Enzo Marcos and Rhian Ramos (CDN PHOTO/JAMES NICOLE FRANZ SAVELLON)
THE WORLD of “Saving Sally” may seem chaotic (full of monsters, antagonists, among others) but at its heart is a simple story, a tale of unrequited love.
As Rhian Ramos, who plays the role of Sally, puts it: “It’s a story everyone can relate to.”
It turns complex with how the story of Marty, who has been secretly in love with his best friend Sally is presented, with all the monsters in the background coming to life.
“Everyone has either liked someone but not really ready to make it a relationship. Or like me, I feel like the best kind of love there is, is unrequited love, because the longer you don’t talk about it, it just becomes so unbearable that you just want to spill it out,” said Rhian.
The Kapuso actress and her costar Enzo Marcos, who plays the role of the lovestruck “torpe” Marty, recently visited Cebu to promote “Saving Sally,” currently shown as part of the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) 2016.
The film is 12 years in the making, thus it is an unexpected feat for director Avid Liongoren to make it to this year’s MMFF “Magic 8,” that has been dominated by the usual crowd-pleasing blockbuster movies.
”Saving Sally” has earned an A rating by the Cinema Evaluation Board, regarded as a benchmark for good films. It has received mostly favorable reviews from both critics and viewers and won the Best Musical Score award during the festival’s Gabi ng Parangal last Thursday. For those who haven’t watched it, what can they expect from this charming coming of age film?
In this short but sweet interview, lead stars Rhian and Enzo share some stories of how this short story by Charlene Sawit-Esguerra was given a new lease on life in film.
Enzo and Rhian in a scene from “Saving Sally”
Did you audition for your roles?
Enzo: I did, actually. I almost missed the auditions because I was drunk the night before (laughs). But I’m glad I auditioned. The woman who wrote the film is my mentor who said that I should try out, and I’m glad I did. It was one of the biggest moments of my life.
Rhian: I did. At that time kasi I wasn’t accustomed to auditioning. You’re assigned to projects because you’re a media personality. But I really wanted to do an indie. I’ve had never done an indie before. So I auditioned for this, and after that I had done a lot of things with him. Like upon meeting him: “Okay, act as best of friends.” And it was all awkward.
The movie took 12 years to finish. How did you feel the first time you saw the younger versions of yourselves on the big screen?
Enzo: We always talk about it, between me, Rhian and TJ (Trinidad, who plays Nick), it was me who aged. They seem to look young, And I got no hair now. (laughs)
Rhian: That whole feeling has been such an emotional thing for us. I want to take it, minute per minute and absorb everything. It’s very different from my usual self, it’s hard to explain. Because it’s an indie, we are also so involved. Usually with big production house, they kind of decide on the lines we are going to say. You just have to be there, get some briefing and then leave. And this one is just so honest for us and we have been waiting for such a long time, really a long time. When we finally saw it and people reacting to it at our press screening, we are getting choked up talaga, I just couldn’t believe I was hearing people react to our movie finally.
What were your preparations for the shoot, especially for Enzo who had to do a reshoot?
Enzo: You don’t get to have many do-overs in life so I was happy to get to do that again. The thing that made it was easy was Rhian, TJ and everyone else in the set, they helped me a lot. There’s a lot of pressure everyday being the rookie.
Rhian: For all us, everyone just kind of fit their roles, we didn’t really have to supercharacterize. It’s so strange to
describe but it felt like Sally and me are the same, and Marty and Enzo are so the same, and TJ in his own funny way is just the same as Nick, he seems just graduated a bit.
The animated version of TJ Trinidad’s character Nick (left) with Rhian and Enzo
How does it feel like working in a mix animation film?
Rhian: Like in the set, if there’s an explosion, it really helps that it actually explodes because you get to feel the fear, the moment when there’s a fire you will react to it, there’s little less acting to it. But in there’s so much happening like we have to imagine getting hit by a car, walking with monsters and something thrown at us. And sometimes, I would have to imagine the person I’m making out with. How do I make this feel real?
Enzo: Yes, and it is also a testament of how prepared direk Avid was, he showed us what actually happens in a specific scene.
Why should we watch “Saving Sally?”
Rhian: It’s the first time that I actually did this, and the first and only time that we’ve seen something like this. This is my fourth film fest,
and it has kind of proven to be more of a challenge… there has been so many changes this year and so much of it is unexpected on my part. But it has been an adventure, and you know things like this… promoting our film, we feel very kilig and humbled and overwhelmed. Half of the time, we don’t
actually know what we are doing, but it’s fun because we are just so involved in this movie. I think we can effectively bring people back to their high school days.
Enzo: The filmmakers have put their heart to it in every frame, so it’s really good and everyone should watch it.