How a broken heart made direk Romy leave showbiz

Opening today in SM Cinemas nationwide are the nine films in the Sineng Pambansa National Film Festival All-Masters Edition, a brainchild of Briccio Santos, head of the Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP), who gave each director P1.5M seed money with the gentle reminder that part of, if not the whole, film be shot in their respective hometowns. The filmfest is until Sept. 17.

Originally, 12 awarded directors were listed but three backed out (Carlitos Siguion-Reyna, Tikoy Aguiluz and Jun Urbano), with an unfinished film by the late Celso Ad. Castillo in “special participation.”

The remaining nine (honored at a dinner over the weekend) directors (and their entries; the filmfest is non-competition) are: Elwood Perez (Otso), Gil Portes (Tag-araw ni Twinkle), Maryo J. delos Reyes (Bamboo Flowers), Peque Gallaga and Lore Reyes (Sonata), Mel Chionglo (Lauriana), Chito Roño (Badil), Joel Lamangan (Lihis), Jose Javier Reyes (Ano Ang Kulay ng Mga Nakalimutang Pangarap?) and Romy Suzara (Tinik).

Of the group, it’s Romy who has been inactive the longest (more than a decade)…for a sentimental if painful reason.

In 2003, Romy had two films, one of them titled Tahimik Ngunit Mapanganib, with FPJ put on hold because FPJ was running in the 2004 presidential elections.

“After the elections,” said Romy, turning misty-eyed, “FPJ told me, ‘Tapusin na natin ‘yang dalawang pelikula.’ Only two weeks later, he was gone. Then, I began work on an FPJ docu but what happened was, while I was editing the material tuwing kumakanta si FPJ, iyak ako nang iyak. Most of the scenes were taken from clips that I filmed during his wake.”

A few years later, Romy’s good friend (almost like a brother) Rudy “Daboy” Fernandez got sick of cancer. Rudy and Romy worked on several films together, one of them Pepeng Shotgun (his favorite).

“One day, kaming mga naka-trabaho niyang director ay pinatawag ni Daboy, so we visited him at home. We were having fun, kuwentuhan nang kuwentuhan, puro flashback. We teased him, ‘Parang namamaalam ka na, a.’ But he said, ‘Pupunta pa ako sa States, magpapagamot.’

“When goodbye time came, Daboy said, ‘Direk, maiwan ka na.’ As soon as we were alone, he hugged me and said, ‘Direk, ingatan mo ang health mo; mahirap magkasakit.’ I tried to appease him, ‘Daboy, bale wala ‘yan; kelangan lang lakas ng loob and faith in The Lord.’ He told me that he missed making movies, so I told him that it couldn’t be action, but something like Autumn in New York in which the female character has cancer, being taken care of by her lover. I said, ‘Let’s reverse the story, gawin natin ‘yung male character ang may cancer.’ His face lit up, ‘Sige, gusto ko ‘yan. Gawin natin.’

“When he came back from the States with Lorna (Tolentino, his wife), he was on a wheelchair. He was brought straight to the hospital. In one of my visits, I checked his legs and they were bloated. Biniro ko siya, ‘Daboy, di ba problema mo binti, pinalalaki mo? Mahal ka ni Lord talaga. Ngayon, ang laki-laki na ng mga binti mo.’ Not long after that, he was gone.”

Those two incidents broke Romy’s heart.

Depressed, Romy retreated from showbiz and devoted his time to pastoral work as member of the Christian movement Oasis of Love…until he got word from the FDCP that he’s included in the All Masters filmfest.

Originally titled May Tinik Ang Huwad Na Bulaklak, his entry Tinik is a love story between a middle-aged couturier (played by Ricardo Cepeda) and a young hustler (Lemuel Pelayo), with newcomer Alexis Navarro as the couturier’s signature model. Romy shot it in more than two weeks in Nueva Ecija where he hails from.

Asked if it’s based on a true story (very common in our society, isn’t it?), Romy simply smiled, as if to say, “Guess!”

Romy recalled that he has the material since the early ’80s but no producer would touch it with the proverbial 10-foot pole because of its sensitive subject which is now openly depicted not only in Hollywood (Brokeback Mountain, Behind the Candelabra) but also in local movies and television (Joel’s Lihis, the GMA bromance My Husband’s Lover).

“Initially,” said Romy, “I had Lino Brocka and his protégé Phillip Salvador in mind for the lad characters, with Elizabeth Oropeza. All of them had just won awards at that time. I told Lino that I had a good story and he thought I was getting him to direct it. Sabi ko, ‘Artista kita,’ and he said, ‘Tigilan mo ako sa kalokohan mo! Huwag mo na ako isama dyan!’ At that time, Lino had just done Tubog Sa Ginto which predated My Husband’s Lover by more than 30 years.”

Before Romy finally cast Ricardo and Lemuel, he tapped Raymond Bagatsing (as the couturier) and Hayden Kho (the toyboy) but both begged off. Raymond was tied up with other projects while Hayden was going on a retreat in Mongolia.

Being straight (noted for his colorful romances with actresses), Romy said that he had a little difficulty in shooting Ricardo and Lemuel’s love scenes, even if both were “game” in kissing, so Romy did the scenes more in symbols than graphically like what Joel did with Joem Bascon and Jake Cuenca in Lihis.

The screenplay underwent some revisions, written by Raymond Diamzon from a story co-written by Romy and Jose Carreon.

“I’m relieved that Tinik is finally in the can,” Romy heaved a sigh of relief, adding, “and it will be shown at a film festival in Switzerland. It was chosen based on the synopses of the All Masters entries, even if the Swiss filmfest organizers haven’t seen it yet.”

Romy is thankful to Briccio Santos for giving the movie industry the much-needed shot-in-the-arm at a time when the movie industry is, in a manner of speaking, waking up from a prolonged “coma” induced by the influx of new blood doing indies.

“He’s God-sent,” said Romy. “The industry owes him a debt of gratitude.”

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