Sid Lucero: TV made him a ‘workaholic’

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines—GMA 7 actor Sid Lucero rocked the crowd that gathered for the network’s celebration of the Bacolaodiat Festival here last Saturday.

The two-time Urian best actor’s onstage antics showed his seldom-seen light-hearted side, being known, and often cited, for dramatic performances.

From Bacolod, Sid will fly to Berlin with Filipino director Brillante Mendoza for the world premiere of “Captive,” which will compete in the main section of the German film fest in February.

In “Captive,” Sid portrays one of the bandits who kidnap foreigners, one of whom is played by French actress Isabelle Huppert. “She was fun,” Sid said of Isabelle, an icon in world cinema.

She initially kept to herself, he recalled. “Foreigners have a different work style. They focus on work. But noticing that Filipinos would joke around between takes, she loosened up a bit.”

He considers “Captive” and “Amaya” as milestone projects. TV work puts food on the table, he said, and it is the demands of a daily soap that instilled discipline in him. But it is indie films that nourish his soul as an artist, he insisted.

Workaholic

He became such a workaholic in television, he said, that he didn’t mind plunging back to the grueling grind for the new Kapuso soap, “Legacy.” As bonus, the drama series reunites him with aunt Cherie Gil, sister of his dad, award-winning actor Mark Gil.

Sid previously shared the screen with Cherie in Adolfo Alix Jr.’s “Donsol.” He recounted: “At first, I couldn’t act in front of relatives like Tita Cherie and (cousin) Ryan (Eigenmann who was also on ‘Amaya’). They had to tell me to relax.”

“Legacy” reminds him of “Cebu,” a family drama in the 1990s that starred some of his gifted relatives, including grandmother Rosemarie Gil, uncle Michael de Mesa, aunt Cherie, dad Mark, even Gina Alajar (Michael’s ex).

“I got to watch that old series,” he related. “After my parents separated, my mom and I lived in Cebu for four years.”

He is proud of mom Bing Pimentel, who went back to school and will graduate with a degree in Fine Arts in UP Diliman this March.

Sid doesn’t see himself going back to college anytime soon because, he said, he’s learning everything he needs to know on the set. He has worked as set man, stylist, assistant director and production designer in short films and TV ads.

He said, proudly: “I made my first P3,000 as an assistant director for a commercial—a public service announcement to vote wisely.”