Even Enrique Gil’s mom was ‘shocked’ by his new sex comedy

Bambi Gil, actor Enrique Gil’s mother, at the sidelines of a block screening in SM Aura, Taguig, on Feb. 18, and Enrique Gil. Photo courtesy EGroup / Hannah Mallorca/INQ)

If long-time fans of actor Enrique Gil were surprised to see him go all out—quite literally—in his new film “I Am Not Big Bird,” his mother, Bambi, was even more so.

After all, who would have thought that her son — previously the leading man of many a romantic comedy, playing safe roles — would become the face of a sex comedy film?

“I was in shock!” she told the Inquirer, laughing. “I didn’t expect it to be, you know, that raunchy…But everybody seems to welcome it because it’s [like] the start of something different.”

The first hint of trouble, Bambi recalls, came days before the film’s premiere on Valentine’s Day. Gil’s manager Ranvel Rufino, she said, whispered apologies before the screening, leaving her with a sense of foreboding.

“I was like, ‘uh-oh,’” she said on the sidelines of a Feb. 18 block screening at SM Aura. “Then of course, after the film, my son himself stood up and said sorry.”

Because–as she would come to discover on the silver screen that day–“I Am Not Big Bird” is an hour-and-a-half phallic romp rife with R-13 jokes and pixelated genitals. Think “The Hangover Part II”—except everyone is (mostly) sober, and the mobsters aren’t after money but a footlong schlong.

Directed by Victor Villanueva (“Kidnap For Romance,” “Patay Na Si Hesus”) and written by Lilit Reyes and Joma Labayen, the film follows Luis Carpio (Gil), a 30-something virgin heartbroken by his girlfriend’s rejection of his marriage proposal.

Seeking an escape, he jetsets to Thailand with friends Macky (Nikko Natividad) and July (Red Ollero) to meet with Tithi Prajak (Pepe Herrera), who was pretending to be a Thai tour guide.

Chaos ensues when Carps—as he is called—is mistaken for the famous Thai porn star “Big Bird,” whose aforementioned legendary schlong is apparently coveted by various shady factions in Bangkok.

Scene from ‘I am Not Big Bird’ –ANIMA STUDIOS/ YOUTUBE

Produced by Anima Studios and ABS-CBN‘s Black Sheep, “Big Bird” is Gil’s first film in four years after his hiatus. He is also among the film’s producers.

Art imitating life

At the premiere, Gil said he immediately said yes when the role was offered to him. “I wasn’t really used to these types of projects but I told myself, ‘I’ve been out for so long and if I come back with something I’m used to doing, it doesn’t really make sense.”

“Ever since, I always wanted to do films that I like watching. Not necessarily like [fully] comedy, but I always wanted to do a crazy adventure comedy movie, like ‘Hangover’ and stuff. I always wanted to have that [film] in my list of projects and other genres,” he said.

If anything, art imitates life. Gil’s Luis Carpio reflected his pre-Big Bird persona: straight as an arrow, squeaky clean to a fault.

But the film pushes both character and actor to explore new comedic territory—or as the kids say: “Ready na for more mature roles, direk!”

But Villanueva’s film doesn’t just go for the (literal and proverbial) low-hanging fruit that is dick jokes: it is, at its heart, an attempt to take fragile egos and hypermasculinity down a notch.

Bambi acknowledges the film’s risky nature: “It’s not easy to make people laugh. It’s easier for them to cry than laugh—but this one seems to tickle their funny bones. How can you say no to that?”

She also reveals that Quen, as friends are wont to call Gil, had always wanted to do this genre. “I’ve accepted it,” she shrugged. “It showed me a new side of him that got me in shock, but I hope they (the fans) welcome it.”