Published in Interaksyon Lifestyle October 4 2013
“Everybody has a piece of the sky. I will find a niche in my country.”
Pinoy theater performer Romano “Jake” Macapagal wrote that vow in a journal while working in a foreign country in the late 1990’s. More than a decade later, he just might be on the verge of living it, as the associate producer of the Tagalog-language but British-produced-and-directed movie, Metro Manila, which has recently been served by the United Kingdom as their nominee for the Oscar Award’s foreign language category.
Macapagal’s choice back then was not one that many of his counterparts would have understood. After five years touring in productions like “Miss Saigon” and “Hedwig and the Angry Inch,” he had already earned his permanent residence status in Germany. He would enjoy the benefits of his equivalent of a green card for three more years. While it was true that meaty roles on the stage for Asian actors were not always forthcoming, he still could—and did—have access to do other kinds of employment while in-between roles. The jobs were legal and brought food on the table and a roof over his head; and while a working actor’s life in his adopted country was not exactly luxurious, it was not penurious either, at least not by Philippine standards.
But the lean and 5’9 tall actor wanted more and came home to Metro Manila to start his professional life all over again. The accolades of foreign audiences and the listing of the now legendary “Miss Saigon” in his resume were lost to casting directors who were looking at dozens of new and younger performers for their teleseryes and reality shows. Macapagal did the usual casting calls and networking with former colleagues but reality soon bit. “I was gone for 13 years … I gave up the TV thing,” he reminisces.
That struggle to climb out of anonymity, make a decent living, and find his place in a sun is probably what makes all the more authentic and poignant his rendition of the protagonist Oscar in Metro Manila, the above-mentioned film directed by Briton Sean Ellis. Oscar is the provinciano who finds himself in dire straits once he lands a job in a security agency, and without compromising his decency and nobility of heart, fights back to protect his family. One can argue that even a struggling actor like Macapagal may still live a much more comfortable life than his cinematic counterpart, but the parallels are striking and do create a strong empathic connection between the two.
Lean times
Macapagal admits that during the first months of his homecoming, he had to save up and content himself with supporting TV roles like the main star’s lawyer or doctor friend. During the lean moments, he also had to take on odd jobs that only a few would admit doing. He names one during the interview, and perhaps it is only the triumph of the moment that allows him to say it with a bit of amusement. “During those years, a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to dance in a shower party for the ladies,” he looks back. “It was decent…there was no nudity…but still…maybe I can say this to encourage others who are struggling the way I used to,” he finishes the sentence with a wry smile.
Macapagal admits that during the first months of his homecoming, he had to save up and content himself with supporting TV roles like the main star’s lawyer or doctor friend. During the lean moments, he also had to take on odd jobs that only a few would admit doing. He names one during the interview, and perhaps it is only the triumph of the moment that allows him to say it with a bit of amusement. “During those years, a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to dance in a shower party for the ladies,” he looks back. “It was decent…there was no nudity…but still…maybe I can say this to encourage others who are struggling the way I used to,” he finishes the sentence with a wry smile.
He did find a small cozy corner in the artistic world by choosing to become a dramatic arts instructor or theater arts workshop facilitator. But even then, the consummate professional in him wanted to better in the craft. Despite the financial struggle, he invested in his own education by studying again the fundamentals of acting in the Sydney-based National Institute of Dramatic Arts in 2010. The five to six months spent in the alma mater of Aussie acting luminaries like Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush and the late Heath Ledger were an eye-opener.
“Nag-ipon ako para makapag-aral,” Macapagal continues the narration of his journey. “I was no longer impressionable. [Doing the theater workshop] was what I wanted to do.” He basically learned the Western cinema’s way of acting for the screen, the techniques that would communicate passion and emotion without giving way to unnecessary melodrama.
Jake Macapagal with (from left) Rachel MacWatt of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), ‘Metro Manila’ director Sean Ellis, and composer Robin Foster during a Q and A session after the film’s preview screening at Cornerhouse in Manchester, England. Photo courtesy of Jake Macapagal.
Perhaps it was the skills as well as the artistic zeitgeist learned in Sydney that led him to his current big break, just a few months after he had finished the course. Ellis was in town and looking for a casting director who would help him cast locals for his film which was set in the titular National Capital Region; while the script was initially written in English, it would be translated into Tagalog. Celine Lopez arranged an introduction between Ellis and Macapagal who was already conducting theater workshops for the broadcasting company.
Macapagal had read the script and was more than willing to look for the thespians who would fill out the roles. He had counted himself out of the protagonist part because of his age and appearance. “I was willing to help, but I’m not 30 years old any more, and I don’t look like a security guard,” he grins. But in that fateful lunch, both Lopez and Ellis were sizing him up—for his potential both as a casting director and as Oscar.
After some time, Ellis finally made him the offer, “Are you willing to make the journey with me?”
New journey
That journey would start with opening his black book containing the names of his fellow artists. He would also use Facebook posts to alert his friends; many theater stalwarts like John Arcilla, Ana Abad Santos, and JM Rodriguez clinched major roles.
That journey would start with opening his black book containing the names of his fellow artists. He would also use Facebook posts to alert his friends; many theater stalwarts like John Arcilla, Ana Abad Santos, and JM Rodriguez clinched major roles.
The next step would entail a month of shooting, 15 days in Banaue and another 15 days in the slums of Metro Manila. His continuing assistance through post-production would eventually led to his appointment as “Metro Manila’s” associate producer – culminating in screenings in the Sundance Film Festival where the movie won the World Cinematic Dramatic Award in January of this year, right through to promotional tours in the United Kingdom only a couple of months ago.
Along with the movie, Macapagal’s performance in “Metro Manila” had gained the attention of many international film reviewers. Trevor Johnson in “Time Out” had called him “stellar,” and Jennifer Tate of “ViewLondon” had remarked that his portrayal of the embattled Oscar was “impressive.”
“I would be lying if I say that I am not excited or hopeful about the film’s chances in the Oscar,” Macapagal says.
A major studio had already bought the rights of the film to make it into a franchise, recreating the script and the cast of characters in other cities such as Detroit and New Delhi.
“The film is culture-specific but its themes are universal – they are about family, love and sacrifice,” Macapagal points out. “When I saw it again on the big screen [in the UK], I was crying…I was transported back to my country…where people find it hard to plan the future because they have to survive every day.” He adds that one particular scene that moved the foreign audiences so much was the intimate shower scene between Oscar and his wife Maya [newcomer Althea Vega], where the two discover their humanity and dignity again as they take a bath for the first time in a long time, something that is so precious to them but which the more affluent Westerners take for granted.
International talent agencies have also come knocking on his door, offering him scripts to read as an actor—or helping them out as the local casting director for films they would make in Asia.
“This is the life that I’m dreaming of: telling this foreign casting director that I’m an Asian but I don’t do martial arts,” he beams about negating the stereotype.
Still, the memory of those struggling years keeps him grounded. Regardless of the doors that Metro Manila opens, he plans to take a Master’s in Fine Arts degree and continue his career in education.
“It’s working hard that gives you the opportunity,” he says. “I’d have to give credit to all the work that I accepted—it’s how I landed this.”
• Metro Manila opens in Philippine theaters on October 9, Wednesday.
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