Marvin’s latest film, though, is being released by ABS-CBN through Star Cinema, “Ikaw ang Pag-ibig”. His role here is as significant as in “Patikul”, the movie he did with Director Joel Lamangan where he plays a dedicated school principal kidnapped and beheaded by the Abu Sayyaf. In “Ikaw ang Pag-ibig”, he plays a young priest who gets afflicted with leukemia and undergoes chemotherapy while his own dysfunctional family is going through a cleansing process that will eventually reunite them. For any of his performances in these films, Marvin can get acting nominations come awards derbies next year.
“I’m lucky to be given good roles in the films I do,” he says. “I’m thankful to Direk Marilou Diaz Abaya for guiding me in my interpretation of the sick priest, lalo roon sa chemotherapy scenes where she told me how to do it convincingly as she has undergone a similar experience in real life when she also had chemotherapy. I have many scenes here in the hospital na talagang nahirapan ako, but the ending offers hope as I’m shown leaving the hospital and attending the Virgin of Penafrancia fluvial parade in Naga with my whole family. It’s movie that is about love, family and faith.”
