For his big screen comeback, Cogie Domingo did not at all hesitate to do a love scene with Sid Lucero for the epic love story Muli. Produced by MJM Productions, this indie film is directed by Adolfo Alix Jr.
Based on Jerry Gracio's Palanca-winning screenplay, the film chronicles the love affair between an innkeeper/activist and a lawyer set in the picturesque Baguio City spanning four decades. Muli showcases both actors' acting skills, which are highlighted by their characters' intimate encounters and memorable confrontations.
In an interview held last July 30, Direk Adolf told PEP (Philippine Entertainment Portal): "Wala naman hesitations si Cogie kasi kung ano yung nasa script, ganun naman ang lumabas. Yung love scene took about four hours to shoot kasi iba-iba yung anggulo, yung ilaw.
"Medyo madugo yung film kasi yung look nila from the 1960s until the present. We decided na sila na ang artista kahit na tumanda so gumamit kami ng prosthetics. Challenging para sa kanila."
He reveals that they shot the film for 14 days in Baguio.
Catch the Director's Cut of Muli this Wednesday, August 4, 2010, 6 p.m. at the U.P. Cine Adarna (formerly U.P. Film Center).
It will be recalled that Cogie Domingo had his memorable breakthrough performance in the 2006 film Deathrow, which gave him nominations from various award-giving bodies, and later for Anghel sa Lupa. Then Cogie was swamped with lead roles in films and TV series megged by respected directors. But the workload apparently took a toll on the young actor; he had to take a leave and do some soul-searching.
Meantime, Sid Lucero was first seen on television via a snack commercial before he essayed bit roles in fantaseryes. The son of actor Mark Gil took his first lead role in his first indie movie, Donsol, where he portrayed a Bicolano tour guide who falls for Angel Aquino's character, who hasn't moved on from a tragic love affair.
The following awards season, Sid got nominations and won the 2006 Golden Screen Awards' Breakthrough Performance for Donsol. In his next significant indie movie Selda, he won Best Actor awards: in 2007 Urian, and abroad in Thessaloniki Film Festival (tying with Selda co-actor Emilio Garcia. He also won Best Actor for the Cinema One Originals' Tambolista.
Aside from these award-winning indie films, Sid has brought life to major roles in teleseryes. For his part, Cogie was tending the family business here and in the United States.
Muli also stars Max Eigenmann, Rocky Salumbides, Marco Alcaraz, Evelyn Vargas, Kenneth Ocampo, Angeli Bayani, Arnold Reyes and with special participation of Joross Gamboa, John Manalo and veteran actress Anita Linda.
SYNOPSIS. Jun Bernabe (Sid Lucero) decides to leave the seminary after the death of his mother in 1968. He goes back to school while managing their inn in Baguio, together with his cousin Bobbet (Kenneth Ocampo), a flamboyant gay.
Jun meets Errol Agabin (Cogie Domingo), a guest at the inn. Errol becomes a regular costumer at the inn, bringing his girlfriend Mina (Max Eigenmann) and going to Baguio when he needs to get away from his problems in Manila.
They develop a friendship, which leads to a one night tryst. The following day, Jun wakes up to find that Errol is gone. For five years, Jun waits for Errol, writing letters but never having the courage to send those letters. Times are turbulent. Jun is recruited into the Communist Party, has a relationship with Celest, a local party official, who is later killed in an encounter with the military.
Jun is disciplined for having an affair without the formal knowledge of the Party. After a series of short-term affairs, Jun seriously commits to Roland (Rocky Salumbides), a mining Engineer who works in Benguet.
But Errol comes back after five years. Now a lawyer who works for the Court of Appeals, Errol is already married to Mina. But he too longs for Jun. So Errol goes to Baguio once a year, when the justices go to the Summer Capital for their retreat. Despite Errol's marriage and Jun's commitment to Roland and the party, they manage to maintain an affair spanning four decades of political and social upheavals.