Remembering Peque

Iconic director Peque Gallaga

I will always remember Peque Gallaga fondly because he made one of my “proud mommy” moments possible. Peque was the director of my son IC Mendoza in “Shake, Rattle & Roll 4.”IC bagged the best child actor award in the 1992 Metro Manila Film Festival for his portrayal in that Gallaga horror flick. IC was only 4 years old back then, and it was his first movie. But being the superb mentor that Peque was, he unleashed IC’s potential.

As the industry mourns his passing, allow me to pay tribute to the iconic filmmaker by reprinting our 2013 interview. It was for the publicity of his movie, “Sonata.”

Just like Peque’s other masterpieces, “Sonata” is a total sensory experience. It moved me in a way that I didn’t think was possible. Kudos, Peque, for your inspired madness, which we all hope to imbibe. Thank you for showing us that we should never lose our joie de vivre and “craziness,” no matter where life takes us.

What message do you want to impart via “Sonata?”

I don’t believe the movie (or art, for that matter) is the medium for sending out messages. If you want to send messages, there’s Facebook and Twitter. I think a movie that sets out to tell you what or how to think about any one thing becomes pedagogic, didactic or propaganda. So we stay away from these kinds of movies.

“Sonata” deals with life and death and discovery, with connecting and forgiveness, with language and art, with taking responsibility for one’s actions. It is about how art impacts our life.What’s your advice to aspiring filmmakers?Make your world bigger. Get out of your comfort zone and expose yourself to art forms that you have no taste for. Don’t just stick to watching hundreds of movies; most of the time, we’re just picking up tricks and techniques, we’re not picking up ideas. Go around your own country and see how other people look at the world. And read, read, read.

How would you assess the state of Philippine cinema now and where is it headed?

We are at the dawn of very exciting times for Philippine cinema. The whole enterprise is exploding with new and unexpected possibilities—from the idea of creating huge movie concepts from your bedroom … to the idea of a truly national cinematic art form that accepts stories told in Ilocano, Bicolano, Cebuano, Kapampangan, Tausug and Hiligaynon.

What we need are young producers who will be able to make the connection between the artists and the paying public, and who know how to deal with the theater owners and the distributors. We need young juicy Mother Lilys. We need young Joey Gosiengfiaos and Douglas Quijanos who are alive.

Being the icon that you are, don’t you feel pressured to outdo yourself in every project?

It doesn’t matter whether you are an icon or not; you are always pressured to outdo yourself with every project. Every time you rely on a winning formula or a “trick” that has worked before, every time you repeat yourself, you stop growing. And when you stop growing, you die.

What’s the “Peque Gallaga” formula for a masterpiece?

There are no more Gallaga masterpieces since the late 1980s; only Gallaga-Reyes masterpieces. If there is any kind of formula, it’s the idea that although we hate failure, we are not afraid to fail. We have always been studio outsiders in this regard. Our loyalty lies in the project itself, not in the bottom line. We have never—and I say this as a point of pride—never, never, never made a movie for an international film festival. We never entertained the sensibilities of the European, American moviegoer or the Urian.

But we always try to make intelligent movies; movies that are honest, original and have a sense of humor. We have often been accused of being ahead of our time—and it’s true.

How do you handle “pasaway” actors?

Our set respects all professionals from the superstar diva to the utility boy. We respect not only their talent; we also respect their time. The scene and the work ethic, and not the director, become God. People are allowed and encouraged to make mistakes, because they are encouraged to go beyond their normal limits.We probably had only about four pasaway actors in our 40 years of filmmaking, but the good Lord never answered our prayers: They were never struck down with leprosy or botox allergic reactions. The little starlets who came in late were sent packing back home in the same taxis that they came in.

Any quirks/rituals that you do on the set before you start shooting?

There is always the first-day briefing. The message is always the same: What we are about to do now is the most important thing you will ever do in your life, for now.When we’re on location, especially in wild, unknown territory that may involve elementals, I will personally sacrifice three chickens—involving the cutting off of heads and sprinkling their blood on the ground while murmuring secret prayers taught to me by another director from Lucban. The first time I did it in the forests of Mambucal, I stupidly used a dull bolo to cut off the chickens’ heads and I freaked out more than the chickens did.No peanuts or butong pakwan on the set.

What’s something people don’t know about Peque Gallaga?

He always lives in mortal terror of most everything, but will always say yes to anything new. He is a slave to talent—when he considers you truly gifted, he will serve your gift because it comes from somewhere bigger than our understanding. INQ