What Filipino and Italian actors can learn from each other

Ruben Maria Soriquez

Italian-Filipino actor-director Ruben Maria Soriquez said if there was one thing Italian actors could learn from their Filipino counterparts, it was the value of humility.

“There are more divas there (Italy),” he said. “There’s this actor who signed a contract to work on my indie film, but said he didn’t feel like coming to work on our first shooting day. Our driver had to travel 400 kilometers to pick him up.”

To his credit, Ruben said, the actor eventually apologized. “He said he thought ours was just a cheap indie film and that he didn’t expect the production team to be so professional and for my shots to be good.”

What he hoped for the local film industry to adapt from the Italians was how much they value and protect the interest of their people.
“I think our industry should be more regulated. Here, we always end up staying late. The heart suffers,” Ruben pointed out, citing the deaths of directors that were attributed to heart attack.

“In Bologna, the rule is that you can only work for a maximum of nine hours, plus an hourlong break.”

Ruben is costarring with Richard Quan in his latest film “The Spider’s Man,” which he cowrote with Mark McKeown.—MARINEL R. CRUZ