Filipina actress Jaclyn Jose poses after she was awarded with the Best Actress prize during a photocall at 69th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 22, 2016. AFP
LIKE ANY other Filipino mother, the first person whom Jaclyn Jose looked for when she was announced as best actress at the Cannes Film Festival was her daughter, costar Andi Eigenmann, who was seated behind her at the Palais.
“It was instinct,” she told the Inquirer in a phone interview on Monday, just hours after her victory, a first for the Philippines.
“I was not being a stage mother. I was not trying to sell my daughter to the foreign producers in the audience. I just wanted to share that special moment with her,” she said.
Jose won the best actress award for her role as an impoverished mother who was arrested by corrupt cops for drug-pushing in Brillante Ma. Mendoza’s “Ma’ Rosa,” beating such Oscar winners as Marion Cotillard and Charlize Theron.
She pulled her daughter and her director up the stage because she needed “moral support.”
“I was shaking onstage,” she recalled. “I was at a loss. But when I got to hold Andi’s hand, I was able to talk straight. She gave me strength.”
She explained that her main objective in accepting “Ma’ Rosa” was to give her daughter the chance to attend film festivals like Cannes.
“I was excited for Andi,” she said. “I’ve had my time. I wanted to give her the same experiences I had before.”
READ: Jaclyn Jose wins best actress at Cannes for ‘Ma’ Rosa’
‘Brilliant, genius’
She also made sure to share the spotlight with Mendoza, she said, “because he was the reason I was there.”
In her speech, she called Mendoza “brilliant, a genius.”
“Dante (Mendoza’s nickname) is like family to me. We started in the business at the same time,” she said. “I am thankful for his gift, for his honesty in depicting what is happening in our country.”
Mendoza was a production designer in one of Jose’s early films, William Pascual’s “Takaw Tukso,” in 1986.
Mendoza and Jose went on to collaborate in several internationally acclaimed films: “Masahista,” which won in Locarno in 2005; “Tirador,” which won in Berlin in 2008, and “Serbis,” Mendoza’s first entry in the Main Competition of Cannes in 2008. (Mendoza won Cannes best director for “Kinatay” in 2009.)
READ: Cannes Film Festival winners 2016
Filipino actress Jaclyn Jose (L) celebrates on stage next to her daughter, Andi Eigenmann, and Filipino director Brillante Mendoza after being awarded with the Best Actress prize during the closing ceremony of the 69th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, southern France, on May 22, 2016. AFP
Based on true story
At a news conference prior to the award ceremony, Mendoza said “Ma’ Rosa” was based on a true story and his personal experience with a main character of the film four years ago.
The director, who has become known for tackling dark social issues in his films, said, “It happened, that’s why it has to be told.”
“As an artist, as a filmmaker, you have to share it with the rest of the world for them to realize and also for them to think about it, that such situation should not happen,” he added.
Jose said she didn’t expect to win at all. “We were invited to the awards ceremony. There was a rumor that we might win in a minor category. So I thought it wasn’t me because for us Filipinos, best actress is a major award.”
She was sitting in the gallery, “enjoying the show and admiring the polished production,” when her name was called out.
With Pacquiao, Wurtzbach
“I thought there was another actress named Jaclyn because they pronounce my name differently there,” she said. “It was only when the presenter (Danish actor Mads Mikkelsen) said ‘Jose’ that I realized I had won.”
Winning best actress was all the more memorable, she said, because it came after the back-to-back triumphs of boxer Manny Pacquiao and Miss Universe Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach in the world arena.
“It’s a wonderful feeling to be mentioned in the same breath as Pacquiao and Pia. This is a first not only for the country, but also for Southeast Asia,” she said.
It was already 3 a.m. (in France) during the interview and Jose was still riding high on the unexpected victory.
“I don’t know if I could still sleep,” she said. “I am keeping myself busy by packing my things and getting ready for our flight back to Manila this afternoon.” (She is expected to arrive in Manila today.)
She couldn’t believe that she bested such big names as Cotillard, Theron, Kristen Stewart and Isabelle Huppert who all had high-profile entries at this year’s Cannes.
Meeting Hollywood stars
In an interview with the Inquirer before her trip to France, Jose jokingly quipped that her fondest wish was to meet Hollywood stars in Cannes.
Her dream came true.
“After the ceremony, on our way to the press conference, I got to ride the same elevator as Kirsten Dunst, who was one of the jurors. We were rubbing elbows,” she recounted. “I told her I was a fan and that I loved her movies.”
Dunst was surprised when Jose repeated the former child actress’ famous line in “Interview with the Vampire.” “‘I want more!’ Kirsten said, ‘Oh that was a long time ago!’ She seemed surprised that we are film buffs so I told her that Filipinos love good movies.”
Jose asked Dunst what she thought of “Ma’ Rosa.” “Kirsten said she liked the film and that she loved me,” she said.
She said she felt elated when the jury defended her during the press con from a reporter who echoed some critics’ comments that her role was too short to win best actress.
Juror and actor Donald Sutherland retorted: “It’s a big-time leading role and the critics are wrong.” He then commended “that scene at the end where she was eating [fishballs] …”
(Critic Roy O’Connor of FilmStage.com described Jose’s final close-up scene: “Emotionally earth-shattering … like a faint cry for help.)
Another juror, French filmmaker Arnaud Desplechin, agreed: “She’s the film. Her performance broke my heart.”
Jose got to watch the press con of the jury, which was led by “Mad Max: Fury Road” director George Miller, in the waiting room.
“At the parties we attended, people kept telling me that they fought for me, too,” she said.
LOOK: Jaclyn Jose overwhelmed with best actress win at Cannes
‘Different’ award
She heard that much from at least two jurors she bumped into at the Palais, “The Hunger Games” star Sutherland and “Hannibal” actor Mikkelsen.
“They said that they wanted me to win,” she said. “They told me that, after intense deliberations, they were able to prevail upon the two jurors who didn’t pick me as best actress.”
Jose is no stranger to awards, here or abroad. But this Cannes victory is “different,” she insisted.
“I have five Urian (local critics’ choice) trophies, but this is special,” she said of her Cannes win. “It’s a beautiful trophy: Palme d’Or! Gold leaves! I am thinking of having earrings and a matching ring made with the same design.” With a report from AP