A Filipino in Singapore TV series
By Isah V. Red
LANCE Raymundo… yes, he’s the singer of the currently hot online hit “Beautiful Sun” and the latest incarnation of Romeo in the local staging of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet… is also quietly making a name for himself in the Asean region.
The last time we talked to Lance was immediately after the last taping day of “Demon’s Whip,” an episode in Incredible Tales—a series currently showing on Channel 5 in Singapore.
It’s his first drama role for television, and he was not expecting he’d even get the role.
“The auditions were over,” he told us. “While we got the call many weeks before the final auditions, we never did seriously consider it. When finally they called us up again, we said ‘okay,’ and we went for the reading. The guys conducting the auditions —most of them from Singapore and a Filipino guy [who turned out to be Jun Lana, the episode writer and director]—gave me a script and asked me to read a part.”
He did exactly as told. Then, after he was through with reading the part, he looked up and didn’t say anything.
“I heard one of them say, ‘okay, we’ll give you a call,’ which to me could have meant either a ‘no’ or a ‘yes.’ But as I was walking out of the room, I didn’t even think about landing a role. All I could think about was getting it off my shoulders.”
Yet, Lance would also get the surprise of his life when again his “handler” told him she got the call and the production people wanted him to be on the set ASAP.
“For what role, who knows?” Lance recalled. “They [the production people] didn’t even discuss with us the professional fee. They just wanted us to be on the set.”
Another surprise struck him when Lana told him that he was to play the lead male role.
“Lead role!” he exclaimed, incredulous over his luck. “First they allowed me to read even when the auditions were through, and then they handed to me the lead role! Ain’t I just too lucky?”
The episode was shot for four days on location in Los Baños, Laguna. The other Filipino actors in the episode were Juliana Palermo and Say Alonzo.
Incredible Tales is popular in Singapore. In fact “Demon’s Whip” is part of the show’s fifth season. MTV VJ Uttsada Panichkul or simply VJ Utt hosts the show. Originally, the show featured paranormal stories sent in by viewers in Singapore, now with the new season, the show’s producers wanted to expand the source of stories, hence the episode from the Philippines.
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=goodLife3_april12_2008