Encyclopedic film knowledge
On the other hand, filmmaker and film scholar Nick Deocampo said, “It is hard to say goodbye to someone who has endeared himself to his admirers with his films. It was raining hard yesterday when I first knew about Mike de Leon’s passing, as if the heavens too were mourning. Mike was a gifted artist with a Midas touch turning every film he made into a unique cinematic experience. I am glad I met him and knew a little more of the legend. But while he has left the physical world, his films remain and he will always be remembered.”
Filmmaker Robert Quebral wrote a lengthy post a day after De Leon’s passing, including their last conversation.
“The last time I heard from Direk Mike was when he shared news about his medical condition and it wasn’t good. ‘We’re here for you, Direk — stay strong — sending positive vibes,’ I said. ‘Enough about me,’ he quipped, then asked me why I left the country for good. He also wondered if I was still involved in cinema. I said I wanted to raise my family in a safer environment that’s why I moved to Canada. Had to wear a different hat making a living in a foreign land. Got sidetracked but still hopeful I’d be able to find my way back to what he and I both loved: filmmaking. He gets it and blames the political situation in the country as the culprit for the migration of minds. He said he missed Cesar Hernando, a very important artistic collaborator who did the production design in most of his films. He said Cesar treated him as a friend and not as an icon whenever they talked. Something that he doesn’t feel when communicating with the younger generation,” he started.
He continued: “Having Mike de Leon as a mentor was being at the receiving end of a stream of encyclopedic film knowledge. It felt like you were learning from a master like Stanley Kubrick, a filmmaker he greatly admired. The things we learned from him in a span of one year were more than what you can probably get in four years of film school. He prepped like no other. He devoted LVN’s film laboratory to the series of tests we made and drilled in our minds the importance of knowing which lens focal length to use for certain shots and at which F-stop a consistent plane of focus could be achieved. This was just the technical side of things. Script, storyline, philosophy and other intangibles at the core of the project required endless hours of conversation inside his war room in LVN, an exercise we enjoyed because we were learning from one of the brightest minds in the movie industry.
“Outside of filmmaking, I’ve known Mike to be a renaissance man. He was an avid classical guitarist. At one point he was able to perform parts of Concierto de Aranjuez before an audience. He could speak German because he studied in Heidelberg before becoming a filmmaker. He was also a great cook and a certified gourmet. He raised the most impressive German Shepherds I’ve ever seen and he treated them like his own children.
“Of course, we’ve all heard about his infamous temper and volatility, which betrayed him at times. But all is forgiven because just like what was said about Beethoven: how can you hate a man whose mind has given us films like Itim, Kisapmata, Batch ‘81, Sister Stella L, Kung Mangarap Ka at Magising and Kakabakaba Ka Ba?”
To be without him
Filmmaker Jay Altarejos remembered how De Leon extended solidarity concerning a problem. “ I don’t think I had the chance of meeting Mike de Leon,” he said. “But when Walang Kasarian ang Digmang Bayan had an issue with a festival, he reached out to me and offered his support. Such empathy from a great director. Kisapmata is on my top 10 films along with Himala. Salamat sa inspirasyon, Direk Mike!”
Actor Fernando Josef, who heads Tanghalang Pilipino, thanked him for his support of a project: “Mike, thank you very much for the friendship, for your generosity and heartwarming all-out support and sincere wishes for the success of Tanghalang Pilipino’s version of your classic Kisapmata. We will remember you forever. ”
Actor Audie L. Gemora recalled being cast as an extra in Batch ’81: “Not many know that he was my film teacher in DLSU Com Arts. I did my OJT doing production work for his award winning film Batch ‘81. During the shoot of the talent show sequence (done in the San Agustin gym), he instructed me to go up the stage and play the emcee. If you blink you’ll miss this shot. But for an impressionable young theater actor it was an unforgettable experience. Mike is one of Philippine cinema’s greats. He will live on thru his masterworks.”
For film producer Chuck Gutierrez, De Leon “defined what it means to be a Filipino filmmaker.”
“As director, writer, cinematographer, editor, and producer, he set the standard and showed the world the depth of the Filipino spirit. His films remain timeless testaments to truth, courage, and the soul of our nation,” he declared. “Generations of artists will forever draw strength and inspiration from his vision. Thank you, Mike, for your life and your work that shaped us all. Rest in power, my hero.”
Writer Ian Rosales Casocot considers De Leon as his favorite Filipino film director, “rightfully seen as our country’s Stanley Kubrick for the way he tackled all kinds of genres and made them bear his mark.”
“I know he had a reputation for being difficult and ornery, but I wish those things can be transcended and he be given a distinction truly and rightfully his: a National Artist for Cinema,” he wrote.
“I don’t know what to do anymore today. He must have fired me half a dozen times. And each time I saw a film of his I knew I deserved it,” reacted writer Angelo “Sarge” Lacuesta upon hearing the news.
“To answer the question ‘What is Mike de Leon to Philippine cinema’ is to ask what it would not have been without him,” he emphasized.
