Only in Hollywood : Hollywood co-stars, director, producer praise Cesar Montano
Ruben V. Nepales
Inquirer News Service
LOS ANGELES -- We've read Cesar Montano's interesting accounts of his experience while filming "The Great Raid."
Last Monday, I grabbed the chance to get a different perspective: I asked Cesar's "Raid" co-stars, director and producer to talk about him, for a change. In our separate press cons with Joseph Fiennes and Connie Nielsen and later, lunch talks with director John Dahl and producer Marty Katz, I asked (and asked some more) about Cesar, Filipino-Australian actress Natalie Mendoza and Paolo Montalban, who are also in the movie, and other Philippines-specific topics.
I would have preferred to see Cesar himself sitting there at Four Seasons and making history as the first Filipino actor interviewed by our press group (that will be the day!). In the meantime, I did the next best thing and peppered the morning's subjects with questions about the Boholano actor.
Benjamin Bratt and James Franco were tied up elsewhere and could not join us.
Joseph's large brown eyes (appearing yellow-green up close, by a window bathed in morning sunlight) and long eyelashes are as remarkable in person as they are onscreen. Connie is a statuesque stunner. In researching her role as a foreigner helping the Manila underground movement, she learned, and is still appalled, by the Japanese army's use of Filipino and Korean women as sex slaves.
John is a serious, reflective man who chooses his words carefully while Marty, in a Hawaiian shirt, is a true-blue producer—he is assertive. Marty surprised me by telling me that Susan Barlin, a realtor and a Fil-Am community leader, is his sister-in-law. "That's partly why I'm close to Filipinos," he told me as a parting shot.
Below are excerpts of my not-as-usual Hollywood interviews:
Joseph: He's a wonderful actor. He really became like a brother to me while we were filming. Cesar truly evokes all the heroic qualities and sentiments of the Filipino resistance during that war. He's a warm and generous spirit.
I saw the warmth and generosity among the Filipino actors—Cesar and the whole group. They kept telling me, 'You've got to come to the Philippines, man.' I'd love to go as Cesar's guest because I know he would look after me.
Connie: I just had a meet and greet with Cesar at a dinner toward the end of shooting. But I can tell you that he is a cool guy. He is very…hot, actually.
John: When we were looking for an actor to play the lead part of Captain Pajota, we got Cesar's film—I am trying to think of that movie he did where he was on a ship, like a fishing vessel—I thought he was fantastic in that movie ("Muro-Ami"—Ed). I sent parts of the film to Miramax. We brought him over from Manila and met him. I thought he was terrific for the part.
Marty: He is, as you know, a bigger star in the Philippines than he is here now, but he will be a star here—although it all depends on his first opportunity here. That first part is crucial. He has an option with Miramax for two more pictures. Hopefully we will find it for him. He is a real talent.
Joseph: As an actress, Natalie is luminous, formidable and incredibly talented. On film, she comes across in a beautiful way. She is also a wonderful singer. (When I asked this brother of Ralph Fiennes to confirm reports that he dated Natalie, he laughed and said, "I won't answer that.")
Connie: Natalie is an amazing young woman. She is Filipina but she grew up in Australia and is now working and studying in London. We became very good friends while working on the movie.
John: In casting for this movie, I found that a lot of Filipino actors and actresses did musical theater. We liked Natalie the best. The only problem was, we had to try to get her to speak Tagalog.
John: We liked Paolo and wanted to use him as one of the Alamo scouts. It was a small role, but he wanted to be in the movie.
Connie Nielsen on the Manila underground: There were a lot of amazingly brave people, both men and women who worked in the underground. I learned how much the underground and guerilla forces played a big part in the liberation of the Philippines.
On his father serving in the Philippines: My father ended up joining the service like a lot of guys did during his time. He will be 82 in September. He landed in Luzon and he was with this unit that went through the mountains with a couple of infantry riflemen. He has seen the movie. For 60 years, he hadn't spoken to anybody from his unit. As a result of my working on this movie, he thought he should try to find one of his friends. That friend visited him last year in Montana. A couple of weeks ago, he went to South Carolina and, for the first time since the war, he spent more time with the guys from his unit.
On changes he made to address the apprehension that the movie would downplay the Filipinos' role in the rescue of over 500 American POWs: In the original script, Captain Pajota was American. I had to convince Miramax to make [the character] a Filipino. Also, when I started reading about the Filipino resistance, I realized that many of them were leading citizens of Manila, wealthy people who had a lot to lose. I thought it was a much more interesting story. I would have liked to see more of that, but there is only so much that you can squeeze into a movie."
On the film's premiere in Washington, DC and some Filipino vets' reaction: A few days before the premiere, I met these two men in Chicago. This guy in his 80s was crying by the end of the film. I turned around when the movie was over and there was another 87-year-old survivor of the Bataan death march, a Filipino. He was one of the first Filipinos that I had met who survived that march. It was an extremely emotional story for him. It has always been great screening the movie for veteran groups and survivors because it is a very powerful story for them.
So ultimately, going to Washington, DC for the premiere and having a four-star general introduce the movie and having two senators, Hillary Clinton and John McCain, make you realize that it has been a privilege to work on something that is so much larger than the movie business. You realize how many people's lives have been affected by this event. And to go to the World War II museum and see that Cabanatuan and Bataan etched in marble, that is pretty powerful.
On whether Japanese moviegoers will see the film soon: Japan is probably the last place where the movie will be released. But it will be released there eventually. The plan is to show the movie in other parts of the world and then ultimately, based on recognition from other parts of the world, bring the movie to Japan. It would be hard for me to imagine that Japan would jump right up and embrace this movie.
When we were [shooting in Australia], a lot of the kids we hired to play Japanese soldiers were on surfing holidays. We gave them materials translated from our history books into Japanese because they knew nothing of the story. Japan is a place that needs to see this movie.
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