In 1994, Star Cinema asked her to direct Maalaala Mo Kaya, The Movie, their entry in the controversial Manila Filmfest that year where Aiko Melendez was cheated from winning the Best Actress award of the notorious filmfest scam.
Since then, she has given Sharon Cuneta her grand slam win as Best Actress for Madrasta in 1996 and her Sana Maulit Muli won as Urian Best Picture in 1995. Her filmography includes Hanggang Kailan Kita Mamahalin, Minsan Minahal Kita, and the hit romantic comedy, Got 2 Believe.
She now directs her seventh film, Milan, starring Claudine Barretto and Piolo Pascual, filmed on location in Milan, Italy. Only seven films in 10 years? Is she happy with her output?
"I am comfortable with my pace because I’m really very choosy when it comes to the materials that I do," she says. "Besides. I’m also active on television directing mini-series like Sa Sandaling Kailangan Mo Ako and teleseryes like Kay Tagal Kang Hinintay. I’m also busy with my duties as the vice president for creative department of Star Cinema and in supervising the drama shows of ABS-CBN. It took our producer, Malou Santos, one year to convince me to direct Milan because I cannot think of the right story that will fit the project. I know it’s going to be a love story, but I want it to have more substance. She took me on a research trip to Milan with our scriptwriter, Raymond Lee, and we got to interview the Overseas Foreign Workers who stay there. It was an eye-opener for us. Do you know what is so rampant there because of the loneliness? Extra-marital affairs and broken marriages. Even our consulate there knows this. And this is reflected in the film. Piolo plays a man who goes to Milan looking for his wife, Mary Grace, who went there to work as a domestic helper. While searching for her, he stays with Claudine who lives with a couple who are ‘married’ to each other there, but have their own respective spouses and families here in Manila."
So what are the difficulties they encountered while filming on location in Italy? "The biggest problem is the language barrier. I shot Sana Maulit Muli in the States but there was no problem because we all speak English. In Italy, we have to work with an interpreter to convey what we want to the people we hired there. Then there’s the difference in our cultures. The film people there are so used to Italian and Hollywood productions filming there. ’Yung lahat planado and they shoot complete with storyboards. E, ako, I was just given four days to inspect the place so there are times when we had to shoot without a permit. Stolen shots, like the ones we took in the Spanish Steps in Rome. When I tell them I want to shoot there, at first, they’ll say no, but eventually, the location managers had no choice but to give in to what I want."
Another source of pressure is the fact that they are shooting on limited time. "I’m supposed to finish 75 sequences in 17 shooting days. My usual pace here is to shoot two sequences only in one day. Our producer told me we’ll shoot in Italy but I have to promise to shoot at least seven sequences a day. So ratsada talaga ako. Patayan ang schedule namin. On our last day, we were given only five hours to shop. Actually, turista din kami, but we didn’t have the luxury of time to even visit all the beautiful churches they have there. We also have a limited number of staff and crew. Dito, usually, we have 35 people to help us in the set. Doon, there were just 10 of us so multi-tasking talaga because we’re undermanned. All of us, even the stars, have to help in carrying the equipment when we are shooting. When we shot in Rome, we had to leave very early kasi balikan kami sa Milan and the travel time is about 10 hours. Sa Venice naman, it’s seven hours. We don’t have a place to sleep in those cities so we really have to return to Milan, which is our base. And imagine, we’re paying in Euro, which is P62 to one Euro, so the budget is really high. My cinematographer, Shayne Clemente, has to shoot only with available light so we’re always chasing the sun. In Venice, I want to shoot early in the morning but when we got there, it’s raining so there were no tourists and no pigeons on St. Mark’s Square. The Italians are very punctual so they want to shoot right away, but I said this is the film’s ending, so I want to get it right. We’ll wait for the sun. The location manager, Niccola, said it will not come because the weather report said it will be cloudy all day. I insisted it will come. I went inside the St. Mark’s church and prayed hard. Soon after that, the skies cleared up, the sun came out, and with it, the tourists and the pigeons. We were able to shoot the ending I want. Niccola told me: ‘I am so happy for you. I only believe in the weather report’. And I told him: ‘I only believe in God’. You know, shooting this film there, I really felt the hand of God helping us. When we were shooting Claudine’s farewell scene with Piolo in Lake Cuomo, I cannot think of the right lines for her to say and they were all rushing me because we’re shooting outside and it’s extremely cold. I was crying as I was writing and then, all of a sudden, the words came. I gave it to Claudine and told her, ‘You only have 15 minutes to memorize all of this.’ And she did it. With the Lord’s help, it was perfect."
Did she try to contact Cherie Gil who lives in Venice with husband Roni Rogoff?
"Sayang nga they were not there when we shot the film. But she sent her caretakers to bring us food on the set. Actually, a lot of Filipinos who live there helped us by bringing us merienda sa shooting. But there was a time nahirapan din kami sa dami ng Pinoy. I had a scene shot in the plaza in Milan where I wanted some Filipinos around. We announced it through the ABS-CBN office for The Filipino Channel in Europe. When we shot the scene, thousands of Filipinos came kasi sabik silang makakita ng mga Pinoy na galing sa Pinas. You see, we have about 24,000 Filipinos in Milan alone. It’s so hard to control the crowd because we don’t even have a megaphone at mahirap silang pakiusapan, so we just packed up the shooting."
So what will be her next movie? "I want to try doing a musical, for a change and also, because we have not done that kind of film for a long time now. But I also have a commitment to direct Claudine in a drama series. So that will be my next priority."