“Citizen Jake” lead actor Atom Araullo on Wednesday finally addressed filmmaker Mike de Leon’s controversial remarks.
De Leon, in a lengthy Facebook post last week, said the former ABS-CBN News reporter disappointed him “not as an actor but as a person.”
Araullo said it was De Leon who asked him to play the lead character in “Citizen Jake.”
“Mike had no basis to determine whether I could act or not, much less carry an entire film (with what would turn out to be a challenging role). Naturally, my first questions were: Why me? What movie are we crafting to justify my participation as an actor?”
“Mike was adamant that he wanted a journalist and non-actor to play the character because of his unique vision for Citizen Jake. I believed in the director, and like others who admire his work, I wanted to see him make another film after some 17 years of retirement at the time. So, I said yes,” Araullo wrote.
Araullo said it was not an easy decision for him to do the project but he still accepted it.
HURTFUL REMARKS
In his Facebook post, Araullo wrote that de Leon deliberately made hurtful remarks about his work as a journalist, which had nothing to do with the movie.
“All I can say is that I have never made any claims about the quality of my output or my stature in the media industry. To do so would be futile and obscene. I just aim to do my best like everyone else, always acknowledging that one continues to learn and improve everyday. I’ll leave it to the public to appraise the value of my work, accumulated over a decade of being a journalist,” Araullo said.
“Despite everything, I do not wish to besmirch Mike’s reputation the way he did mine. However, I think it is important to explain that while many were shocked by his recent tirade, I was not. It was only the latest in a string of unprovoked, irrational, almost random tantrums that I had to endure during the making of this film, determined as I was to see it through,” he said.
“It had a profound effect on me, and to be honest, made it that much harder to perform my duties in the movie. Almost everyone who at one point worked on Citizen Jake knows this, and his voluminous texts and emails will bear it out. When others found themselves in Mike’s crosshairs, I tried to be there to lend a sympathetic ear. Perhaps his woeful behavior continues because he is never held accountable,” he said.
De Leon is a “deeply troubled person” who needs “help, patience and understanding” while battling his own demons, Araullo said.
“But while he has certainly tested the limits of my endurance, I can rest easy knowing that I worked hard, behaved professionally, and did all to the best of my abilities at the time the film was made,” he said.
Araullo said he hoped that after “Citizen Jake,” De Leon would make more movies that “rouse our consciousness, make us uncomfortable, and spur debate.”
“I am still grateful for the opportunity to have worked on this film, now that I close this chapter of my life,” he said. (ABS-CBN News)
