Enrique Gil suffered injuries, challenged by old Tagalog in ‘Bagani’
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Enrique Gil takes the lead role as a tribal warrior in “Bagani,” a fantasy series that he says has been five years in the making.
The cast includes his love-team partner, Liza Soberano, Matteo Guidicelli, Makisig Morales and Sofia Andres.
The 25-year-old actor says in a Philippines’ Ultimate Showbiz Hub (PUSH) report, “It’s the most expensive Philippine teleserye in history to date.”
Gil compared the production level to that of a movie. “Ito ang pinakamalaking project na gagawin ko sa ABS-CBN (This is the biggest project I’ll do for ABS-CBN).”
He said he suffered injuries while shooting in Ilocos Norte’s sand dunes; his character hails from the desert region in the show.
The actor’s physical appearance stirred controversy when he seemed to be caked in bronzer, leading netizens to probe why light-skinned actors were cast in precolonial Filipino roles. Star Creatives head writer Mark Angos claimed his darkened appearance was a character trait as a person from the desert.
READ: ‘Bagani’ headwriter defends show amidst netizens’ criticisms on its ‘colorism’
Shooting in the desert was no joke with the heat and sand, he shares in an ABS-CBN News report. “Naka-sandals lang kami so ‘yung buhangin mainit. Kapag nahuhulog kami, napapaso kami sa buhangin. And kapag sandals kasi, kapag tumatakbo ka sa buhangin, mas mahirap gumalaw. Parang workout na din ‘yun. But it’s fun.”
(We were only in sandals so the sand was hot. Whenever we fall, we would get scorched. And when you’re in sandals, it’s harder to run and move. It’s like a workout.)
He told PUSH that he prepared for the stunt scenes before shooting. “I did fight and stunt training with Stunt 360. We started doing it before the show pero ngayon (but now) we do it before we take the scene na.”
“So tinuturuan na lang kami ng mga steps na gagawin sa harness, iikot-ikot, mga stunt, mga sabog, mga CGI with giants and dragons (We are taught the steps with the harness, how we turn, the stunts, the explosions),” he said.
“Pag nasa set mahirap kasi talaga action so maraming nasasaktan. Ako maraming injury din ako dun pero it’s fine (When you’re on the set, it’s hard because a lot get hurt. I had a lot of injuries too, but it’s fine).”
However, the most challenging part for him wasn’t the physical requirements of the show, it was learning lines in old Tagalog.
“Dito sinaunang panahon so pati yung pananalita namin, yung mga linya namin mahirap (Here we’re in ancient times so even the way we speak, our lines are harder),” he noted.
“Wala pang ‘teka’ dati. So may mga ganung casual Tagalog na hindi namin puwedeng sabihin so lahat yun taken into consideration (There was no “teka” before. There are casual Tagalog words that we can’t say, so all those were taken into consideration),” he said. Niña V. Guno /ra
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