AFTER THREE decades and 40 screenplays (30 of them produced), acclaimed screenwriter Armando ?Bing? Lao makes his directorial debut in Quantum Films? ?Biyaheng Lupa.?
The big leap came as a surprise to Lao himself, who penned Chito Roño?s ?Itanong Mo sa Buwan,? Jeffrey Jeturian?s ?Tuhog? and Dante Mendoza?s ?Serbis.?
?It wasn?t my decision,? Lao notes. ?My producer, Joji Alonso, decided for me.?
Overdue
Says Alonso: ?It?s long overdue. At least three other friends [of mine] wanted to direct this material that Bing wrote. But it?s perfect for Bing.?
Frequent collaborator and student Jeturian agrees: ?He?s been mentoring many new filmmakers. He is instrumental in our outputs.?
A graduate of Ricky Lee?s first screen writing class in 1982, Lao now conducts his own workshops. ?I incorporate camera idioms and grammar,? he says. ?I anticipate what goes onscreen.?
Most of Lao?s students?Mark Meily, Ellen Ongkeko-Marfil, Jim Libiran and Francis Pasion?eventually directed their own films. Which makes Lao?s move seem all the more belated.
Lao says ?Biyaheng Lupa,? which chronicles the bus journey of common folk from Manila to Bicol, features a tricky ?narrative hook.? He explains: ?It is told through voice-overs from beginning to end. So I needed actors who could tell the story without speaking.?
Gifted cast
Thus, another challenge was gathering the gifted ensemble?Jaclyn Jose, Julio Diaz, Eugene Domingo, Alan Paule, Angel Aquino, Coco Martin, Susan Africa, Shamaine Centenera-Buencamino, Andoy Ranay and Carlo Guevara, to name a few.
Lao says, ?They did it out of friendship.?
It was a tricky shoot as well, Lao admits. Most of the scenes were set inside a cramped bus. Lao kept the camera grinding throughout the trip. ?The actors needed little motivation,? he said, ?because they made the journey.?
How?s that for method acting? ?Real-time acting,? Lao quips. ?Actually, this film is told in poetic time. But Ogi Sugatan, our director of photography, got dizzy.?
Poetry and motion sickness make strange co-stars, indeed.
Email: bsandiego@inquirer.com.ph
