From left, Sam Milby, Angel Locsin and Zanjoe Marudo
Despite rumors about his sexual orientation, Sam Milby has agreed to portray a gay role for the first time and without hesitation.
Sam is paired opposite Zanjoe Marudo in the romantic comedy, “The Third Party,” to be shown in cinemas nationwide starting Oct. 12.
“I’m comfortable with my sexuality,” Sam said. “If I were someone who wanted to hide something about myself, I wouldn’t do a role that would expose that part about me.”
“I’m always looking for new roles to play to challenge me as an actor,” he said, but adding he couldn’t imagine himself doing something so serious and heavy as Ang Lee’s “Brokeback Mountain.”
He explained: “I don’t think I can act those romantic scenes with another man, although I have a lot of lambingan moments here with Zanjoe. It felt awkward in the beginning, but it became easy later on when we both decided to simply enjoy what we were doing.”
Costar Angel Locsin, meanwhile, said working on a rom-com had been tough for her since her forte has always been heavy drama.
“I’m not used to light and fun [roles] because I’ve always thought I was more comfortable with expressing intense emotions as an actress. This is something new to me. There were times when I felt like I was an inexperienced Grade 1 student on the set,” Angel shared with the Inquirer.
The actress eventually got used to it and realized that it was “refreshing to be going home with a smile on your lips, and not with your eyes all puffy because of having to cry on the set all day. Besides, my character here is more like my real personality. Like Andi, I don’t show it when I feel sad. Andi is more real compared to most of the characters I’ve done.”
“We didn’t want this to be just another kabit movie,” director Jason Paul Laxamana said. “What we are offering is a different attack to a realistic story. We also didn’t want to call attention to it being an LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) issue, because that’s not our goal, but to highlight the unique relationship of three people.”
Respectful
Charlene Sawit-Esguerra, who cowrote the script with Patrick Valencia, said it was based on the experiences of some of her gay friends, “who are part of very loving and respectful relationships with the same sex.”
“Their story is underrepresented in a lot of films,” he says. “My goal is for the audience… to forget that this features two gay men and think that this is about two people in a meaningful relationship.”
Angel, who admitted to once having broken up with a boyfriend because of a third party, added: “This is also about a person who is confused as to whether she should set herself free, or fight for the person she loves.”
Zanjoe said: “Whether the person you love has left you for someone of the same sex doesn’t seem important anymore, because the fact that you were left behind is painful enough.”