AGA UNFAZED AND UNCHANGED IN ERA OF NEW AGE CINEMA
IT’S the sign of the times. Philippine show business’ golden boy Aga Muhlach is back with an entry to the Metro Manila Film Festival 26 years since he last had a movie in competition —1993’s “May Minamahal” with Aiko Melendez.
For 2019, he’s starring in a remake of a K-Drama [i.e. “Korean Drama” for the benefit of older generation fans of the 50- year old actor] via South Korea’s fifth highest grossing full-length movie of all time, 2013’s “Miracle in Cell No. 7.” And since November, the multi-awarded actor has also been receiving endless figures from “Miracle in Cell No. 7’s” social media team on the number of views the trailers have garnered.
“They uploaded a teaser in early November and they were so excited when they told me, ‘Three million views napotayo in just five hours!’ Then apparently it doubled d to seven million in 16 hours, so they hey told me that. Then 9.6 million n in 24 hours, then 18.4 million in two wo
weeks and so on and so forth. Ako
naman,naka- smile lang.Kalmado maun I’d say, ‘Talaga?Ganun ba?’ kasi,ibangi ban an ga raww n gay on an gm undo, pat is a a
pelikula,” he good-naturedly chuckled at the grand media conference of the MMFF bet.
So much has changed indeed since Aga made his very first movie in 1975 (“May Isang Tsuper ng Taksi”) ) as a six-year-old actor, rocketed d in the ‘80s as the hottest matinee idol (“Bagets,” “Miguelito: Batang Rebelde”) in showbiz, and conquered the ‘90s as the most defining leading man of his generation. All that time, never had he have to do a remake of a foreign movie, and the same can be said in the 2000s when he significantly cut back on showbiz commitments in order to spend more time with his family.
From 2002 to 2018 — which includes his five-year hiatus from filming in 2012 to 2017 — Aga still starred in all-original titles even if he only agreed to a single movie a year.
Amid the signs of the times, The T-Zone wondered how the prolific and perennial box-office actor feels. For back in the ‘90s and even the early part of this century, who would have thought Filipinos would be so addicted to Hallyu [the Korean Wave] that TV networks and such an established movie company as Viva Entertainment would be compelled to do remakes of K-Dramas and K-Movies like they’re doing now?
And then there’s social media. Has Aga ever had to rely on “views” or “hits” for an idea how his movie will do at the tills? Negative.
“Everything is very different today, the movies included,” Aga acknowledged. “But for me, I don’t feel weird about it or pressured over hits or views because parasaakin as an actor,
walangnag-iba. I’m 50 now but I’m still as passionate about acting as I was decades
ago, or nunghulingnagka- MMFF entry ako almost 30 years ago.
“Yes, I know ‘Miracle in Cell No. 7’ is a remake but we owned it. When we went to work as actors every day, we didn’t think or feel we were doing a remake but a beautiful story based on the script. Our writer Mel Mendoza-Del Rosario adapted it from the Korean movie with the Filipino culture, sentiments and setting in mind and Nuel Crisostomo Naval directed us based on that. It’s a beautiful story of a father and daughter and how their love for each other changed even hardened criminals.
Kaya ito ta lag a, hindi mas as a yang an gib ab ayadng tao sa sin e hank ap ag nanoodsila.”
Graded A by the Cinema Evaluation Board and rated General Patronage by the MTRCB, Aga plays Joselito, a mentally-ill man who is wrongfully charged of sexually assaulting and murdering a little girl who w happens to be the daughter of a high-ranking official (Tirso Cruz 3rd). Joselito hash a very loving daughter himself, h named Yesha (Xia Vigor), V who is left with no one when w he is jailed.
In all his innocence, Joselito yearns yea to be with Yesha and have her stay with him in prison. And with his fellow inmates softening up to this pure-hearted man, they device devic a plan to smuggle his young daughter daugh inside the cell. Once On there, Yesha happily reunited unite with her dad, brings out the best in the convicted criminals who share their cell, forming a bond with all of them that lives on years later when, already as a lawyer (Bela Padilla), she is determined to clear her father’s name.
With a couple of previews already held for “Miracle,” reactions to the heart tugging movie have been overwhelmingly positive. In fact, Aga was so humbled to share how the country’s top cinema exhibitors who attended the first special screening gave him a standing ovation the moment he stepped into the theater at the end of the movie.
Palpably excited over the initial response, the huge “netizenry” this side of the world included, Aga only feels immense gratitude that over four decades since making his first film, a movie like “Miracle” had still been offered to him and that the public is returning his excitement and looking forward to seeing him back on the big screen.
“That’s how I see those views and hits, kayatalagang grateful langako na map asama itongp eli kul ana min sam gap in a gk akagul uh ann gm ga artist alike sin a Vice (Ganda), sina Coco (Martin), sina Vic Sotto. Pin angara pkoy on kay am a say a lang ako that I also get to experience that sa MMFF ngayon,” the two-time MMFF Best Actor (“May Minamahal,” “Bakit Labis Kitang Mahal”) added ever so humbly.
And with the topic of winning Best Actor this year inescapable for Aga, he chuckled again and said it’s the farthest thing from his mind.
“Even before when I was younger, when they’d pit me with other actors for awards, I’d always say that when I act, I just give [every role] my all because it’s my passion. I never pressured myself with the idea of awards in any of my movies. And up to now, sabikonga I’m still the same. Tuwing na lang may ba gong artist a,saak in ikukumpara,iku- compete saakin, pero ga nu n par inako ,” he explained in earnest.
Then with a sudden glint in his eye, the irreplaceable golden boy of Philippine Cinema teased, “Perokung man a lo, mag-papa victory party ako !”
“Miracle in Cell No. 7” opens on Christmas Day, and also stars John Arcilla, Joel Torre, JC Santos, Mon Confiado, Jojit Lorenzo and Soliman Cruz.