see. I hope they’ll be proud of it."

It’s the most daring role in your four years in the movies.

"The most mature. I was comfortable doing it because I’ve worked with direk Gil before, in Miguel/Michelle (with Romnick Sarmenta in the title role as a transsexual and Mylene as the girlfriend of a closet homosexual played by Cris Villanueva). Well, you see, I’ve been playing teeny-bopper roles. I can’t be young for long, forever, so I have to reinvent myself. I didn’t want to get stuck in the same roles in Gimik and Flames (ABS-CBN shows); I wanted naman to put some spice in my roles. I was becoming too old for those teeny-bopper roles. I have to grow as an actress."

And mature into somebody like Hilda Koronel to whom you’re often compared.

"Really? It’s an honor!"

In Miguel/Michelle, you later discovered that your boyfriend was gay.

"In the movie, I reacted by hating Cris for it. But then, I loved him so much that I wanted to give him another chance. You know, baka he could still be cured. Baka it’s just a sickness. I’m a barrio girl kasi in the movie, so I reacted that way. I was making myself believe that I could still change him."

What if it happens to you in real life?

(Knocks on wood) "So far, I’m sure, I’m sure that all the guys I’ve had a relationship with were real men. Otherwise, I’d just let him go. What for? He’ll never be happy with me; maghahanap lang ng lalaki ’yon, baka magka-agaw pa kami. Amiga na lang kami."

"Kulayan Natin ang Bukas (with Judy Ann Santos); Gimik The Movie; Calvento Files The Movie, my first, in which I was raped and slain and thrown into a well; Magandang Hating-gabi; and one or two others. i was always playing the sister of Judy Ann or the barkada of Claudine (Barretto). From the start, I felt that I wasn’t in the same league as Judy Ann and Claudine, not in the same mold. They were cut out to be stars, I was not. Hindi ako matinee-idol type."

Were you uncomfortable doing those teeny-bopper roles?

"Not really, not exactly. It’s just that I was looking for something serious. Di ba if you are a star, people are curious about your private life all the time. Ako, I want to be able to hide once in a while; I don’t like people bothering me. I want to have my own private space. I’m not comfortable na kinakalkal ang private life ko."

Like what they do with your love life.

"Well, you can’t keep that part of your life a secret. I never tried to. I don’t want people to say I’m a liar by saying I don’t have a boyfriend if I have one."

Do you have one now?

"Yes, I have."

He comes after Bernard (Palanca), doesn’t he? You and Bernard didn’t part as friends, did you?

"It was very bitter... very angry. Hindi magandang parting. Our relationship lasted for six months, I haven’t seen him since then but if I do, it’s okay. No more anger. What for?"

Did you grow up in the States?

"I grew up here. But I did stay in the States — for only four months. That was the longest. I have two sisters and a brother; I’m the youngest. They’re all married na. I went to the Philippine Montessori Pre-School, elementary and high school at Poveda, and college at La Salle. I’m an undergraduate (one more year to go). I’m the only one from our clan who joined showbiz. I hope more Dizons from our clan will join showbiz. It’s an honorable profession."

Where did you get the inclination toward showbiz?

(Thinks awhile) "I don’t know. It just came to me. When I was in college, though, I was already doing commercials. For Close-up (‘supporting’ role), my first; for Red Horse; Sunsilk; etc. And then, I was launched as one of the Star Circle Batch 2 (with, among others, Diether Ocampo, Marvin Agustin and Patrick Garcia)."

How did you get into Star Circle?

"I auditioned. In the middle of college kasi, my mother told me to follow them to the States. I went, reluctantly. So I stayed for only four months. My whole family had migrated; my sister, Jessica, a doctor, was the last to go. I didn’t like it in the States (Chicago) so I ran away and came back to the Philippines. I was only 19 then. I only had a bag of clothes and P5,000 left in my bank account here. I lived with a friend."

You live-in with a friend?

"No, I lived with a friend, as in stayed with a friend. I tried to go back to school. I came back from the States with a shaven head. I looked almost like a guy. I was borrowing my friend’s car to be able to go to school. Otherwise, I was commuting. I was running out of money so I desperately wanted to work."

Ang babait naman ng friends mo. Who were they?

"Si Domini Primero. The controversial Domini Primero! And Robin da Rossa. We were staying in one houses. Everybody thought that I was living-in with one of them, with Domini, but it wasn’t true! Mag-friends lang talaga kami. Threesome. That’s the whole true story. No monkey business. They were like my brothers."

For somebody from a conservative family, it was it was a bit daring of you to do that.

"I can be adventurous, kung kailangan. For a whole year, I hid from my family. My mom was trying to make me go back to the States, pero ayoko talaga. I avoided talking to any member of my family, except my dad who was still here at that time. My dad is Serafin Dizon and my mom is Arlene Inocencio."

I understand your parents are separated.

"Yes, they are. My mom is now married to a Filipino doctor based in the States. My dad is married to somebody else. They’ve been separated for years already. He remarried ahead of my mom and he’s now also based in the States."

So you fended for yourself back home.

"I called my former manager. I told him I needed to work. My hair was growing longer already and I was starting to look like a girl again. As a kid, I was astang-lalaki because I was close to my dad and my brothers. But I wasn’t a tomboy. Anyway, my former manager asked me to audition for (ABS-CBN’s) Talent Center and I was accepted as a Star Circle member."

How was it growing up in a situation like that? I mean, in a broken family.

"It wasn’t difficult for us, thank God. We lived with our mom but our dad visited and called us very often. It was just like he was still with us, so we didn’t at all feel that we belonged to a dysfunctional family. My parents parted as friends; they handled the situation very well. Us kids took it very well. We didn’t have a hard time."

How would you assess your four years in showbiz? Once Gatas is released, you could be the next big star — I mean, the new important actress.

"It’s scary! During my four years in showbiz, I have had my share of ups and downs, my difficult times. But they’ve all been learning experiences. Eventually, siguro I’d venture into directing films. I took up Communication Arts in school and my direction was leading into a film course. But first, I have to keep on proving that I can be an actress. I know I’m not a singer, I’m not a dancer, and the only thing that’s keeping me in this business is the knowledge that I can act. Even just a little. And I know that I can learn more. My four years in showbiz have taught me so many things about life, about people. Some people are nice, some people are mean. There are always those better than you and there are always those following you."

What about heartaches?

"A lot. And disappointments, too. But there are no regrets. There were frustrations, pero konti lang. At one point during my Gimik days, I was wishing na sana maging isang Judy Ann Santos din ako. Sana maging isang Jolina Magdangal din ako. They were so busy at kuhang-kuha nila ang kiliti ng masa. But I’ve outgrown that feeling already. I realized that that wasn’t what I really wanted."

Are you the type who mixes love with career?

"Oh, yes, I am. I make it a point that my love life doesn’t get in the way of my career — and vice-versa. When I joined showbiz, I told myself, ‘You should have time for yourself.’ I want to still do the same things I was doing before I joined showbiz, I told myself, ‘You should have time for yourself.’ I want to still do the same things I was doing before I joined showbiz, such as having a love life."

It’s a good thing your boyfriend is understanding.

"He is. He’s supportive. He’s actually the one pushing me to do this."

Who’s he?

"He’s Ira Cruz, guitarist of the Passage Band (The same guy once romantically linked to Aiko Melendez. — RFL). I’ve known him since college pa. He comes from a musically-inclined family but he’s not from the showbiz Cruz clan. Eight years ko na siyang kilala. We actually started as friends, as barkada. He’s secure with himself."

How do you think Ira will react when he sees Gatas?

"I talked to him before the shooting started. I showed him the still pictures. All he said was, ‘Nice! I think it’s a good movie!’ Ganoon lang."

Are you living together?

"No."

How do you spend your time together?

"When we’re both free from work, we just sit around and talk and eat. Sometimes, I watch his shows."

Things that you have in common.

"You know, I have this attraction toward men who make good music. Bernard (Palanca) plays the guitar. I have a former boyfriend who was also good in music. I realized this pattern only when I started going steady with Ira. I’m not a singer and that may be why I’m drawn to ‘musical’ guys."

After, Gatas, do you expect to get offers for more daring, "bolder" roles? You can’t be a "sweet" star anymore after Gatas.

"Siguro, more acting roles. I don’t want to say ‘more daring, bolder’ roles, but acting roles. I hope." (Keeping fingers crossed)

Given a choice, what role would you like to do next?

"A crazy role, ‘yung sira ang ulo. I’ve always been intrigued how the mind of crazy people works. Who knows, they might be more sane than so-called ‘sane’ people. Who knows?"