On Micromanaging and Disowning Movies

At the recently concluded Metro Manila Film Festival, Manila Kingpin: the Asiong Salonga story cleaned up winning 11 awards. While I'm generally not a fan of Filipino movies (as sad as this is to admit), the trailer for this one pretty interesting and may yet see this movie if I have time and money to spare. A potential dealbreaker, though (apart from the lack of time and money, of course) is the fact that the film's director, Tikoy Aguiluz, has publicly disowned the film, going to the extent of securing a court order to have his name removed from the film and all its marketing materials. It's not the most glowing endorsement, to say the least.

Not having seen the movie, much less what was supposedly excised from it, I can only imagine that whatever the studio did, it was to improve the film's chances at the box-office, which can and often does spell disaster for creative integrity and overall quality.

While I realize that creative butchery is hardly new in the film industry, local or otherwise, it nonetheless pains me to think that even during the Metro Manila film festival, when all foreign product is shut out of the movie theaters (with the exception of IMAX theaters) and where, once upon a time, Filipino filmmakers were allowed free rein to make the kind of movies they wanted to make, the desperation of studio suits to get fannies into the seats remains the primordial consideration.

The thing of it is, even assuming that Aguiluz was simply a hired gun rather than a visionary who conceived of the whole film, the studio that made it owed him some common courtesy. As a professional, I expect my clients to place their trust in me, to give me all of the facts I need to help them out, and to respect the work product that I give them. Of course, I owe them the best work I can possibly give, but my initial conference with them should give them an idea of what I'm capable of and what I can give them.

I can side with studios that fire directors before filming even begins; there's a reason why studios and directors sit down and talk, and that is to determine whether or not they have a common vision. To allow somebody to spent several months (or weeks, as is often the case here) of his life shooting and editing a movie only to yank the rug out from under him with unauthorized last minute reshoots and changes, though, is more than simple disrespect; it is a statement of intent from the producers or the suits that the director's vision is not theirs. It's basically the act of flipping the director the middle finger. Of course, probably the most extreme example of such a gesture is the way Warner Brothers threw out an ENTIRE film when they shelved Paul Schrader's Exorcist prequel (thereby denying Filipino-born Billy Crawford, who had a significant role in that film, his moment in the Hollywood spotlight) and had Renny Harlin shoot an all-new one, but Aguiluz's feelings of betrayal are nonetheless entirely legitimate.

I still don't know if I'll go and see Manila Kingpin, but if nothing else, if it turns out to be a total shitfest I'll bear in mind that it wasn't Tikoy Aguiluz's fault. I'll give him that much.