Vice Ganda: ‘Fantastica’ funny but with heart
For Vice Ganda, “Fantastica,” one of the entries to the Metro Manila Film Festival, is more than ye ‘olde comedy movie. Actually, it was eye-opener for the comedy actor. “When I was starting doing movies with the late Wenn (Deramas), we only had one purpose – to crack jokes one after the other. When we did ‘Petrang Kabayo,’ our main goal was to make people laugh. I told Wenn I don’t care about the lessons the audience will get from my movie.
“When I was starting, I was always like that. I believed that giving learnings from movies are assignments of other artists. I felt that my only assignment was to make people laugh…” But all that changed in this movie.
“I realized movie-making is not just a simple art,” he mused. “It’s something that has a bigger purpose than just entertaining people – I learned that from Star Cinema. No, they will not allow that you crack jokes only. It has to have something to learn from. If you are just always cracking jokes in the movie, it will lose its purpose, it will lose its heart.”
“Fantastica” was so full of guffaw-eliciting scenes that for the sake of balance, some of these ended up in the bloopers section at the tail end of the film.
“We sacrificed some of the funny scenes to give way to the movie’s core message,” he related.
“I’ve been cracking jokes on ‘It’s Showtime’ for about 10 years now. Other than making people laugh, I want to serve a new purpose.”
Each of the 16-strong cast of “Fantastica” was asked to share about their bonding moments.
“I don’t think we have off-cam bonding moments. All throughout the entire time that we were seeing each other we were just working and finishing the movie. When we’re doing the movie, it wasn’t work at all. It was like we’re goofing around which made our scenes our bonding moments,” Vice said.
But he cited one memorable moment with Edward Barber, Maymay Entrata’s screen partner.
“I can’t say it’s fun but for me it was memorable that I was given a chance to talk to Edward. I felt he was sad. ‘Are you sad, Edward?’ ‘No.’”
“I sat in front of him and we talked seriously. He said he is confused. He is confused because after he and Maymay left the ‘PBB,’ work came in succession and their stardom got bigger and bigger. He was not sure if he was prepared for it. When he entered ‘PBB’ all because he wanted to give it a try and then he’d return to Germany and go back to his normal life. But after ‘PBB,’ his life was changed,” he related.
“When we were shooting he was always looking astonished. He couldn’t believe it was all happening. It has not sunk into his senses. He wasn’t sure if he’s happy, if he’s tired, if he’s prepared. I talked to him and shared my own experiences when I was a neophyte in the business. I explained the purpose of all of this, how he can reduce sadness in the midst of success, reduce stress in the midst of ‘laughter,’ reduce sadness in the midst of applause, and learn to live in silence amid the noise.
“I shared all of that with him. After that, he smiled and thanked me.”
“Fantastica” opens in theaters nationwide on Dec. 25. Also in the cast are Dingdong Dantes, Richard Gutierrez, Maymay Entrata, Edward Barber, Donny Pangilinan, Kisses Delavin, Ronnie Alonte, Loisa Andalio, and Jaclyn Jose.
We sacrificed some of the hilarious scenes to give way to the movie’s core message.