ARJO ATAYDE
Of the cast members of The General’s Daughter ay si Arjo Atayde ang may pinakamahirap na immersion na ginawa.
He plays the autistic son of Maricel Soriano sa soap na pinagbibidahan ni Angel Locsin.
“Hirap i-explain, eh but direk Manny (Palo)…I am a visual learner kasi. I like watching movies. I was trying to contact direk Manny but he was busy. Eventually I got to contact him and sabi niya there’s a restaurant around the area. Sabi niya, the kids who have the same condition as me of the same age were serving.
“So I observed. I talked to them. Thankfully, the owner was open to the idea. Si direk Manny sinamahan ako. I watched a ton of movies, so much, and videos of behaviors on YouTube. That was my assignment.
Iyon ang pampatulog ko. Every night I’d watch videos and I was studying the character from head to toe if I can.
“I don’t know if it was possible. The first day on the set I was close to palpitating already. Direk Manny, Inay Maricel, Angel were on the set and I was so pressured,” paliwanag ni Arjo on how he researched to get the nuances of his role.
“Thankfully with the guidance of Dreamscape, direk Manny and the production, everything went well. But of course, it still not easy doing it. There’s a lot of preparation, observation and research,” he added.