My Last Day on the ABS-CBN Lastikman Set

I was scared witless, attacked, slashed to bits, and died a gruesome death; in short, a perfect day to be an actor. Oh, the bliss…

Horror Flick The scaredy cat that I am, i.e. I don’t watch horror flicks, so it was fun to pretend that I was in a slasher movie. The nearest I get to a horror film is watching the Making Of segments. Having seen the making of I Know What You did Last Summer series, I took inspiration from Jennifer Love Hewitt who is such an excellent screamer.

Focusing on my head tones to protect my vocal cords, I gave the necessary screams to give co-actor Vhong Navarro the necessary impetus to run to my rescue.

Pseudo Action Star Saicy Aguila aka Byutiki was supposed to jump on me, grab my neck to stem any screams, and then we both fall on the ground. The assistant director was so concerned about my fall he kept reminding me to tuck in my chin to protect the back of my head.

Although I kept saying yes, I knew that as long as I land on my sartorius muscle, the long muscle that runs from the butt to the side of the leg, I would be safe. My dance training would make protecting my head an instinctive move.

Moreover, working out paid off. I was strong enough to control the fall, and it also helped that Saicy is a dancer so she was kinesthetically aware of her body.

During that whole grabbing and falling part, I pretended I was an action star. Wahoo!

Director Scolded Me I was having so much fun I couldn’t help smiling during rehearsals that the director scolded me, “Lorna, you’re supposed to look scared. Why are you smiling?”

I still couldn’t help grinning so I grabbed his pant leg, apologized, and said unrepentantly, “I’m having fun. Don’t worry, I’ll do it later.”

Prosthetics for Gore Byutiki’s tongue is acidic, so the right side of my face and neck were made up to look like the flesh was torn and bloody.

While it was being applied, the warm latex was easy to bear, and Batoctoy Prosthetic Artist Ferdie Espina was very detail conscious, which made me feel more confident that the fake wound would approximate the real thing.

The Show Must Go On While the prosthetics were being applied, I felt the floor of the AFP Theater basement move twice.

Despite the earthquakes, people went about their business as if nothing was happening. Nobody acknowledged the earthquakes even. I think it’s because everybody knew these scenes must be finished pronto because the clips were going to air that very night.

Homage to Smeagol/Gollum Dying gave me the opportunity to give homage to Lord of the Rings character Smeagol/Gollum. Since he usually spoke as if the words were being torn from his throat, I thought that would make a good benchmark as to how to say my lines. The challenge became balancing clarity and choking sounds.

Fantasy Element Lastikman and Byutiki are comic book characters that at the back of my mind, I was converting the scene into frames of a comic book.

One shot in particular was so comic book inspired I was inwardly giddy. Byutiki had her claw menacingly positioned over my face, with my tear stained eye peering in between her scaly fingers as I pleaded for my life.

Of course, there’s the damsel in distress factor with Lastikman, albeit without his costume, where Vhong Navarro rushed in to cradle me in his arms as I gasped out my last dying breath. Oh man! What fun!

The Gentlemanly Vhong Navarro For the ladies and gentlemen who have a crush on him, let me assure you that your affections are well deserved.

I really appreciated his support as a co-actor. Since Vhong knew that I had to focus for the scene, he didn’t speak to me but he would quietly show his consideration for me as his co-actor.

Vhong would pat my back in between scenes, he was very patient when we had to do more takes because I wasn’t clear enough with my lines, when I realized my fake sweat had all but disappeared under the hot lights he called out to the makeup artist, and, when the scene was over, he held out his hand to help me up.

Thank you very much, Vhong! Mwah!

Guerrilla Television The fact that we were shooting scenes in the morning that were going to be aired that very same evening had someone calling it guerilla television. What was great about the situation was it approximated the immediacy of theatre.

One of the disparities of film and television with theatre is the time element between doing the work, and then presenting that work to an audience. More often than not, with film and television, it may take weeks, months, and even years before your work can be seen.

Such was not the case that day that I even had the chance to text some people about it. Normally, I don’t but the circumstances were just too delicious to keep to myself. It isn’t everyday that I get killed by a lizard like creature. Hihi…

A Perfect Acting Day A great big thank you to Direk Jerome Pobocan for entrusting such an excruciating scene to me. My last day on the ABS-CBN Lastikman set on 27 November 2007 will be a day that I will always remember with great affection and satisfaction.

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