The evolution of Panday
Did you know that Richard Gutierrez (along with his twin brother Raymond) was born on Jan. 21, 1984, five years after the screen debut of Panday, the iconic legendary superhero given birth by Komiks King Carlo J. Caparas in Pilipino Komiks in 1979?
Panday was portrayed in several movies by Da King (FPJ) no less, immortalizing it and making history by topping the successive Metro Filmfests it was shown at. Panday has become an alter ego to FPJ (who also portrayed Totoy Bato, another
komiks character, a tough boxer, created by Caparas).
“As a kid,” recalled Richard, “I saw one of the Panday movies. It was my dad (Eddie Gutierrez) who brought me to watch it. I was used to watching foreign movies about superheroes and I was amazed watching a Filipino superhero for the first time. I became an instant fan of Panday.”
According to Caparas, it was Susan Roces (FPJ’s widow) who first read the komiks serial and suggested to FPJ to make it into a movie. Susan’s foresight (woman’s intuition) proved to be “historically” accurate because the franchise did make history, with the role coveted by other actors including Sen. Bong Revilla (in a movie) and Jericho Rosales (in an ABS-CBN series).
When Richard was tapped to revive the superhero in a TV5 action-fantasy series (starting tomorrow, Feb. 29 at 7 p.m., and Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays thereafter), he said that the first thing that he did was seek guidance from his Uncle FPJ (godfather of Richard’s younger brothers Rocky and Ritchie Paul).
“I owe it to him,” said Richard who is no stranger to tough (read: physically demanding) roles, a derring-do that earned him the title Primetime King. “I asked for his guidance as soon as I was offered the series,” added Richard who starred in toprating GMA shows such as Mulawin (as a birdman with magical powers), Sugo, Lupin, Asero, Zorro, Captain Barbell, Kamandag, Happy House and Love and Lies, and including award-winning Public Affairs documentaries about climate change and environmental concerns.
“As I did with FPJ,” said Caparas, “I saw something ‘enigmatic’ in Richard, which is what Panday is supposed to be. He has that ‘big brother’ image. ‘Yung pagiging reserved and at the same time pagiging maginoo.
‘Yung tindig ng isang Panday ay kuhang-kuha ni Richard.” Already trained in martial arts for his previous action-adventure starrers on GMA, what Richard did to prepare for Panday was plunge into a rigid workout routine.
“I’ve been working out every day at the gym,” shared Richard (who was resting between lifting weights and doing cardio exercises during this interview). “I also play basketball. But since the shooting started, I sometimes miss going to the gym but I make up for it when I’m free from work.”
What he considered a “big sacrifice” was the crash diet.
“Kasi ever since I was a kid,” admitted