“Busong” was filmed on location in Palawan, Solito’s home province, last January. “It’s divided into three segments: Forest, Sea, Mountain,” says Solito. “Alex’s character, Punay, is the common factor in all of them and she represents Palawan. She’s born with wounds from head to foot.”
“It takes four hours to apply the prosthetic makeup on me for the wounds,” says Alex. “I have wounds even on my feet so I can’t walk and they have to carry me on a hammock while we’re looking for a shaman who’d help cure me. In the course of the film, habang gumagaling ang mga sugat, paganda naman ako ng paganda. The film has minimal dialogue and the lines I deliver are in the original Palawanon dialect. Most of my co-stars are Palawan natives, except for Hollywood actor Clifford Banagale who was in Sacha Cohen’s ‘Bruno’. He plays a balikbayan who goes to Palawan looking for his roots and we meet at the end. I fell in love with Palawan while shooting there. Iba-ibang klase ang beaches nila, may white sand, may bato, may puro shells. I enjoyed working with Direk as he explains everything before a take, pati background ng eksena at kailan ang bagsak ng luha ko. Lahat, take one.”
“Alex is brilliant,” says Solito. “It’s uncanny because all her scenes, she did it exactly the way I envisioned it while writing the script. We have a psychic link. The film is really about karma and I hope it’ll serve as a warning for Palawenos. Our land is in great danger now and I hope we’ll protect it para hindi dumating sa amin ang busong or karma.”
How is Alex preparing for the Q&A with the international press? “Pina-practice ako ni Assunta ng possible questions sa’kin at tawa kami ng tawa. Sample: What are the highlights of the film? Sagot ko, every scene where you see my face, that is a highlight. When I taped ‘Green Rose’ in Korea, ginawa akong Diyosa ng mga lalaki roon. Siguro naman, ganun din ang magiging effect ko sa mga taga-Cannes,” laughs Alex who never takes things seriously.
