New dare for Horror Princess

MANILA, Philippines - “I will choose to tell the truth,” Maja Salvador says when asked what she will do if she faces the dilemma her character, Rose, encounters in Mata, one of the five episodes of Star Cinema’s latest horror flick Cinco.

Protecting a loved one who committed a crime won’t do any good. “Though it is hard to say it because it involves the one you love, the conscience surely will forever haunt you at mas takot ako dun.”

 Mata challenges the Horror Princess (Maja was tagged as such because of the many scream flicks she has done) to portray a role filled with paranoia and guilt. Thus, she and co-star Rayver Cruz (who plays her fiancé) must prepare themselves psychologically for the movie. And that’s where direk Renato “Ato” Bautista comes in.

“The structure of the movie is tricky. That’s why their roles require a lot of mental preparations,” direk Ato offers. “Maja and Rayver underwent a character study before we started shooting. Acting-wise, wala ng problema as both have already starred in soap that made them into effective actors.”

His main concern is giving Maja and Rayver the green light on when and where their emotions should peak, especially in the scary scenes.

“Konting taas lang (sa emosyon) grabe na kasi yung maturity nila as artists,” adds direk Ato who was an assistant director of Pangako Sa’Yo prior to doing movies like Blackout starring Robin Padilla.

Was it hard for direk Ato to establish fear in a short span of time? Mata has a running time of 25 minutes and it took them 10 shooting days to finish the episode.

“It was not easy. That’s why we sat down first and talked about the things that we should all do because the movie is not about dealing with ghosts but the guilt inside and aside from that is yung internal conflict nila as a couple.”

“The continuity of the story should be intact so we really concentrated on our roles para yung emosyon sa sunod-sunod na scenes di masira,” Maja shares.

And what do they fear most?

“When I think of a concept I always start in one’s internal conflict maybe because there are situations in life that really scare me more than seeing a ghost. Mas takot ako sa buhay like when a drunk man approaches you while you’re walking down the street. Or I am alone in the house and somebody will sneak in.” direk Ato replies.

For Maja, getting in a situation where the conscience will be greatly affected scares her no end.

Cinco opens July 14 in theaters.