Cherie on the labyrinth of a master’s mind

Cherie Gil

After catching a screening of Mike de Leon’s “Citizen Jake,” actress Cherie Gil, who plays a brief but pivotal role in the film, sought out the director to express her sentiments.

“I told Mike: Thank you,” she recalled.

On her Facebook page, Cherie hailed the filmmaker as a “master craftsman and genius,” adding that it was “an honor to be part of the film.”

She told the Inquirer: “The movie is a labyrinth of Mike’s mind and soul. I feel so privileged to have been given the chance to take a deep peek into it.” She described the director’s comeback film as “a big shout-out … out of frustration and anger. Albeit, it tells the truth.”

The film is also special to her because it is the brainchild of the same director behind “Batch ’81,” which topbilled her late brother Mark Gil. As bonus, “Citizen Jake” also features her nephew and Mark’s son,
Gabby Eigenmann.

Gil in “Citizen Jake”

In the film, Cherie plays a former starlet who procures young girls for powerful men. The director wrote on Facebook: “From the very beginning … there was no other actress I wanted to play the role of the formidable madam but Cherie.” He first worked with Cherie in the 1986 experimental film “Bilanggo sa Dilim,” which was shot on video and utilized live sound.

“I saw her adjusting to the new situation with remarkable focus that resulted in an amazing performance,” he related. On the “Citizen Jake” set, however, he encountered a thespian “who has honed film acting to an unprecedented degree. Wala siyang kapantay. (She is peerless.)”

He said that the audience would surely be transfixed by her exceptional portrayal. “At times, I even forgot that Jake (Atom Araullo) was in the scene,” he recounted. She is eagerly awaiting a return bout with the director, who is working on a new project that could possibly reunite other “Citizen Jake” actors Teroy Guzman and Max Collins. BAYANI SAN DIEGO JR.