By PABLO A. TARIMAN
FILM director Andoy Ranay has made highly positive inroads in “When The Love Is Gone” where he handled veteran actors Gabby Concepcion and Alice Dixson in the company of the younger Cristine Reyes and Andi Eigenmann.
In his latest assignment, “Diary ng Panget,” he teams up with veteran scriptwriter Mel del Rosario with a cast that is relatively new and inexperienced yet full of energy and a bottomless desire to learn the craft.
Del Rosario is the same writer identified with “Maalaala mo Kaya” and was the same writer behind the earlier blockbuster films, “Dahil May Isang Ikaw” in 1999 and “Pangako … Ikaw Lang” in 2001. She also wrote the period film “Rosario” (directed by Albert Martinez), some editions of “Tanging Ina…” franchise to the Derek Ramsay-Anne Curtis starrer, “A Secret Affair.”
For their latest film, Ranay and Del Rosario didn’t have to go too far because their main reference is the book, “Diary ng Panget” written by a 20-year old author who net 12 million readers just enough for movie producers to line up for its movie rights.
However, they are in their 40s and dealing with young actors and book characters in their early and late teens.
The generation gap is challenge enough for the two to learn what they need to know about the cyberage generation.
“We come from a generation that still enjoyed reading books and wrote diaries,” said Ranay.
“True,” chimed in Del Rosario who remembers writing diaries safeguarded by paper clips in the fervent hope their parents won’t read them.
“This generation is highly ‘digitalized.’ They are into texting and selfies and highly visible in Instagrams and Tweeters. You hang out in places like Starbucks and you get drifts of conversations that were peculiar because they don’t end their sentences. They are generally impatient probably because of the quick advantage of high tech gadgets,” the scriptwriter shared her observation.
The director also shared his insight of the young people: “They are the kinds who are better off getting instruction by text and Instagrams. In the shoot, there is a scene where one has to cry. Then he’d look into his cell phone and I asked him,’ What are you doing?’ He said he’s looking into the pictures where he gets his emotions.”
“In our time,” Del Rosario said, “we run to our parents when we have problems. With these kids, they turn to Facebook and do ‘Shout outs.’ It’s enough for them that their friends take notice.”
One of the stars, Andre Paras, confirmed the observations about their generation:“We are obviously up-to-date with the latest technology and with the latest trends. My Dad’s generation is probably not keen on this but ours is more aggressive. I have no regrets that we were born this way. I guess we are in a position to cope better with our work if we are abreast with the latest. That’s the way we are.”
Doing a film about these young people with their first taste of young love and infatuations, Ranay and Del Rosario met before the shoot and agreed on many points.
First, they made sure the important highlights in the bestselling book are not overlooked.
“They are the reason the book became a bestseller so we are quite sensitive about that,” the director said adding, “But they should also know they can’t have everything in that film that runs only for two hours at the most.”
The scriptwriter said,“ Leaving out the ‘kilig’ moments in the book would be a big shortcoming. The young moviegoers will be after us if we leave out the elements that made their day in the book.”
Del Rosario is optimistic about the film, which opens in theaters on April 2, even without the big stars. “I was around when the Bagets film made their big impact. As far I know, there were no big stars in that cast and many were inexperienced actors. But they packaged the film as a concept about what young people go through. The film surpassed the producers’ expectations and of course the unknown cast later became big stars starting with Aga Muchlach,” she recalled.
Ranay said half of his work is done because his actors looked exactly like the characters in the book.
Paras at 6”4’ as Chad is indeed a looker, Nadine Lustre as Eya fits the part and for the most part, James Reid as Cross Standford with his perfect look is bound to earn high voltage screaming from teenage fans. Yassi Pressman as the Fil-British girl Lori projects inborn natural charm
“Playing Chad will be a breeze as on my part as I will be playing myself,” said Paras.
Not for Reid who showed his six-pack abs in the presscon to show he is perfectly fit for the part. “I am the opposite of Standford in real life and I think it is a challenge playing what you are not as a private person.”