“May taping kasi ako ng ‘Legally Blind’ at hindi ko puedeng iwanan kasi, kung hindi, wala kaming ipalalabas na bagong episodes,” he says. “This Friday, yung ite-taping naming eksena sa umaga, ipalalabas in the same afternoon. The night I won, FDCP Chair Liza Dino, who received the award for me, called me to say I won, I was ecstatic. Hindi na ko nakatulog and I called up my kids right away to share the good news with them.”
So he’s still excited to win an award even if he has already won so many acting awards before? “Siempre naman, I take my craft and my work very seriously and winning an award is always a pleasure for any actor. At pinaghirapan ko talaga ang role ko in ‘Dayang Asu’, which means ‘Dugong Aso’. Ang init-init ng kunan namin yan sa Pampanga and all my lines are in Kapampangan. I’m working here for a corrupt mayor na kinukurakot ang kita sa quarry sa Pampanga at anak ko rito si Junjun Quintana.”
“Dayang Asu” is the directorial debut of Ferdinand “Bor” Ocampo, who’s from Bacolor, Pampanga. He won the best director award at the Cinema One Originals Filmfest. Didn’t Ricky have second thoughts being helmed by a neophyte filmmaker? “No. I’m very open to helping new directors, like Jade Castro who directed me before in ‘Endo’, even to student filmmakers. Saludo ako sa kanila as I know how hard it is to direct a film.”
He says it’s a nice coincidence that he and Ana Capri won best supporting actors at the same time. “Second time na naming nagkasabay. The first time was in the CineManila International Filmfest 1999, where I won best actor for “Saranggola” of Gil Portes while Ana won as best actress for “Pila Balde” of Jeffrey Jeturian.”Ricky has another international best supporting actor trophy from the United Kingdom International Filmmakers Filmfest for the environmental movie “Signos” in 2007. He has also won best supporting actor awards locally for “Abot Hanggang Sukdulan” and “Ipaglaban Mo, The Movie”. Aside from “Saranggola”, he also won a best actor plum for “Minsan May Isang Puso”. Since he’s also a stage actor, he has won four best actor awards for the plays “Insiang”, “Speaking in Tongues”, “Sawi” and “Bongbong & Kris”, making him an Aliw Hall of Famer for Theatre.
As for Direk Bor Ocampo, he now has a follow up film project, "Money Slapper", starring a very big Kapamilya star who immediately liked the project after reading the script which is a dark comedy. He was at Malaysia during the ASEAN affair, but he was not able to attend the awards night due to a terrible hangover after a drinking binge the night before.
