HATAW! D'yaryo ng Bayan hatawtabloid.com
MA at PA
ni Rommel Placente
ISA ang My Teacher mula sa TEN17P at TINCAN sa official entry sa darating na Metro Manila Film Festival sa December 25. Bida sa pelikula sina Toni Gonzaga at Joey de Leon. Mula ito sa direksiyon ng mister ni Toni na si Paul Soriano na itinalaga ni Pangulong Bongbong Marcos bilang bagong Presidential Adviser on Creative Communications (PACC).
Nasa cast din ng My Teacher sina Carmi Martin, Rufa Mae Quinto, Kakai Bautista, Jackie Lou Blanco, Ronnie Alonte, Loisa Andallo, Pauline Mendoza, at Kych Minemoto.
Masaya si Direk Paul na nagkaroon ulit siya ng entry sa taunang MMFF at sa pagbubukas muli ng mga sinehan.
“Hopefully, this will also the start and signify the comeback of cinemas and of course the industry that we all love so much, the film industry,” sabi ni Direk Paul nang makausap namin sa media conference niya, na ginanap sa Winford Manila at sa pakikipagtulungan ni Joed Serrano.
“So hopefully you all can support ‘My Teacher’ and, of course, the other seven entries also.
“And may this be the beginning of a Merry Christmas and hopefully the rollback to all of us going back to the cinemas. I know we all miss it so much.
“So, parang ano, revenge cinema, ‘di ba? May mga revenge travel, revenge shopping, so let’s promote revenge cinema where this Christmas we can see long lines, happy families, everyone coming together as we celebrate the industry that we love so much, ang pelikulang Filipino.”
Sa pagtanggap ni Joey sa offer para gawin ang My Teacher, ang sabi ni Direk Paul, “He’s Joey de Leon. He’s really funny. Parang… icon ‘yan. Parang… in my filmography as a young filmmaker, I can say that I worked with the Joey de Leon whom also we all know doesn’t do too many movies now, ‘di ba?
“I think his last movie was sabi niya, decade ago, eh, ‘di ba? So I said this might be a once in a lifetime opportunity.”
Bukod sa pagiging bida sa My Teacher ay si Toni rin mismo ang sumulat ng istorya nito.
Ibinahagi ni Direk Paul kung paanong naisip ng kanyang misis na sumulat ng kuwento tungkol sa mga guro.
“The teachers are very underrated. Sila talaga ang, you know, if ever one of our heroes growing up.
“They’re the ones who give us our education. They’re the ones who sacrifice so much to teach us.
“So she said, ‘Maybe we can shed some light and write a story about the teachers.’ And she wanted to play a teacher.
“I know, some of her inspirations were ‘yung the movie, ‘The Intern, Blind Side,’ ‘yan ang mga parang peg niya rito.
“So we talked about it and I told her, ‘Look, Tin, if you want and you feel passion about this idea, why don’t you start writing it?’
“As you all know, Toni loves to write.
“So she wrote this and then, yeah, eventually we got a team and we started writing the script.
“And of course the next question was, after we finalized the concept, we wanted to do something a little bit also unique.
“So we also started studying and marami riyan kung igu-Google n’yo. Maraming mga senior, nagbabalik sa high school.
“I believe rin sa show niya, ‘Toni Talks,’ and Toni… nag-feature siya ng mga hindi pa natapos ang high school. Kasi, it’s never too late naman, eh. It’s never too late, ‘di ba?
“Ahh, so she wanted to say, parang, whenever you start, also make sure you finish. So, parang we were reading all these inspirational stories about these senior citizens going back to high school.
“And that’s where I kinda came in. I said, ‘That’s actually very nice, ano? Because when you have… in this case, the character of Joey de Leon going back to high school, you have now parang the old school meets the new school,” mahabang esplika pa ng direktor.
