Int’l stardom for Sol, Chai
SOL AND CHAI: Two Filipino actors, nonstars both, known for their versatility, got their casting call from international film productions one after the other just recently. They’re a cause for celebration in the local film community in this difficult time.
Soliman Cruz, a veteran theater and film actor, is currently shooting a movie in Romania and Greece, where he plays the lead character.
Chai Fonacier, also a theater actor, is (or was) in Ireland doing a co-starring role in a movie with Eva Green and Mark Strong.
What good news to the local acting community and the Philippine film industry as a whole.
***
ROMANIAN FILM: Soliman is cast as Filipino seaman Joel in Mihai Mincan’s “To The North,” the story of a religious, Bibleholding seafarer who chances upon a Romanan stowaway on board their transatlantic ship.
To quote Ferdy Lapuz, Sol’s manager: The sailor then starts playing a dangerous game, involving his crew, his faith in God and an innocent man’s life.
Sol began as an actor at Bulwagang Gantimpala in the 1980s. He played standout roles in “Ang Pagdadalaga ni Maximo Oliveros” and other films.
***
IRISH FILM: Chai, who’s also a mean singer, plays a Filipina caregiver in “Vivarium” director Lorcan Finnegan’s Nocebo. A Facebook post showed Eva Green commending the young Filipina’s acting, which the actress described as superb.
Nocebo is a psychological thriller, the first co-production between Ireland and the Philippines.
Variety reports that the film follows a fashion designer (Green) suffering from a mysterious illness that puzzles her doctors and frustrates her husband (Strong). Help arrives in the form of a Filipino caregiver (Fonacier), who uses traditional folk healing to reveal a horrifying truth.
“Nocebo” is the antonym of “placebo,” and refers to the Nocebo Effect, in which negative thinking on the part of a patient results in more negative outcome.
Throughout her short stint in local films, Chai has pulled off not a few notable performances. She played a butch lesbian in “Patay na si Hesus” and was also memorable in “Miss Bulalacao.”
***
PH ACTORS CAST: It isn’t every day that Filipino actors are called upon to work abroad in foreign productions.
The biggest break given to a Filipino actor, thus far, says Dr. Mauro Tumbocon in a Facebook post, went to Tetchie Agbayani in Hollywood, when she played lead in John Boorman’s “The Emerald Forest” in 1985.
Tetchie starred in yet another Hollywood production,“Gymkata,” also in 1985.
Long ago and far away, Tumbocon notes that Barbara Perez was cast in a Hollywood film, “No Man is an Island,” shot in the Philippines in 1962.
There was also Fernando Poe, Jr. who appeared in “The Ravagers” (1965), which was also shot here.
Other Filipino actors who have appeared in foreign produced films include Charito Solis, who made a 1962 film, “Nessa No Tsuki,” produced in Japan.
Succeeding generations of actors who have done movies for Asian productions are: Alessandra de Rossi in “The Maid” (2005) in Singapore; Mercedes Cabral in Cannes-winning “Thirst” (2009) set in South Korea and later in “Dune Dreams,” a French production in 2019.
There’s also Angeli Bayani in “Ilo Ilo” (2013), made in Singapore.
Not to forget Marife Necesito, formerly an obscure actor who landed a key role in a European film, “Mammoth.” She acted opposite Gael García Bernal and Michelle Williams.
These actors are a testimony on the worldclass ability of Filipino talent. Celebrate them.