A millennial, the 26-year-old actor, director and producer surprised this writer when he shared that among his favorite actors is Jim Carrey.

It is often said, “You are what you eat.” In the literal sense, this means you look and reap the health consequences of the choice of food you eat.

But let me stretch this popular saying a bit since we are on the topic of consumption. After all, we are at the peak of a consumerist time in the history of mankind.

By simply applying this logic, we can say that we are what we watch. Partly. Our choices of TV shows and movies reflect the kind of nourishment we feed our brains. It’s not being a snob, but rather a logical assumption that when we prefer more thriller at a given time, our minds would be on overdrive thinking on “whodunit.”

If we lean more towards action and adventure, we’d be excitable and dreaming of endless possibilities. With other genres, the intended effect is fairly predictable. This is not to say this is the sole truth, but just a part of its many facets.

HE is happy to help all the best he can, and founding the production house is one way to do so. DAVID JOHN CUBANGBANG

A few months ago, the Daily Tribune was visited by a young man for its Thursday online show, “Spotlight.” During that episode, this writer and section sub-editor Jojo Silvestre served as co-hosts.

If one dared not ask him his age, one might guess he’s probably a young adult, in his late teens to early 20s. Dylan Talon’s baby face and age look way beyond the obvious.

Audience might know him as the kid who witnessed the villagers’ transformation after a crime hit their town in Jet Leyco’s 2015 CinemaOne Originals entry, MatangTubig. Or they might have seen him as one of the characters in the controversial 2018 Dwein Baltazar film, Gusto Kita With All My Hypothalamus. It won the Netpac Award and the Asian Film Observatory Award at the 2018 Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival in Taiwan, where he and his director Dwein attended and received the twin awards.

What caught this writer’s attention was his choice of movies to watch. A millennial, the 26-year-old actor, director and producer surprised this writer when he shared that among his favorite actors is Jim Carrey.

“My dad loves watching comedy films. I grew up watching Jim Carrey’s films so as I grew older, I wanted to act,” he shared.

For kids his age, Jim Carrey might be the dude who made Steve Carrell mimic him in the Almighty movies. But had it not been for Jim’s Bruce Almighty, the spin-off Evan Almighty would never have happened. But those older ones among us would have known the man as one of comedy’s greats.

RECEIVING the awards at the 2018 Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival.

His filmography contains some of the most popular comedy films, the likes of The Mask, Liar Liar, Ace Ventura and the Dumb and Dumber movies. But he can also effortlessly make people roar with laughter with his hilarious antics and cry at life’s hurts masked in comedy with the movies Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and The Truman Show.

If Carrey in his list is already impressive, Dylan’s all-time idol is even more interesting.

His all-time most favorite is someone probably only a few kids of this generation know — Charlie Chaplin, yes, the one and only golden man of the silent era of movies.

People say a good education starts at home and he can thank his father, a doctor, whom he says also loves the arts. He says it was his father, who loves to doodle and sketch on his doctor’s pad, who made him interested in movies.

Since his father loves comedies, he got to watch a lot of titles. And his admiration for Chaplin was evident during the entire interview.

Like his idol, he wants to be able to do a lot of things.

“If I’d choose one hat, I’d wear a bowler hat, like the one Charlie Chaplin was famous for wearing. I idolize him so much. He was an actor, director and producer. He had his own studio. I want to have my own studio where people can just go and shoot their movies,” he explained.

He has already taken an initiative for the filmmaking community in his own little way. He formed a production house called AliensxAstronauts.

Dylan shared that he has been approached by students who asked him to assist them with their scripts or find sponsors for their projects. He shared he is happy to help the best he can, and founding the production house is one part.

ASIDE from being an actor, Dylan doubles as a director.

Among its past activities was the screening of short films, which is his current forte, in venues he would rent and where interested viewers can watch for free.

“I’m really quite saddened to see short films just staying hidden in our hard drives. And then I thought, ‘Why not compile all the short films that my friends have and I will just screen them in a bar or a location?’ It’s happening. I was able to do it for four months but I fell short with the budget with all the rentals, projector. It’s for free. Every Wednesday night, those who are interested can watch short films for three hours. Sometimes, the audience reaches 50 students,” he recalled.

These days, he is busy with a top-secret streaming series that is targeted for the international audience. He shared that it is “stuff of our childhood dreams.”

He is also back to acting in two entries for the annual CinemaOne Originals filmfest, slated every fourth quarter of the year.

And this kid who lives in a Truman-esque era, mouths a very Truman Burbank vibe.

“Whenever I feel sad or frustrated about work, I watch The Truman Show. There’s something more out of your life. Get out of the studio. There are still a lot of people who can help you and you can still help a lot of people.”