December 30, 2024 | 12:00am
Be warned: in this article, I will gush about the Metro Manila Film Festival 2024 entry “The Kingdom,” which was directed and co-produced by my brother-in-law, Mike Tuviera, who is married to my bunso sister Penny. Mike and Penny invited me, my kids, mom and brother Paul to the Red Carpet premiere in Gateway II last Dec. 20, and we were all bowled over by the film, which is a thought-provoking drama set in an alternate world that asks a simple question: what if our country had never been colonized by Spain and the USA?
Smartly scripted and masterfully directed, the surprising and shocking twists and turns made for a nail-biting experience that was made even more engaging thanks to the stellar (and revelatory) performances of lead actors Vic Sotto and Piolo Pascual, both of whom went out of their comfort zones for the film. For Piolo, “The Kingdom” marks the first time he has done full-blown action scenes. As for Vic Sotto, the film is his first foray into serious drama.
This isn’t to say that only the leads are good. The supporting cast — which includes Cristine Reyes, Sid Lucero, Ruby Ruiz, and Sue Ramirez — is uniformly flawless, as are Iza Calzado and Cedric Juan in brief but pivotal roles. When the movie ended, my heart swelled with pride as the sister-in-law of the director/co-producer. My children Gabbie and Paolo also raved about how good the film was, as did my mom Jullie and brother. I wanted to interview Mike immediately after the screening for this article, but Penny told us he was mobbed by reporters right after the lights came on.
I finally got the chance to chat with Mike about “The Kingdom” when he and Penny hosted our traditional Christmas Eve lunch in their lovely home with mom, her four children and all nine grandchildren present.
As lunch wound down, I began interviewing Mike about his MMFF obra. Asked about the project’s genesis, he replied that “The Kingdom” was originally conceived as a TV series to be shown on TV5 in 2025. But then last February, he had a dream and immediately called another producer about his “crazy” idea. He asked, “Why wait until 2025 to do the series? Why don’t we make it into a film since MMFF is celebrating its 50th anniversary, and I have not made an MMFF movie in five years?”
Mike added that it was also his dream to have Vic play the lead role. With nothing to lose, Mike took a chance and asked “Tito Vic” if he would agree to do it. As luck would have it, Vic replied that this was actually the frustration of his children: that they had never seen their dad do a serious role in his movie career, and they wanted him to do a movie similar to “The Godfather.” Mike then said to him, “I will offer you a role better than The Godfather… I will make you a king.” To which Vic replied, “Hari? Ah…period film ito.” Mike then clarified that the role would be that of a king who ruled in contemporary times. And that’s how Vic Sotto became Lakan Makisig, ruler of the Kingdom of Kalayaan in “The Kingdom.”
I then asked Mike how he convinced Manny Pangilinan (MVP) to appear in the film, with a speaking line at that! Mike replied that MVP — who was a co-producer of the movie — thought that Mike was joking when he approached him about the cameo. Later, when he realized that Mike was serious, MVP shared that he had only appeared once in a movie, namely the MMFF 2010 entry “Rosario,” which told the story of his grandmother and which he also produced and co-wrote. The next challenge was to find a date for filming his cameo, which is no easy feat for a business tycoon like him. When the day finally came, as the set was being prepared for filming, MVP revealed that he was nervous while he was “chilling” with Vic and Mike. To put him at ease, Mike asked MVP if he had ever met a king. MVP replied that he had the privilege of meeting the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand. Coincidentally, the scene they were shooting that day was the wedding of Dayang Lualhati (Sue Ramirez) to a Thai prince! The details which MVP shared about his day with the King of Thailand even informed how Mike directed the scene to make it more authentic.
My last question to Mike was which scene was the most difficult to execute. Without hesitating, he said it was the film’s opening scene, which showed the BRP Jose Rizal — the largest warship of the Philippine Navy — in action. The brief sequence took five months to plan (beginning in June) and involved close coordination with the Philippine Navy, which was shown story boards that conveyed how the scene would play out. Given its scale and complexity, the sequence was shot on the last day of filming. This anecdote summarizes how passionate the filmmakers were about giving moviegoers the best film they could, sparing no expense for a sequence that lasted only a couple of minutes onscreen and which could easily have been realized using less costly visual effects.
As I write this, the MMFF Awards Night is hours away. I don’t know how many awards “The Kingdom” will take home, but I sincerely believe that it deserves to win a heap of them in major categories. I’ve also heard that it is doing well in terms of ticket sales, playing to sold-out screenings and even adding theaters due to audience demand. Congratulations to the cast and crew of “The Kingdom,” especially to my brother-in-law director and co-producer Mike, for making this brave and provocative winner of a film.
(“The Kingdom” won Second Best Picture and Best Director for Mike Tuviera. Congratulations Mike on a job well done! )
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