He has now just finished “Ibong Adarna, A Pinoy Adventure”, a modern retelling of the folk tale attributed to Huseng Batute which has been filmed four times before. His own dad had two versions. First was in 1939 starring Fred Cortez and Mila del Sol, then in 1950 with Nida Blanca and Nestor de Villa. Dolphy also had his own version in 1972 with Rosanna Ortiz. Direk Jun claims his version is the best simply because the special effects they utilized in the film are state of the art. “You will see this in the bird,” he adds. “Before, the effects are so crude but now, the bird and its movements are really beautiful.”
He updated the story and instead of in some European country called Berbania with a king and a queen, it’s now set locally with a sultan (Joel Torre) and sultana (Angel Aquino, who is so beautifully photographed in the movie). The sultan has a scheming brother (Leo Martinez) who connives with a witch (Lilia Cuntapay) in putting a spell on Joel so he becomes sick. Only the singing of the Ibong Adarna will heal him, as the old story goes.
This time, instead of having three sons, the sultan has only one son, Sigasig (Rocco Nacino), who is tasked to get the bird. The villains are Leo and his bumbling sidekick, Benjie Paras, who provide much comic relief. The bird is played by 2008 Bb. Pilipinas International Patricia Fernandez, who is a communications graduate from UP (cum laude) and branched out into TV as a newscaster in “Unang Hirit”. She is now with Solar News doing “Daybreak”. This is her first movie and she was recommended to Direk Jun by designer Rene Salud. She photographs so well and looks every inch the diwata who is cursed to become the Ibong Adarna.
“Ibong Adarna” was entered in the Metro filmfest but it was passed over for “Pedro Calungsod”, that also starred Rocco Nacino, which is too bad since we believe it could have done better at the box office than “Pedro”. “Ibong Adarna” is great family entertainment that shows Rocco embarking on a journey where he encounters fantastic elements like the nuno sa punso, a man-eating giant and hostile tribesmen. It also imparts good values about protecting the environment and the love for family. Don’t miss it when it opens in theatres on October 1.