Direk Joyce: Box-office triumph doesn’t define who you are
A few days before Christmas, director Joyce Bernal faced media men who survived four hours on the road to reach the presscon venue for Gandarrapiddo: The Revenger Squad in an industrial town in Laguna.
It looked like a typical, stressful day for everyone, but the director is the epitome of take-it-as-they-come attitude. She is cool about a lot of things and how the passing year looked like for her. “I did three films during the year and I guess it was pretty good. I am working on another film with Sarah Geronimo and of course, it ended with this Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) entry with Vice Ganda.”
It is the second time around for her with this feisty stand-up comedian who defies labeling every time he takes a leave from his noontime show to do a once-a-year movie project. “Let’s face it, Vice Ganda is a big entity now considering his box-office following. What does it take to handle a box-office star? Well, courage for one. When you work with someone like him, you study where he is good at and what he represents. Then you tell yourself you have to find a way to present him in another light. Or find a different story to make the job extra challenging,” direk Joyce said. “To be sure, he knows what he wants, and you have to act fast to catch up with his ideas. Because every project is different, and every artist is different. As the director, you work hard to get the best from everybody.”
Working with a newcomer to the movies like former Miss Universe Pia Wurtzbach, direk Joyce is candid. “Well, she is new in the business and she is new in comedy which needs good timing to be effective. She had a hard time slapping Vice in the confrontation scene. You tell her to hit hard, but she is too wary to hurt her co-star. In the beginning, she is lost in the dialogue exchange and her timing is not good. But by not being in sync with the rest, she creates her own funny moment. In time, she will learn. For one, she has the energy and the discipline to absorb what is there for her in this line of work. In fairness to her, she worked very hard and in the end, she delivered. She didn’t have the airs of a beauty queen while working and it was obvious from the way she dealt with us that she didn’t want a special treatment.”
For Vice, direk Joyce is virtually his “second mother” when direk Wenn Deramas passed away a few years back. “In the beginning, you feel like an orphan and you wonder who else you can work with. It didn’t take effort to like her. It is pure joy working with her. She knows what she wants, and she knows in what level your collaboration can work with good result.
“Yes, she is very versatile for one. She can handle materials for specific audiences and she knows my audience and where I am good at. On the set with her is not like work. We laugh a lot, we share meals and jokes and truly, it’s like working with a barkada. But mind you, you have to be ready when she wants you to do something different. Her level of artistry is high, and she knows at what point she can get the best from me. But we both know we can’t present the same Vice Ganda all over again.”
Why should movie audiences watch her film with Vice Ganda?
Direk Joyce said, “Let’s face it, Vice is synonymous with fun and laughter and I can’t imagine Christmas without them.”
But to work well, the director added that she has found a better way of dealing with pressure even as media men were quick to quote box-office figures and how her latest output will most likely fare at the tills with other equally strong MMFF entries.
She admits a box-office triumph boosts her confidence but made one thing clear. “Box-office results give you an idea how far or how deeply you connected with your audience. But it doesn’t define who I am.”
The Revenger Squad opens in cinemas tomorrow, Christmas Day. It also stars Daniel Padilla and Ejay Falcon, among others.