Singing in the sand

MANILA, Philippines - It seems almost like an oddity that for a music loving people Filipinos still don’t have a full-fledged movie-musical, and this cultural discrepancy is being addressed by “Emir,” directed by Chito Roño, due out late summer of 2010. Well, not at least since the independent “Saan Nagtatago si Happiness?” of Cinemalaya a few years back has there been a Broadway type production on the big screen complete with song and dance, and Emir has to its advantage an inside track to the mainstream and the international audience through co-producers Film Development Council of the Philippines and the Cultural Center of the Philippines, not to mention the support of thousands of overseas Filipino workers whose plight drives the story forward.

At the time of interview with STARweek Roño, who may be considered as among the batch of young turks including Tata Esteban and Erik Matti that made their first films around Edsa I, was deep in post production, editing the final rushes and working on a special trailer to be screened at the press conference at the CCP first week of May, just before the elections.

Roño remembers the last shooting days at the Army-Navy Club along Roxas Boulevard that the weather bureau said were among the hottest of the year. On a similar sweltering day in the air-conditioned, smoking section of the UCC Café along Morato, Roño is talking about his latest baby, a welcome change of pace after a string of horror flicks (“T2,” “Sukob,” “Feng Shui,” the last two with Kris Aquino) broken only by the A-graded “Caregiver” with Sharon Cuneta.

“No one does straight opera anymore,” the director says in Filipino, emphasizing that in a musical, the key scenes are sung, not spoken. The few spoken lines are meant to link together the songs comprising the main narrative, like segues, as in “Sweeney Todd” and much earlier, “Lollipops and Roses” with Nora Aunor and Cocoy Laurel.

Asked what the difference is between Emir and his past works in terms of approach and work method, Roño says, “Basically you still have to tell a story.”

But the big difference is that in a musical the song is used as dramatic dialogue, “so you have to act out a song, the actor has to express the dramatic content of a song.”

The music having great effect on the viewing audience, Roño says his role as director is to be careful the song does not overwhelm the material – “you have to balance.”

You must make sure that you don’t lose the story’s dramatic element, he says.

This is the reason, Roño says, that during the auditions they preferred the actors who could sing over the singers who could act. Nothing really intimidating about range and volume, just a respectable singing voice that can carry a tune, a voice like yours or mine.

“Accessibility ang habol ko sa Emir,” he says. “I don’t think anybody’s voice is intimidating except maybe for, say, Ben David’s.”

In the musical there are seven key actors/singers, including the teenager Frencheska Farr, who plays the yaya OFW in charge of her ward, son of a sheik somewhere in the Middle East. Story is by Palanca awardee Jerry Gracio, music by renowned tunesmiths Gary Granada and the Dancel brothers Vin and Ebe, and their presence could give a hint of the soundtrack and musical score: a bit folk, a little pop rock, a la Barangay Ginebra and Peryodiko and Sugar Free. And more than a little bit Dulce, who during the press con on May 5 sang a duet with Farr that was nothing short of overwhelming, this side of Ben David, tears in his long sunken eyes.

Why, of all things, a musical? Music seems second nature to us, Roño says, citing local products who have recently made good on the world stage – Charice Pempengco and Arnel Pineda. And before them, Lea Salonga. Not to mention the ubiquitous karaoke and videoke bars and sari-sari joints throughout the metropolis and countryside, and you get an idea how much Filipinos love to sing, yes even in the face of at times fatal consequences due to despalinghado renditions of “My Way.”

Eventually Roño hopes that Emir would pave the way for more musicals both on stage and on film, as befits the Filipino temperament. The last Filipino musical play he recalls was “Luna” of several years ago.

Lots of behind the scenes stories too, Rono says, partaking of a handrolled sandwich that might be a UCC house specialty.

For the shoot in Morocco they had visa problems with the Iranian boy who was to play Farr’s ward, because it turned out Iran and Morocco had broken diplomatic ties due to some faux pas. Through a roundabout way and some persistent back-channeling they were able to secure a visa for the boy, but it wasn’t the end of their problems.

In the northern African country they also had difficulty when most supply stores were closed during the Ramadan in September last year, their scheduled shoot there. Then there was the three-day merrymaking of Eid al-Fitr, around which they had to film.

Roño says the crew wasn’t limited to halal food when they were in Morocco, as there were already multinational fastfood outlets like McDonald’s and KFC, but the director himself loves the native Mediterranean cuisine, with its olive oil.

For Emir, Roño says they chose Morocco because it is one of the few non-ASEAN countries that do not require a visa for Filipinos, “and we did not want a Saudi or Afghanistan look.”

Moroccans are French-speaking and all the signs are in French, the director says, noting that language is what unites them. French as in Frencheska, who will go Farr.

All these new technological innovations are going to shape the movie industry in the next few years,” Roño says, when asked of the possible directions of local cinema.

Everyone has access to a camera, so it is so easy now to make a film, he says. There’s 3-D with those special glasses, an added incentive for the home-based movie lover to venture out and return to the movie house. The Koreans can also now view soaps on their cellphone, another development that can impact on the local craft.

In the Philippines, though, Roño says there are only around 50 theaters nationwide that have the capability to screen digital movies, still a measly number logistics wise and when one factors in return on investment for producers.

But Roño says he would continue to make films the old school way because “as long as the market is there, it will still be done.”

It is also the suppliers’ prerogative, if they would still find it feasible to produce and process prints and film stock.

In the meantime, Roño is pulling out all the stops for Emir, whose music and story he swears would hit the spot in the overall Filipino psyche.

Executive producer Rolando Atienza of FDCP says: “The larger-than-life sets…all the effort, filming elements, use of top-notch talents and equipment, as well as the excellence of the performance of the different film collaborators of Emir, raises the bar for Philippine filmmaking… In its own way, the film is an unconventional one… a film no ordinary producer would do. It is truly a landmark movie and will extend the frontiers of Philippine cinema.”

Co-executive producer Nes Jardin of CCP was silent as usual about the musical’s ramifications on the senses of cinema.

“Mostly Pinoy pop, some rock, even a bit of rap towards the end,” Roño says, describing the range of the soundtrack, traditionally released as a teaser or promotional material ahead of the film itself.

He says he has three songs in mind that could be used as carrier singles for extensive radio air play, “but really it is up to the producer Viva” which is releasing the CD. Judging by the sampler of three songs presented during the press launch, there really is a wide variety to listen to.

Supporting singer/actress Liesl Batucan belies rumors of the taray direk Roño is, saying instead the cast had confidence that captain Chito would ably guide their ship of songs.

It’s been 24 years since “Private Show,” the first film Roño made as Sixto Cayco, the time of the original Edsa when the sexy daring film featuring a slim Jacklyn Jose played in theaters heady with revolution.

With the country now on the verge of another historic crossroads, Roño wants the moviegoer to be singing in the sand, caught in a storm of electoral mudslinging and sleazy propaganda. But he knows only too well that there’s nothing a good song can’t cure with its own electrical storm, especially if the song is central to the story of the Filipino diaspora.

Emir is to premier in late May, and commercial theater run is in early June. An international premier is also slated for OFWs in a not so foreign country.