John Lloyd displays range in ‘Honor Thy Father,’ says Erik Matti
Expressing his pride in signing up a sought-after leading man for his latest movie, internationally acclaimed director Erik Matti said that “Honor Thy Father” shows John Lloyd Cruz’ real “range” as an actor.
“We have so many good actors, whose career has ended and yet we haven’t seen their range,” said Matti on Sunday in an interview during the opening ceremonies of Cinema One Originals Festival 2015 at Trinoma, Quezon City.
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“One of the ambitions of this film is that if John Lloyd is going to do only one movie which is straying from what he normally does, it has to be worth his while and that it should show his range as an actor,” he said. “Range in terms of, he [plays in] a really heavy emotional story wherein he carries the story all by himself.”
Matti is proud that he was able to feature John Lloyd in the actor’s first-time attempt to break free from his usual roles. “This is what we came up with [for him]. Everything that John Lloyd cannot do in mainstream is all in the movie.”
READ: Honor his art: John Lloyd Cruz gets a fresh, daring turn
“Honor Thy Father (Conman)” is one of the entries in the Metro Manila Film Festival this December. It was initially snubbed by the festival, but was invited back in after Gil Portes’ “Hermano Pule” backed out.
Matti clarified the reason behind the film’s name change from “Honor Thy Father” to “Conman.”
“The original title that we placed there was Conman but when we were accepted in Toronto International Film Festival, we decided to change the title to Honor Thy Father,” he explained. “For Christmas, we felt that it would be okay to get the title back to Conman so people would have a better understanding of what the film is about.”
READ: Erik Matti’s ‘Honor Thy Father’ premieres in Toronto
The film, a brazen crime-drama addressing serious social issues, narrates the story of Edgar (John Lloyd) who is forced to go back to his past racket as an acetylene gang member to rob a church its money to save his family from a troubled situation caused by a fraudulent investment scam.
Matti confessed that the project is personal for him because of his own convictions and insights embedded on the film.
“I hope that people will identify with the story. That they would find the characters intriguing, even the sectors of the society we were tackling, because in reality many of us deceive and are being deceived,” he said.
He also denied that Honor Thy Father alludes to a specific religious institution when in the story, the character of Tirso Cruz III plays corrupt bishop of a Pentecostal church who extorts money from parishioners.
“Right now in the modern world, crimes are already legit…multi-level marketing…the church. And we even look down on people like acetylene gang for example because they are out-and-out criminals, but actually they are all the same. [But] we really don’t want to be judgmental about it,” he declared. IDL
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Originally posted: 01:39 PM November 10th, 2015
