Romnick Sarmenta, Juna Lana at Elijah Canlas
NEVER naramdaman ng veteran actor na si Romnick Sarmenta na ninakawan siya ng childhood dahil maaga siyang nagsimulang magtrabaho sa mundo ng showbiz.
Limang taon pa lang si Romnick nang maging child star at nakilala nang mga Filipino televiewers bilang si Peping sa sikat na sikat na soap opera noon na
“Gulong ng Palad.”
Kung susumahin, 46 years na ngayon sa showbiz ang aktor kaya naman natanong siya sa ginanap na presscon at special screening ng bago niyang pelikula, ang “About Us But Not About Us” kung na- deprive ba siya ng kanyang kabataan dahil maaga siyang nag-start sa showbiz.
Ito’y kaugnay na rin ng isyung kinasasangkutan ni Liza Soberano tungkol sa mga hugot niya about working at a very young age para makatulong sa pangangailangan ng kanyang pamilya.
“Objective and subjective ‘yan, it depends on you. If you want to think about it, this business can be very brutal. It takes away a lot of your time. It takes away your studies, if you allow it.
“It will even take away a lot of your happiness, if you allow it. At the same time, if you know the reason why you’re doing it, then if that reason is enough to make you happy, then you will really be happy,” pahayag ni Romnick sa presscon ng “About Us But Not About Us” right after it’s celebrity screening.
“I can’t speak about other people’s experience. That’s different. That’s their personal experience. That personal process, thinking, tolerance, whatever you want to call it.
“There can be some things that I can be sour about in this business. But when I look at it from a different perspective, I just have to find the reason to be grateful. Whatever it is. I have to be grateful for everything.
“Some of them may not have been nice or some of them may have been painful. But I’m grateful about the lessons I learned afterwards,” pahayag pa niya.
Pagpapatuloy pa ng aktor, “At that time, I thought all children were doing what I was doing. I thought it was part of my growing up. I was already a teenager when I realized I was working and earning money. That I am an actor.
“Acting was normal to me at that time. Everyone around me was very open and family-oriented. I didn’t have that kind of pressure then. I wasn’t thinking I was really working.
“I was already 18 years old when I bought my first Lego toy set. As sad as it may sound for other people, sa akin hindi naman. That was perhaps the right time for me to enjoy playing Lego,” chika pa niya.
Samantala, puring-puri ng mga nakapanood ng “About Us But Not About Us” si Romnick na gumaganap na gay sa kuwento. Kasama niya rito si Elijah Canlas na hindi rin nagpatalbog sa ipinakita niyang akting sa movie.
Ito ay official entry ng IdeaFirst Company sa unang Metro Manila Summer Film Festival (MMSFF) directed by Juna Lana, na nagwagi nang Best Film sa Tallinn Film Festival sa Estonia. Ipinalabas na rin ito sa Australia at Portugal.
“They told me they wanted to do a project with two actors in a single location. Then I was advised, ‘Read the script.’ So I started reading.
“I finished the first read-through. I wanted to read it in a way that everything was fresh for me. I don’t preempt what the character would say. So I was going along for the ride while we were doing the first read.
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“There were some parts there that I didn’t expect and I caught myself getting teary-eyed reading some of the lines. I realized how good the piece was.
“Maganda siyang sabayan. As I was reading it, in the first few pages, I get affected already. Maganda ang takbo ng story, ‘yung flow, ‘yung kwento, ‘yung batuhan ng lines.
“I was told that my character was a professor and he’s gay. He gets caught up in this weird situation. But they didn’t tell me how the story was going to progress. I guess that helped.
“The setting of the story is conversational. In a conversation, you usually don’t know what the person you’re talking to would say. Tatanggapin mo lang kung ano ang ibabato sa ‘yo, then try to react and respond,” pagbabahagi ng aktor.
“The way I understood my character, sometimes you want to do the right thing,” Sarmenta said. “You want to be helpful.
“You want to be a human being, but you get taken advantaged of like what happened to Eric. You get caught up in situations that every human being will find themselves in.
“You are either unable to express yourself fully or you are able to express yourself fully but is misunderstood. You also have moments when you have an agenda, but you can’t admit it to yourself.
“Kung may hugot man ako sa film, it was so easy to empathize what those two people are going through. At the same time, lahat tayo may relasyon. Whether it’s a romantic relationship or relationship with family, we get hurt.
“Sometimes, hindi nila sinasadya. Or sometimes, hindi natin sinasadya nasasaktan natin sila. For me, it’s easy to put myself in that situation where two people don’t know how to talk to each other and they both ended up hurting,” pahayag pa ni Romnick Sarmenta.
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