First-time Marvel director Julius Onah recalls childhood in the Philippines
Marvel director Julius Onah and Filipino host Martin Javier (right). Image: Screengrab from YouTube/GMA
As he takes the helm of his first Marvel film through “Captain America: Brave New World,” Julius Onah looks back on the time he grew up in the Philippines before making his foray in Hollywood.
In a recent interview with actor-host Martin Javier on “24 Oras,” Onah confessed that he stayed in the Philippines long enough to learn “too many bad words” and “eat too much champorado.”
“That is true; I lived in the Philippines when I was one to six [years old]. I’ve been saying ‘magandang umaga’ (good morning) earlier today, so there’s a little bit. I know too many bad words, so I won’t repeat those right now. I went to school at O.B. Montessori and I was also at Assumption for a little while, and I ate way too much champorado (chocolate flavored rice porridge),” the filmmaker recalled.
Aside from the Philippines, Onah also lived in countries like Nigeria, Togo, the United Kingdom, and then in Arlington County in the state of Virginia in the United States, before residing now in New York City.
Despite already having the films “The Girl is in Trouble,” “The Cloverfield Paradox,” and “Luce” in his director portfolio, Onah considers his work in “Captain America: Brave New World” his most important, as this is where he is able to tell a story and inspire the viewers about empathy.
“You know, this is a Captain America whose superpower is empathy, and that was something that was really important to me. You know, I wanted to tell a story that could leave you inspired at the end of it. Leave you inspired by the idea of seeing the good in each other, and it was just something that could come very organically to this because of who Sam Wilson is,” said the Nigerian-American filmmaker.
Meanwhile, “Captain America: Brave New World” lead star Anthony Mackie previously extended a special message to Filipino kids who aspire to become actors or portray a superhero in the future, emphasizing the difference between being an actor and a celebrity.
“I’ll say to that kid the same thing my mentor said to me and the same thing that I tell everyone: You have to be honest with yourself. The days in which you are able to lie to yourself are over. So you have to ask yourself: Do you want to be an actor or do you want to be a celebrity?” he said.
“Those are two very different things. If you want to be an actor, you grind and you work for it, and you get it. If you want to be a celebrity, get out of the way of the actors and go be a celebrity because you’re standing in somebody else’s spot and you’re taking the prime opportunity that they deserve as an actor,” he continued.
“Captain America: Brave New World” arrives in Philippine cinemas on Feb. 12.
