“Please stop gaslighting me in your private messages.”
Ito ang pakiusap ng direktor na si Erik Matti kay John Arcilla, ang kauna-unahang Pilipino na nanalo ng Volpi Cup for Best Actor sa 78th Venice International Film Festival noong September 2021 para sa karakter sa On The Job: The Missing 8.
Si Erik ang direktor ng pelikulang nagbigay ng maraming karangalan para sa aktor.
Noong February 22, 2023, nagsadya si John sa Senate of the Philippines dahil sa parangal sa kanya sa pamamagitan ng Senate Resolution No. 490 na kumikilala sa acting award na napanalunan niya sa 78th Venice International Film Festival.
Sa kanyang original Instagram post, hindi binanggit ng 56-year-old actor sa pasasalamat nito ang pamagat ng pelikula kung saan siya pinarangalan.
“Bastos kayo!” reaksiyon ni Erik sa di pagbanggit ni John at ng Star Magic, ang namamahala sa career ng actor, sa pamagat ng kanilang critically acclaimed thriller film na ipinalabas bilang six-part series sa HBO Asia.
Read: Direk Erik Matti, umalma sa "pambabastos" ni John Arcilla at ng Star Magic
Binago ni John ang kanyang original social media post, inilagay niya ang titulong On The Job: The Missing 8 at magkakasunod na araw ang kanyang Instagram posts na naka-tag si Erik at si Dondon Monteverde, ang co-producer ng Reality MM Studios, ang producer ng kanilang pelikula.
“THANK YOU @erikmatti please share and a Blessed Sunday to everyone" at “We are a Team and we are friends. @erikmatti @dondonmonteverde” ang mga caption ni Arcilla sa mga social media post niya na tila pagbawi at paghilot sa nasaling na damdamin ni Erik.
Read: John Arcilla offers hand of reconciliation to Erik Matti: “We are friends.”
Lalong hindi ikinagalak ni Erik ang para sa kanya'y “damage control” na ginagawa ni John kaya isang mahabang mensahe, sa pamamagitan din ng Instagram ngayong Huwebes, March 2, 2023, ang ipinarating niya sa best actor awardee.
Mensahe ng direktor para sa aktor: “Hi @johnarcilla. Please stop gaslighting me in your private messages making me feel like I overreacted on your deliberate remiss to mention our film On The Job: The Missing 8 that gave you the Volpi Cup in the Venice Film Festival.
“Your constant posts mentioning me in gratitude for the award over and over again already feels like a sarcastic insulting mention (even if you probably mean it by heart), as if my issue is that I needed you to recognize and thank me in your posts, which is not really the whole point of why I called you out. I don’t need you to thank me. Stop patronizing me. Your performance is yours.
“Thank the movie that made it possible to give you the chance to bring Sisoy Salas to life.
“Let’s move on from this. And I mean move on from this. As in, now.
“Your social media posts are different from your private messages to me. Stop posting just for damage control.
“I just wanted you to realize that every piece of recognition and accolade we get in the work we do is really done by a team of hardworking staff and crew that made it possible.
“That your Volpi Cup is not just about you and your talent. That in a lousy movie without the blood sweat and tears of talented and skilled filmmakers, John Arcilla’s performance will not be recognized.
“I hope that with this, you start to realize that anything we get out of the movies we make, no matter how talented we are, is really not just about us but because of the hardwork of everyone involved in the making of it.
“You are not the film. I am not the film. A film is the sum of everyone working on it not just you and me. This ends now.”
Kapansin-pansing kahit nakadirekta kay John ang kanyang mensahe ay ang larawan nila ni Dennis Trillo, na tampok din sa On The Job: The Missing 8, ang ginamit na larawan ni Erik.
Ang sagot ni Erik sa paratang na "gaslighting" sa kanya ni John ang isang pahiwatig na malabo nang mapanood ang karakter ni Sisoy Salas sa pinaplanong third installment ng On The Job, na pagbibidahan ng ibang mga artista gaya nina Joey Marquez at Joel Torre na kasama sa On The Job (2013), at ni Dennis na kasama sa On The Job: The Missing 8 (2022).