CALL him names, and you?re bound to be right. Baron Geisler has been described variously as a troublemaker, a bad boy gone worse, a drunkard, a maniac and a molester.
Such public crucifixion no longer fazes the young actor. ?I?m not affected anymore,? he claims. ?Even Mr. M (Star Magic boss Johnny Manahan) tells me, ?pabayaan mo na lang? (let it go). Use it to your advantage.?
Amid all the craziness?which includes a court case for acts of lasciviousness and a forfeited regular spot in a TV project due to his alleged drunken behavior on the set?Baron has accomplished a distinction that should be the envy of his peers: two best actor awards for his role as a gay TV producer in an indie film production.
Baron describes his award-winning role in ?Jay? as his ?greatest accomplishment? so far. It opened him to the arts, he adds. ?It felt alright to be just an actor,? he says in Filipino. ?I didn?t need to know more. But because of that movie, I felt compelled to keep studying, to continue my research on different roles.?
He approaches his character in the most intense, sincere and direct treatment possible, reveals the young actor. ?I spent one month with my director (Francis Xavier Pasion) who?s gay and I copied his every move, the way he talked... Then I internalize it?I pretend I?m Francis, I?m this director (whose subtext is gay).?
?Jay? went on to win several international film festival awards and gave Baron the Cinemalaya and Gawad Tanglaw best actor plums, bringing to three the awards he?s won in 14 years in show business. The actor, who stepped up for an audition as a 12-year-old for ?Ang TV? in Pampanga, won a PMPC Star Award for his portrayal of a young man looking after a younger sibling in the ?Maala-ala Mo Kaya? episode ?Trolley? in 2006.
More than the public recognition, the awards have restored his faith in himself, he says. ?(The awards say) he?s not just a bad boy. He loves his job too. It?s a career defining moment. After that, people started believing in me and I started believing in myself,? adds Baron.
While some show biz observers would focus on the controversies surrounding him, the actor confides that he?s re-discovered the thrill of his craft.
?It?s not the fame anymore,? Baron notes. ?It?s the ecstatic high I get after every scene. I just become that character. For a moment, I can escape. I can go to this other world where there?s no Baron. It?s good to become another person, it?s almost like being possessed.?
The actor recalls an intense confrontational scene with ?Jay? co-star Coco Martin in the ABS-CBN teleserye ?Tayong Dalawa.? In one scene, Coco brandished a gun against Baron, who was shocked because this was not part of the script. He reacted in kind with some adlibbed lines. ?Good thing I?m used to improvising. I replied in a monologue: ?Tandaan mo, sa susunod na bunutin mo ang baril na yan, siguraduhin mong iputok yan, kasi kung hindi? Alam mo, mag-isa lang ako dito, pero ikaw, nandyan ang lola mo, kapatid mo (The next time you draw a gun, make sure you pull the trigger, or else... And you know, I?m alone, but you?re not?there?s your grandmother, your sibling?)? I was possessed.?
After the taping, he confronted Coco about the gun-wielding impromptu scene, to which the other actor replied, laughing: ?Sinusubukan lang kita (I was just testing you).?
Such instances pose a tremendous challenge to him, Baron admits, but they?re nothing compared to his battles against his personal demons.
?Well, I try to stay out of trouble. I try to stay away from the bottle especially when I?m outside. I hang around with positive people, that?s how I deal with it,? he declares.
His alcohol dependency had always been an obstacle to his career, he admits. Before ?Jay,? Baron was so controversial because of his involvement in alleged bar brawls and in his infamous appearances on ?Pinoy Big Brother? (PBB) that producers would think twice about casting him in a TV or movie project.
Things came to a head when Patricia Martinez, daughter of his PBB housemate Yayo Aguila-Martinez and fellow actor William Martinez, haled him to court for acts of lasciviousness that allegedly took place in a Makati bar. Baron has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and the case is set to be re-raffled before a Makati court after the original judge inhibited himself.
Recently, TV5 producers dropped him from ?Midnight DJ? after he arrived on the set drunk. His intoxication, he had explained, was a result of his break-up with a former girlfriend the night before.
Since then, says Baron, he?d rather drink indoors or in a friend?s house to avoid trouble. Despite it all, he adds, he has remained professional. ?When I work, they can?t find fault with me. I get on the set 30 minutes before my call time, that?s how much I love my work. But people hit me on my personal flaws, and that?s where I lose.?
Fortunately, he says, his family, including mom Gracia and brother Donald, gives him the strength to face his troubles head-on. He also credits people, including strangers he meets, as a source of inspiration.
?Even if some people think I?m a maniac or an alcoholic, when I go out, I see other people who support me. They tell me, ?I don?t believe this or that. We are on your side.? So despite my detractors, there are people who believe in me. That makes me want to keep up the fight.?
His new girlfriend, Filipino-Australian Rachel Stephenson, he adds, is his most ardent believer. ?She?s wife material,? Baron says of the woman he met at Embassy. ?You know what convinced me that I really like her? I never got drunk in front of her.?
He recalls: ?Everything stopped (when I saw her), then it was like walking in slo-mo. And then I just grabbed her around the waist and we started slow dancing. Then I kissed her in the cheek.?
Baron says he?s looking at settling down with Stephenson ?if everything turns out well.? Her plans include moving to the Philippines permanently and starting a business.
Despite his happiness, he admits the road will be tough. ?My love life is okay, but it?s hard?so I?m trying to make it last. It?s crazy because it?s my first time to have a long distance relationship.?
As his personal life appears upbeat, so does his show biz career. After his appearances in ?Eva Fonda? and ?Tayong Dalawa,? Baron is joining the cast of the upcoming teleserye ?The Wedding,? with Anne Curtis.
But what he really savors, he says, are the character roles he?s been given that help him become the consummate actor. ?I?ve realized that I?m no Piolo Pascual, but that I can still be successful in character roles,? Baron declares.
His dream role, he says, is ?the villain role (in a fantaserye) with some kind of depth and a psychotic edge,? much like the Joker role in the Batman movies portrayed by Jack Nicholson and the late Heath Ledger, both of whom are his idols.
But for now, that might have to wait. Baron will soon play hero in a movie chronicling a monumental event in world history. He will essay the role of Captain Conrado Yap in the epic ?Forgotten War,? which recounts Filipino involvement in the Korean War. The movie is set to premiere on April 12 in Korea.
Another project in the works is one that he writes and directs in collaboration with his ?Forgotten War? director Carlo Cruz. A film, he says, that will tell his story. Describing the project as a documentary, Baron says the movie will have four acts that will zero in on the realities of his life?how he deals with alcoholism, the daily struggles and triumphs in his career, and a call for people to understand what he is going through.
The writing is almost done and shooting may start in May or June, he reveals excitedly. ?When I don?t have work, I get depressed. It?s when I don?t have work to do that I feel dead inside.? Hopefully, that will be a thing of the past. ?
Special thanks to Star Magic and ABS-CBN
