. . .FIREBERT

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

A very respected adopted friend is no more..Joop Kroesen RIP.

Last week he died, almost 82. He was the first adoptee I ever heard of. Well, we didn't use the word adopted at that time, in the 1930's no one knew that word yet. We called it 'accepted'. Some 80 years ago a little Indonesian boy lost his parents and was raised by a family ( I don't know if there was a relationship). I wasn't born yet, my parents not even married when this happened. Broken families, women being pregnant before marriage, divorces, it was something out of the common. Specially in a small town in the country, I think at that time there were some 3000 inhabitants or less, so everybody knew everything about everybody. Accepting this child and taking care of it was one thing. What else was different? Well, these people were Gypsies, there home had 4 wheels and was moved by a horse. They were collecting patato pealings (to feed their pigs), old clothes and old metals . I believe they were sharpening knives and scissors as well. And this little boy of theirs came along. The next 20 years or so they gained respect and friendship from all inhabitants, they were honest and friendly and managed to have their own home after some time. In his early 20's this boy got married (I'm not sure if she was a gypsy-girl cos she had a Dutch name). About that time my parents were married as well and I was born. Not much later little Gypsy kidds were born as well. I grew up with them and they became my best friends. When they enrolled at school they started to use their original family name. They were well knows as the 'Verstappen family' so we had to get used to the 'new' Kroesen name. They had their junkyard in the middle of town and whenever you needed some piece a pipe or an old wheel to repair your bike, it was found over there. It really became a family busyness and they did very well. Their home had no more wheels but a foundation, they had motorized transportation and even had several cars !! They made a living of stuff that was thrown away by others and they became one of the most respected families in my hometown. And that was because they had a heart, compassion, love and respect for others. Nobody was envious or jealous at them, no, on the contrary !!! Both the old Gypsy parents and now their accepted son are gone, but I will always remember them as one of the nicest people I ever met and I hope ( I'm pretty sure) that their grandchildren will follow their steps and remain the nice people they always were.

Joop Kroesen ( Verstappen)
Knight of Orange Nassau !!
Rest in peace.

Saturday, September 5, 2009

A tribute to Henry Strzalkowski

Raphael Shultz, me, Steve Rogers, Bill Kipp and Henry.

Can't go around this guy you know. I've been working for Henry Strzalkowski in almost all the movies on my filmography...Henry was where the action was, tell you.... In the local Pinoy productions with Cirio Santiago, Bobby Suarez or Teddy Page, but also with the international hot-shots, Canon production, shooting with Chuck Norris, David Carradine, Charly Sheen, Tom Cruise, Willem Dafoe... and a lot more. A great guy to work with and I'm happy to say we're still in contact on FB.
btw. he seems to have a nice singing voice..??

By Rome Jorge, They are heard round the world. They are the voices of the biggest kung fu stars of Hong Kong and the most memorable anime characters from Japan. Audiences in America, Europe, Asia and Africa know their lines by heart. And they aren’t even in the credits. Filipinos have been dubbing films into English for decades. Now, one company reveals the workings of this lucrative business.

Jeremy Domingo and Henry Strzalkowski reveal one it takes to be the voice of the stars.

Generations of Filipinos have grown up with fond memories of their work, most especially for animation. “I started in 1979 with Questor. In Voltes V, I was Dr. Armstrong. I was the voice of Rick and Professor Yurgen in Daimos,” Strzalkowski recalls his work for seminal anime television series.

For his part, Domingo has helped introduce today to the latest cartoon characters. “I was Piccolo on Dragon Ball for about a season or two. And there was another animation called Raijin Oh, a couple of series was lasted only for about a season or two,” he reveals.

Domingo and Strzalkowski are among the many Filipinos responsible for the great improvement in the dubbing of Hong Kong films—once the fodder of jokes. Their involvement coincided with the renaissance of Chinese movies. Strzalkowski contributed his talents to such critically acclaimed movies as Infernal Affairs (2002), later remade by Hollywood as Martin Scorsese’s The Departed (2006). Domingo recalls working for Hong Kong blockbusters starring Jet Li and Sammo Hung. Today, there is still much dubbing work for the catalog of film companies, be they grind house flicks or cinema classics.

But most of this work goes on unsung. “It was kind of funny that how it comes back without knowledge that it was a Pinoy product,” says Domingo.

Voice acting

Like most dubbers, Domingo and Strzalkowski are theater actors who can take on various accents that their roles require. More than just reading lines and adopting voices, they are acting out part.

“I’ve been a professional theater actor since 1990, as part of Repertory Philippines. We did a lot of American and British comedies. When you do a Neil Saimon comedy—the dynamics of the language, the humor, the timing—it has to be original. I also did a lot of stiff upper lip British roles,” Domingo recalls.

Strzalkowski notes, “There was a time when it came as a second nature to us, especially the American accents.

It also helps having been exposed to various cultures.

Domingo reveals, “Apart from a childhood’s spent watching too much TV and movies [it’s also because] I’m a diplomatic brat. I lived in Hawaii, California, Germany, where I really had a lot of exposure two different accents growing up and doing the material that we did.”

Strzalkowski, the son of a Polish expatriate and Filipina, notes that he studied in local international schools where picked up on a lot of accents.

More than just reading lines

Dubbing means more than just reading off a literal translation. It means reworking the script to capture nuances and humor as well as syncing the syllabication to the film actor’s mouth. Being a dubber necessitates becoming a scriptwriter as well.

“You do get a rough translation. But you have to the translate the lines to make sense. I think preparing a script is one of the most time-consuming tasks,” confesses Domingo.

“One of the demands and challenges is keeping the scripts of today because you are, that’s one of the components that you need. One of the major components in dubbing is having a workable script. If your dubbing for about 4-5 episodes, you have 7-8 dubbers doing that, then your script writers have to keep up with that demand. And that’s actually one of the most challenging things to do. Getting the scripts done,” he explains.

“A script for a full featured takes about five days or a week,” adds Strzalkowski.

Curiously, these Filipino voice actors admit that the hardest language to dub is Tagalog.

“Tagalog into English is peculiarly tough. Chinese and Spanish, and maybe Japanese are the bulk of material that dubbers do. If the character says ‘hindi,’ the English translation is ‘no.’ That’s two syllables versus one,” Domingo explains.

Speaking business

Besides being an acclaimed theater actor, Domingo is president and artistic director of Word of Mouth Productions, which is involved in theater productions as well as dubbing.

He notes that the market is ripe: “It has expanded with DVDs. With a direct video market, you have different buyer. Just like the American film making industry for instance, not everything is going be for mainstream cinema. There are different target audiences. There are a lot of people who were shooting a wide variety of material because of the Indies exposure too. Anyone with the digital camera can become a filmmaker now.”

He adds, “Actually, apart from movies, there are a lot of TV series that are dubbed. The nation’s soap operas, there are telenovelas, chinovelas, koreanovelas, etc.”

Jeremy Domingo reveals how he plans to stay on top despite the global recession that has affected the movie industry: “I think it’s really just a matter of rolling with the punches. We’re grateful for the experiences we had. Gaining the experience, growing up in the industry and it’s time to put something together. I mean the market place is always evolving. When compared for 15 years ago, the dubbing industry is now pretty big. There are lots of people who we know that do it full time. The market changes here and abroad.”

Word of Mouth Theater is located at 6678 Taylo Street, Barangay Pio Del Pilar, Makati City. For details, call +63917-8963080, +63908-6214855, +632-4894819 or email jeremy_domingo@yahoo.com and wordofmouththeater.philippines@gmail.com.

Monday, August 31, 2009

Visitors, a wedding, a revolution and two films. Equalizer 2000, SILK.

A big party was about to begin. Butch Romualdez' youngest brother Danny was going to get married with his Jacky. I knew both of them very well and visited them quite often in their place in Biak na Bato, Danny loved to come over to Cavite and enjoyed eating oysters . He also had some plans with a piece of land he owned near Naic and didn't mind smoking a joint at the beach with me.

I was invited to attend the consummation of their wedding at thursday june 27, 1985 early in the morning at 9.00 AM. Aunty Imelda would be a sponsor and eye catcher at that event and I didn't mind being part of it..

The weatherman had promised us a nasty day with lots of rain and wind. I didn't want to show up late and spent the night before in Manila at Dante par Pasia's place in Sampaloc, near the university of Sto. Thomas. He was a good friend of the family and invited as well to witness the wedding in the beautiful cathedral of San Augustin in Intramuros. Manila was flooded but we managed to get to the church in time in Dantes' VW-beetle.

The reception afterwards would be in the Plaza Hotel, of course in the Leyte-ballroom...!

At this reception at Roxas Blvrd, Imelda asked Danny about the white guest on one of the tables, he told her I was a 'famous' Dutch actor and stuntman and had become a friend of the family thru Butch in the Netherlands.

A civilized nod in my direction confirmed my existence to her. Once in awhile there was a glimpse of a smile when our eyes crossed, well, I was a lot younger than George Hamilton, :D.

I nodded friendly as well with a snigger....

Danny and I ..

It was a beautiful service, good music and a lot of food. The bride was gorgeous and shining, Danny in heaven. I had a nice day.

Imelda and her husband Ferdinand were close to the end of their imperium, another 8 months and the curtain would fall after this chapter. The Ninoy Aquino assassination at MIA airport triggered a revolution resulting in a Corazon Aquino (RIP) victory in '86.

It came with political instability, protesting people all over the country and the end was near. The people's power revolution, that's how they called it. In Manila the combat-units were posted on every strategical street corner and once in awhile a few rounds were fired in the air to keep everybody awake...Man that was action. I followed the news on TV and didn't go to Manila unnecessarily.

I had indwells for some time already. A friend of mine from the Netherlands whom I kept in touch with since I came to the PI, had reacted to my invitation to come over and stay for the holidays. She had written me the date of her arrival at MIA and I was there to pick her up, just after we finished shooting the American Ninja. I was surprised to see that she had brought her 10 year old daughter with her. When I spotted her at the gate I smiled at her, but she didn't react very happy. Instead of an enthusiastic hug she put her head on my shoulder and started to cry. Flabbergasted I asked if they had had such a bad flight and if she got sick ? None of that. Her latest relation in Holland had stranded and capsized. Her ex-friend had bought both of them a one-way ticket to Manila and handed her US$100,- at Schiphol, Amsterdamned .....!!

All of a sudden I had to regulate all kinds of family matters. I didn't mind having them as my guests for a while, but I understood there wasn't such a planning of going back to NL whatsoever. My invitation wasn't meant thát way, to be frank...

I had plans to return to Holland for a month or so to visit my father, and was about to move to another barrio on the other side of the river. I had a lot of friends over there already and wanted to build my own nippa hut.***

Ellen and Thea came down to my place and spent some 3 or 4 months in the barrio. Ellen wanted to see more of the country and decided to find a place in Manila with her daughter. Dante was a mutual friend of ours and after finding a job in a reflexology-centre in Sampaloc she moved to his place.

I didn't mind having more privacy. I could move my ass in any direction I wanted now, ahhh freedom....

All seemed to go smoothly when the threatening revolution fucked up. Apparently the coverage of this story reached Holland and alarmed Ellen's mom. She contacted me to have her daughter and granddaughter evacuated. I thought it a great idea, but Ellen absolutely ignored this opportunity to go home. Granny partially succeeded when her daughter agreed to send Thea back home. She asked me to join and guard the little girl on her trip to Holland, she'ld pay for the tickets. I decided to adjust my plans and to accept the offer.

Dante, interested in politics and journalism handed me a manifest, signed by several of his friends and colleagues to tell about the circumstances in the Philippines and find political support for the peoples power revolution against Marcos, not knowing the whole thing would end in 4 days only.........

Through the Dutch embassy we were able to get our tickets and could leave instantly. It seemed to take forever to reach the airport by taxi, everywhere shouting and yelling people, gunfire again , crowded streets. I didn't feel comfortable, Thea was crying....

----

Manila International Airport was a madhouse. A lot more military than visitors. Most of the desks were closed. Only one counter was opened, everybody was checked carefully and we could enter the gate to board our plane. At that time all counters had closed. Nobody could leave anymore. Nervous soldiers didn't know exactly what to do and were awaiting their last orders. We were the last to board the plane. MIA was closed. Our captain kept us informed about the latest developments in Manila. A majority of the military top had joined the revolution. Marcos and his relatives were entrenched in the Malacañang Palace.

'Malacañang'

It would last for 4 days. Up to the very last moment the dictator was addressing 'his' people thru his private TV-channel, until someone unplugged it and Ferdinand had to admit he had lost the 'case'.

Exited I followed the whole situation when I arrived in the Netherlands. So I learned Marcos fled to Honolulu Hawaii, by helicopter, believed to carry a load of gold. Leaving no place for Imelda's shoes.... Marcos died in exile in 1989. Imelda went back into politics and still has a lot of influence in the Visayas. She was chosen the prettiest girl of Leyte in '53 and was called 'The Rose of Tacloban'. That name changed into 'The Iron Butterfly' when she became first lady of the PI.

When the Marcos family fled Malacañang the lady left behind nearly 900 handbags, 500 gowns and over 1050 pairs of shoes !!!!

For me this revolution came inconvenient for 2 reasons.

First: My father enjoyed his stay in the Phils. so much he wanted to settle down in this warmer climate as a retiree. When I entered this subject one evening when having a smoke with Danny and a beer with Dante, Danny answered with his low bass: See what we can do about that !
Maybe it was a coincidence, but not much later the first lady started a program to facilitate the immigration of foreign retirees ..
The program was in progress but not started yet. Then someone suggested my father to be the first person to join this program so he got high-lighted. An awesome idea, I liked it. Even more when I was asked to promote the retiree-program in Holland.

Those years the name Romualdez opened doors to the Philippine Embassy and commercial attachés in Rotterdam and The Hague and I got all the support I wanted.
Then the revolution thwarted the whole plan.

Second : Marcos was a sick man and the family was said to be interested in my ways of healing, fuck that !!!! I mean, how many time would one get the opportunity to have a president as a patient, be fair. I liked the idea of having a 'healthy' bank account. Dreams only, all of it. The revolution made that impossible. In the meantime my old man got pretty ill and needed a major surgery due to colon cancer so his schedul had changed a bit as well I tell you.

-- --

Anyway, back in Holland I decided to enjoy the Dutch spring and stay for a couple of months but I had problems to accustom to western culture again and I went homesick. I sustained for about a month then I returned to the action

----

I needed a few days to recover from the jet-lag, but then I headed for Manila, curious to see the changes that came with the Aquino office. Nothing much seemed to have changed. OK, I had to get used to the names in the new government heading the newspapers.

The Metcalfs were happy to see me but couldn't offer me a job for the moment, well Cirio had something going on and Henry was his AD again. They had me going in Equalizer 2000, I needed to play a crooks type, hé easy what ?

It was another movie with a lot of unexplained action and special fxs. There was one little scene however I won't forget. There's a small tree blocked in the frame and it's suppose to be blasted to parts right on action. Cameras are rolling and Cirio shouts 'Action', We do our thing but the tree still stands. It was prepared and fixed with a small piece of wood. The firecracker they used to have the job done wasn't strong enough. A smaller shelf was prepared and everybody went back to nr. one. But this tree had a sense of humor. ...There was the routine: cameras rolling, sound...and before the word action was there, the little tree surrendered and fell down without any help from the outside. I wasn't the only one pissing my pants, even Cirio who just revealed a beautiful 'Putanginamo', couldn't cover a grin. I think the third take made it a 'copy'. I had a lot of background action, got shot and blown away numerous times. It's not my kinda movie but I know there are a lot of lovers.

Another Cirio-film and Premier production had it's cameras rolling. I invited Ellen to the set and introduced her to Cirio. I knew he loved a western cast in his films and I was right. He had a deployment for her. It were the same ol' guys again. Nick Nicholson, Joonee Gamboa, Don Gordon Bell, David Light and Henry of course

We were about to shoot: "Silk”.

I am the driver in the blue stuntcar. A camera is mounted at the bonnet.

I'm following someone, there's a sandy path, they shoot at me and a window is shot to pieces, finally I 'park' my car against a huge object and it explodes...

To have the window shattered a catapult was used to break the glass. It sounded a real bullet when it hit the glass, it all had to be done in one take, otherwise they needed another car.

Ellen was an extra, running in a crowd and they were shot at. Nervous to her first time, she managed to stumble within ten yards or so and went down, face first. She lost her glasses, couldn't find it ( minus 10 !!) and finally stepped on it breaking the frame in two. Almost blind she finds a way out, holding her broken glasses in one hand and wiping the sweat from her face with the other, showing a desperate glance . Exactly what the cameras wanted to see. She never ever showed up on any movie set again.

This action film from prolific Filipino director Cirio Santiago stars Cec Verrell as tough cop Jennie ("Silk"), who works for the Honolulu police. A series of murders has the police baffled, so Silk is called in to help uncover the culprits. Her sleuthing leads to several shoot-outs and evidence that incriminates one of the cops. Connected to the deaths are gangland figures and the ugly business of selling fake identities.