From 'Kundiman Party' to 'Citizen Jake': Teroy Guzman on playing charming devils

MANILA -- Shakespearean actor Teroy Guzman laughed at the phrase “charming devil” when asked about playing the role of an unscrupulous senator, not only in the much-talked about film “Citizen Jake,” directed by Mike De Leon, but also in the play “The Kundiman Party,” written by Floy Quintos.

His is the kind of rolling laughter that reminds us not of legendary silver screen contravidas like the late Romy Diaz or Dick Israel about to rape the female lead star. Guzman’s laughter is from an old man like our father, uncle, grandfather about to tell us there’s something wrong with the way we’re living our social-media driven life.

“Well, when you do a play, your director is your boss. Meron lang siyang gustong palabasin. He wanted me to show the ambiguity of a senator,” he told ABS-CBN News.

“The Kundiman Party” was directed by Dulaang UP’s outgoing artistic director, Dexter Martinez Santos, for UP Playwrights’ Theater.

At the Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero Theater of the University of the Philippines, Diliman, Guzman was the devil personified with only about 20 minutes to charm the crowd. He played Senator Juancho Valderrama in Quintos’s swan song in writing for the stage.

As Senator Valderrama, he appears only in the second act. Wearing a polo barong, black pants and leather shoes, his hair well combed, mustache and goatee trimmed, he looks like our dependable public servant about to give us promises of a better life, the works. This time, with words that appeal to our weakest emotions, he convinces a household of anti-government protesters and activists. Harsh comments, he brushes off like dust on his sleeves.

In the play, he has a wayward son named Bobby Valderrama played by theater heartthrob Kalil Almonte. Bobby is a social media strategist-influencer, the rebel in the family who the senator hasn’t seen for years.

“Pag lumabas 'yung senador, hindi mo alam kung ano talaga gusto niya. Gusto ba niyang kunin ang anak niya? Or gustong mang-gulo? Inalok pa niya mamundok e. Mamundok ka kung gusto mo. It’s your choice,” Guzman said.

Because he knows his way with all kinds of people, Senator Valderrama is able to convince Bobby to go back home with him, leaving the activist’s life, his friends, including his girlfriend, and all those who trusted him.

“But there is always a question mark. Is he a really loving father or is he just scared that his son might go to the other side? Ganun ba. That’s how it was written. When I read the script, I just go with it. There’s not much preparation for that,” he said.

“Not like this. Ang tagal naming (nag-prepare),” he said, referring to De Leon’s latest opus that had just ended its two-week commercial run but is still being shown in more intimate movie houses like the newly opened Cinema 76 in Anonas, Quezon City (until June 7), Black Maria in Mandaluyong City (until June 12) and Cinema Centenario (June 12 to June 26) on Maginhawa Street.

For those who haven’t seen “Citizen Jake,” Guzman is Senator Jacobo Herrera Sr., father of Jake, the lead character played by broadcast journalist Atom Araullo. Compared with Senator Valderrama, who is projected as a typical sweet-talking, double-dealing pro-administration lawmaker, Senator Herrera is a Marcos loyalist and apologist.

De Leon’s theatrical treatment

“I really appreciate Mike. I was humbled by Mike. Because he knew I came from theater, he took the time. Kasi sa amin sa theater, matagal ang analysis. You sit down. You read, you analyze the play and the character,” Guzman said.

“Si Mike, he called me up to meet with Atom and Noel and himself. Kami lang. Sa house niya sa square table for a discussion. And he gave me the entire script. Usually kasi (in shooting a film) binibigay lang sa mga actors 'yung (dialogues) sa parts nila. Siguro he realized that I came with a theater background and I needed to arc my character. I needed to see where it was going,” he added. The film was co-written by Araullo, Noel Pascual and De Leon.

The meetings became frequent and longer.

“Then he took the time to discuss with me the entire script, which happens in theater. He is a master craftsman. That’s what he is. I was very humbled. Kasi siya mismo, he took the time to ask my opinion about the character I’m going to play. And we discussed it. Merong matitinding discussion na in the end he said, ‘We’ll see, we’ll see, we’ll try it both ways, we’ll see what works.’”

De Leon was so focused on Guzman’s role, he went on to the extent of explaining a specific technique in directing.

“For the first time, I heard the term ‘psychology of lenses.’ He explained to me the types of lenses. The angles, whether it’s like this or like that. He took the time to do that.”

More ‘gago’ character

Guzman said he wasn’t handpicked for the role of Senator Herrera but it was De Leon who asked for him to read, as recommended by other directors, some from the theater.

“From what I’ve heard, ako 'yung hinanahap niya to read. I read for two parts, si Senator and 'yung kay Nonie,” he said, referring to actor Nonie Buencamino, whose role in the film is a judge who falls in love with a female college student doing part-time “escort service.”

We asked Guzman on the parallelism of his roles in “Citizen Jake” and “The Kundiman Party.”

“Parallelism, in a way, sa character na senator. In a way, may pagkakatulad. Pero hindi naman ako nagulat (sa similarities) kasi noong binasa namin 'yun script (of 'The Kundiman Party'), I said as long as it makes a statement, I’d do it. When I read the script of ‘The Kundiman Party,’ I accepted it because it has a political statement. Second, Floy approached me in a very personal level. Kasi matagal na kaming magkaibigan. He said it’s going to be his last play and he wants his favorite actors in that play,” he said.

Then he realized something that made him laugh like the devil. He said he’s used to playing characters with twisted morals. “Lagi naman akong gago, lagi din akong tarantado.” More laughter.

But Guzman was quick to add, there’s another more “gago” character he played. In January -- and restaged for only three days in the last week of May -- at the Ateneo de Manila University Black Box Theater, he was the gun-wielding and foul-mouthed Richard III in a modern adaptation of William Shakespeare’s classic tragedy.

Guzman is often called Shakespearean actor because most of his past stage experiences were playing the title roles in "Othello," "Macbeth," "King Lear" and Shakespeare himself for many professional and credible university-based theater groups.

Set in present-day Philippines, “RD3RD” was co-directed by Anton Juan and Ateneo professor emeritus Ricardo Abad, with dramaturgy by Guzman’s wife herself, Shakespearean scholar Dr. Judy Ick. “RD3RD” reinterprets England’s version of the strongman rule.

“It draws parallels between the tyrannical Richard III and the sociopath leaders we have now. Kaya itong sinasabi nilang ‘iba ang Pinoy. Ganyan ang Pinoy eh,’ sasabihin nila naiiba tayo, that’s bull***t. This has been happening 400 years ago,” he said.

He said he was always drained after each performance of “RD3RD.” After the limited three-day re-run last May, he said he needed to take a break doing stage plays for a long while.

“Alam mo ang theater it’s good for the soul eh but it’s tiring for the body. If you’re doing theater you have to forget everything and focus on it,” he told us, giggling at the thought.

We remember one of his most celebrated roles in recent years was also that of a deranged man. He played the tormented music genius Ludwig van Beethoven in Red Turnip Theater’s 2015 staging of Moises Kaufman’s “33 Variations.” For portraying the brilliant composer who centuries later was found out to be suffering from bipolar disorder, Guzman won the Male Featured Performance in a Play trophy from the Gawad Buhay Awards.

If the most skillful actors could inhabit the minds of real-life people whose characters they play are based on, then Guzman knows how it is being a corrupt predatory public official, a sociopath leader and a genius with bipolar disorder.

But outside the theater and the film sets, Guzman speaks his mind -- and he hates the real-life versions of Senator Jacobo Herrera Sr.

Call to arms

“It’s quite obvious, you already know through what the film has portrayed what is wrong and what is right. Alam niyo na eh, dito pa lang alam niyo na eh. Mali yung ginagawa noong senador. Next step is go to your core of competence and find out what you can do. Kung hindi tayo sino, kung hindi ngayon kailan. Alam niyo na mali ang nangyayari eh. Stop making excuses.”

His thoughts on the status quo and “Citizen Jake” are written and uploaded on the film’s Facebook page, titled “Guzman speaks out.”

He initially read it in an after-screening forum a few weeks ago, where a lady high-school teacher from a prominent Catholic University in Quezon City asked if it’s alright to show “Citizen Jake,” which has an R-13 classification, to her teenaged students as part of her class. She said she’s worried the parents might reprimand her and her students might get nightmares.

This brought out the mercurial Richard III in him but it’s Guzman’s heart and soul speaking.

“Dapat lang magka-nightmares sila,” Guzman said, “It’s a (expletive) dictatorship and it’s wrong. Who do you have to answer to? What are you afraid of?”

Then he mellowed a bit like the sweet-talking Senator Valderrama of “The Kundiman Party,” adding there’s nothing to be afraid. As example, he said his 11-year-old son has seen documentaries, pictures, books about Martial Law. “And he knows it’s wrong.”

The same with another son, he said, who is studying in the same Catholic school where the lady is teaching.

“’Pag hindi niyo ginising mga bata eh tuloy tuloy lang 'yan. Can you imagine if this kind of mentality goes on and on, administration after administration? Imagine your children living in that kind of society. What will happen to them? You have to be braver for your students. That’s all I’m asking. Huwag kayo matakot sa mga magulang. Pag tinanong kayo, ‘why’? Eh (expletive), importante eh,” he said, this time raising his voice like Senator Herrera confronting Jake.

“That’s why this film is important because we forget. This will wake you up and remind you of the goriness of Martial Law. It’s gotta be taught. ’Pag tinago mo sa kanila 'yan, and they learn it from somebody else who doesn’t know what they are talking about, that is a worse scenario.”

The lady teacher, all smiling throughout Guzman’s mini-lecture, said her “thank you.”

The charming devil has proven he has a soul, a human heart and promises everything will be alright with the world as long as there are people brave enough to watch films like “Citizen Jake” and walk the talk.