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VIRGIN
director Dante Nico Garcia has been labeled by the usual
suspects as the other man in Judy Ann Santos’s life.
While shooting his debut film Ploning, which he and
Santos consider as a very personal project, he marooned
Santos
in his hometown-island of Cuyo in Palawan for more than
a month. v And the famous actress is said to have been
immensely delighted with the island experience.
But what
makes Garcia different from Santos’s other men in the
past—Wowie de Guzman, the late Rico Yan, Wendell Ramos,
Dingdong Dantes, Piolo Pascual—is their friendship that
goes beyond camera and klieg lights.
“I used
to be Judy Ann’s neighbor in Cubao. I was then in
first-year college and she was not the Judy Ann Santos
[whom] millions of Filipinos admire today. It was her
brother Jeffrey who had many rackets. If she’s not doing
anything, she would visit me at my dormitory and she
would even borrow my landlady’s dresses pa nga for some
of the roles that she played very early in her career,”
Garcia recalled with much affection.
Garcia
would also accompany
Santos
in her late-night tapings that even went beyond
sunrise.
“During
her Mara Clara days, we would wait outside the set,
sitting on the cold pavement from
midnight till daybreak. We talked a lot about anything under the
moon. That’s why I know everything about her, including
her love life,” he revealed quickly, adding, “which you
will see in Ploning.”
The film
tackles the story he developed from a Cuyonon folk song
of the same title. It’s a simple, sad tale of a Cuyonon
woman named Ploning, who has been waiting for the man
she loves for 15 years. It appears that her lover left
for the city with a promise to return, but is never seen
again. Despite her beauty and lots of suitors, Ploning
refuses to love again and continues to wait.
Despite
her loneliness, she is a good friend to all Cuyonon
folks.
“I
proposed it to Judy Ann about eight years ago, when she
was doing stuff she said she didn’t like. I think it was
election season and she was doing campaign materials.
Her contemporaries at the time were into serious roles
already, so she asked me to come up with a story that
will give her a memorable role,” Garcia recalled.
 Garcia
studied at the University of the Philippines in Diliman,
taking up Pharmacy, Clothing Technology and Theater
Arts.
He
didn’t finish any of them because of the usual PE and
ROTC subjects, but his skills in fashion design landed
him a job on ABS-CBN as wardrobe consultant. From then
on, he learned everything related to the job, from
hairstyling to production design.
Why did
he turn into directing?
“About
two years ago, due to burnout I gave up working in the
industry. It came to a point when I just wanted to go
somewhere in India or back in my hometown in Palawan. I
sold all my properties, including a small restaurant I
helped establish. Let’s just say nilagay ko sa isang
maleta ang aking buhay.”
But
there must be a swan song. The film has to be made. A
promise to a dear friend had to be fulfilled.
Coincidentally, some of his closest friends were looking
for a fresh story for a new film production company they
had started, called Panoramanila Inc.
“Before
I started the project, I was asked by my
director-friends and producers, ‘What is the one and
only film that you want to do in your life?’ My answer
was Ploning, the story of my hometown, my youth, my
life,” Garcia said.
He
requested a friend, BJ Lingad, to write the script. He
brought Lingad to Cuyo but after a few days, Lingad
advised him to do it himself, saying that only a native
of Cuyo can give justice to the story.
In
preparation, he attended a crash course in scriptwriting
under the veteran Armando “Bing” Lao. It was an
eye-opener for Garcia.
“Lao
told me, ‘Parang Star Cinema ka mag-isip. May Judy Ann
ka na kaagad. Gawa ka muna ng story.’ [I was thinking
like mainstream directors. There’s already a
star-actress even before I’d written the script. Write a
story first],” Garcia recalled, laughing. “He also told
me to consider what makes Ploning different from Ploning
of Novaliches or Ploning of Taguig. Why from Cuyo?”
So he
spent 20 days in Palawan to write the script. He
proposed the finished product to acclaimed director
Joyce Bernal, but she declined, saying only he can
direct Ploning.
“Joyce
told me I didn’t need to read a book or enroll for a
filmmaking course, to just direct it the way I saw the
film unfolding in my mind. Then again, being a good
friend, she was my guidance counselor up to the editing
phase.”
Once
done, Santos was the most elated, even though she was
required to memorize long lines in the native Cuyonon
dialect. About 90 percent of the film’s dialogues are in
Cuyonon.
In a
sentimental mood, Garcia said he recently humored
Santos: “Remember, going home from a set, we used to
hitchhike on a Camper Shells vehicle owned by the
T-shirt supplier? We used to sleep together at the back
with an open window because it wasn’t air-conditioned.
Now you have your own cars, a better house...and I’m
directing you.”
Santos
told him how lucky she is to have a man like Garcia.
Ploning also celebrates in advance her 30th birthday
(May 11).
More
than anything, after the postproduction, Garcia realized
that he has fallen in love with his new
passion.
“‘Eto
pala ’yung calling ko. I don’t want to retire in Cuyo or
India yet. I’m excited to direct another film. For the
meantime, I hope Ploning will be a success.”
n Ploning opens in all SM theaters nationwide on April
30 and a week later, in other cinemas. It will also be
shown in New York, London, Dubai and Singapore. For more
information, visit www.ploningthemovie.com. |
