Rebecca nilahad ang hirap na pinagdaanan sa ‘Her Locket’

Ni ROMMEL GONZALES

MATINDING pagsubok ang kinaharap ng actress/producer na si Rebecca Chuaunsu ng pelikulang Her Locket.

Nasa kalagitnaan na sila ng shooting ng pelikula kung saan gumanap si Rebecca bilang bidang si Jewel, nagkasakit naman ang mister ni Rebecca.

“So… when my husband started getting sick, actually one night before the shoot, all of you may not know, I almost cancelled, because for every injection, it cost almost 500,000 pesos.

“And I was thinking I have to allocate money for his medical expenses and I have to allocate production expenses.”

Pero ayon pa rin kay Rebecca, matagal na niyang pangarap na magkaroon ng isang proyekto na tulad ng Her Locket.

Aniya, “But I said, I’ve been dreaming about this for 32 years. I said, go. So, we were shooting and during the shoot, he was already hospitalized, and when we were doing the Mandarin subtitles, my husband passed away.

“So, there were times like on the 40th day of his passing, I was in a strange country, Morocco, not knowing anybody, and then, in the dream, he appeared to me, very young again, but his voice was so feeble. He told me, ‘Rebecca, I haven’t died’, and so, I said, ‘My gosh, we buried you already’.

“So, that night, during the awarding ceremony, Morocco and Philippines has about 7 to 8-hour time difference, I was a bit sleepy and they were speaking French, I couldn’t understand, and they said, ‘Rebecca?’, and I stood up and I said, ‘What happened?’, they said, ‘You won’, ‘What did I win?’, ‘The Best Actress!’

Nanalong Best Actress si Rebecca Chuaunsu para sa papel niyang Jewel Ouyang sa Her Locket sa 2023 Festival International du Film Transsaharien de Zagora sa Morocco.

Wagi rin siya sa Wu Wei Taipei International Filipino Film Festival sa Taiwan noong Sept 1, 2024.

Taong 2022 pa natapos ang pelikulang Her Locket.

“This was in late 2022 when we were just coming out from pandemic, and we were almost locked in shooting because we had to have COVID tests and all this, and a lot of our pre-production meetings were done via Zoom.”

Noong 2023 ay isa ang Her Locket sa dinala ng Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) sa Marche´ du Film 2023, ang business arm ng prestihiyosong Cannes Film Festival na ginanap sa France mula May 16- 27, 2023.

Base sa tunay na buhay ang Her Locket, na kuwento ng isang pamilya, ng mga magulang at anak, ang pagpabor sa lalaking anak kaysa babaeng anak at ang ipinagbabawal sa mga Chinese na LGBTQ+ relationship.

Paliwanag ni Rebecca, “This story is a tapestry. Weaving of stories from the director, from the writer, and me as the storyteller, and if you notice, I bring my own dear life, and we have a lawyer here, Atty. Kester Kua, and so on.

“We have a disclaimer, and not all parts will be biographical.”

Mabigat ang papel ni Rebecca bilang si Jewel, malalim, kumplikado at tumalakay sa dementia, papel na nababagay sa isang Nora Aunor.

Ano ang saloobin ni Rebecca tungkol dito?

Lahad niya, “I was scared, because number one, I don’t have dementia yet. So, I researched and interviewed a lot of dementia patients.

“So, another thing is I had acting coaches. They were provided by the director to coach me on the set, including the Tagalog diction.”

Wagi rin ang Her Locket sa Sinag Maynila nitong September 2024 ng WALONG awards – – Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Production Design, Best Cinematography, at Best Ensemble Acting.

Mapapanood na sa mga sinehan ang Her Locket simula January 22.