IN CASE YOU’RE WONDERING, MY FAKE AMERICAN ACCENT WILL BE OUT THIS JULY 13-20 AT THE CCP

 

MY FAKE AMERICAN ACCENT SCREENING SCHEDULE

13 July/Sun, 9:00PM (GALA), Tanghalang Nicanor Aberlardo (CCP Main Theatre)

13 July/Sun, 6:15PM, Bulwangang Alagad Ng Sining (CCP MKP Hall)

15 July/Tue, 3:30PM, Bulwangang Alagad Ng Sining (CCP MKP Hall)

18 July/Fri, 3:30PM, Tanghalang Nicanor Aberlardo (CCP Main Theatre)

18 July/Fri, 6:15PM, Tanghalang Huseng Batute

20 July/Sun, 12:45PM, Tanghalang Aurelio Tolentino (CCP Little Theatre)

Eat My English

We are grateful for Mr. Romeo Bernal’s graciousness and the staff’s at Eat My English near Metrowalk in Ortigas recently. This awesome discovery of a place is a fitting shindig for the shoot of My Fake American Accent. It’s like the twin resto of this movie, just look at its graphic interiors. It’s open 24 hours, of course, for the call center agents and families and friends as well. The food was great, we consumed the food props faster than we can shoot the scenes. Did I mention the cool, tall beer tower? 

Mailes Kanapi

Mailes Kanapi got rave reviews for her performance in the stage production of Insiang. Despite such pedigree, she came to the 2008 Cinemalaya open auditions along with hundreds of actors. Just for simply coming in to the open auditions she had earned my respect because I saw some who came and backed out at the long queues outside the audition room. After we had been shooting My Fake American Accent for about a month, Mailes admitted to me that when she was at the open auditions, she had the role in My Fake American Accent in mind. This revelation is a humbling experience for me, because she had been offered to tackle some of the other films’ roles as well, and yet she is present in the characterization of Ms. Seva. Always. Aside from this, she sets us all off in a happy mood with her jokes and true stories in between takes, during some of what I admit to be the most stressful times of the shooting stage. Aside from this, the Get Laud outfits become Mailes so much so that Melchor’s eyes light up whenever he chances upon Mailes on the set. We were able to finish all her scenes way in advance which is a testament to her acting smarts and her superb work ethic. Now that we are editing, we miss Mailes and look forward to her luminous presence, this time on the big screen. I am grateful that she has rewarded our utmost respect for her as a person and artist with the same. I’m committing this memory to this blog because I acknowledge its rarity.

Onnah’s birthday

 

Had simple plans for this year on my birthday, bring out the beer and peanuts, sit down without guilt and wing it. This would’ve been it, had we gotten all the shoots done before my birthday.

But life has different plans. I continued to work into the second half of April, stayed out of town and squeezed out whatever goodwill I could for the film. Work or time didn’t stop for me on the beach, my sister described me as uber-stressed. Then on the eve of my birthday, the first storm of the year rained on my film project and the other video project. I could hear the word chillax in my head which contained all the worries of my present state. I could picture a birthday cake even in my state of inebriation that chilling night at Plazoleta. Then my moviemates surprised me and brought in a birthday cake with my name on it. I didn’t burst out into tears, I should’ve because of the way things just fell into place and because I felt so much love being sent to me at that moment, but I felt so so at peace in the core of a torrential downpour. And even before the rain could wash away my name from the cake, we ate it and danced in the rain. Normally, I’d stay out of the rain at 12 mn to avoid getting killed by pneumonia but I had no choice. This was someone else’s plans already.

On the day of my birthday, unlike the stormy evening that preceded it, the sky was ablaze, the beach was cramped and the water was warm. I’m like a solar-powered calculator so I seize the early morning even though I’ve barely had 4 hours of shut eye. Are you alive? Positive. I can just let the waves carry away the scum (like the ever present green algae on bora) that polluted my space yesterday and catch my second, third, fourth wave and so on. On the moonlit night of my birthday, even as I continued to work, I managed to learn the basics of how to firedance using a pair of zips. Soon I’ll be doing it with real fire, which incidentally is my sign.