MARICEL SORIANO and Roderick Paulate have been long time friends.
They were together in “Inday Bote” in 1985 (one of Maricel’s biggest hits), “Inday sa Balitaw” in 1986, “Jack en Poy: Hale Hale Hoy” in 1987, “Gorio and Tekla” in 1988, and others.
Now, they are together again in “In His Mother’s Eyes”, which opens in theaters nationwide on November 29. In the story, they play siblings who are at odds with each other.
Maricel plays Lucy, an OFW who left her special son under the care of Dick as Bibs, her brother. Her son, Tim, played by L.A. Santos, has autism and grows up without knowing Maricel is his mother.
The film is written by Gina Marissa Tagasa and Jerry Gracio, produced by Florita Santos and directed by long time teleserye director FM Reyes in first full length film feature debut.
So how did Direk FM feel as he directs award-winning actors Maricel and Roderick in the movie?
“I’ve long been a fan of their works so may kaba ako noong una,” he says. “May nerbiyos, but nawala agad kasi I got to know them as friends and they have my respect.
"I’m thankful they trusted me to direct them in this film. It was easy working with both of them and they really portrayed their roles well in the movie, specially in the intensely emotional confrontation scenes."
“I’m happy with my role as Lucy, a single mom who has to work abroad for her family,” says Maricel.
“This is a movie for the whole family and mothers will be able relate well sa role ko as a mom who has to make a sacrifice.”
How would she rate newcomer L.A. Santos in his most challenging role to date as her autistic son?
“He played it very well. May scene kami na I hugged him. It’s the first time for me to do it after not seeing him for a long time and nahihiya siya sa akin.
"He doesn’t know how to react at naisalya niya ako nang bonggang-bongga. He was so apologetic after the take but it came out very convincing.”
We notice in the trailer that Roderick’s character is very mean to her
“Yun ang gusto ni Direk FM. May nangyari kasi sa aming bilang magkapatid at ayoko siyang kinakausap,” says Roderic.
“Before we shot the film, Direk FM met with us. He said, hanga ako sa inyo. I know your calibre sa comedy.
"Pero dito, gusto ko, ibang atake. So kinargahan niya kami ng emotions at very bitter lumabas yung character ko.
"It helped na may galit naman ako talaga kay Maria sa totoong buhay,” he jokes.
Both Maricel and Roderick are very proud of their movie and screen writer Gina Marissa Tagasa says the concept really belongs to Direk FM himself.
“Sa kanya talaga yung story idea,” she says. “Jerry Gracio and I feel flattered na sa amin niya ipinagkatiwala ang pagsulat sa buong script.
"I’ve done three teleseryes with Direk FM, but this is our first movie together.
"And we’re so happy that Maricel, Roderick and L.A. are really very convincing in bringing to life the characters that we’ve written.
"This is a a family drama that deserves to be seen by the whole family so don't fail to see it on November 29.”