THE MEGASTAR MARATHON - Part 1 of 3
A L-o-n-g Day In The Life of Miss Mega
by Bayani S. San Diego, Jr., February 13, 2000

Day One - Part One
November 18, 1999
Scene: Somewhere in Sta. Cruz
Exterior, Daytime

In a street corner in the heart of Manila, somewhere in Sta. Cruz, Megastar Sharon Cuneta bravely ventures outside, in the light of day (notwithstanding, the smothering love of MDs--Mad Dashers in celebrity security parlance), to shoot a pivotal scene for her then-untitled reunion movie (Minsan, Minahal Kita) with perennial screen partner Richard Gomez and Madrasta director Olivia Lamasan.

In said scene, Miss Mega is making a call in a public payphone in a makeshift sari-sari store, so much like the ordinary lovestruck and absent-minded woman (named Dianne) she plays. What? You may ask: Hasn't Dianne ever heard of cellphones, pagers, Nextel radios and other clandestine means of communication?

Well, Mr. Genius, that part of the movie is set in '80s, that's why. After shooting under the scorching afternoon sun, the Star Cinema crew packs up and heads off to the next location, also set in the City of Man.

But before hieing off in the airconditioned comforts of her van, Ma'am Mega looks back and waves at the fans gathered on Hizon Street--a handful of whom were not yet born in the decade the movie was set. That's how far-reaching Miss Mega's appeal is. Even '90s kids seem to be on a first-name basis with her.

The new generation of Sharonians chant: "Sharon! Sharon! Sharon!" "It's like being in Folk Arts Theater," Sharon smiles.

Day One - Part Two
Scene: PAL Training Office in Ermita, Manila
Interior, Nighttime

The sun has just set in nearby Manila Bay. In the PAL Training Office in bustling Ermita, the Star Cinema cast and crew (like a bunch of newly awakened vampires) are neck deep in work.

A visitor is greeted by the sight of direk Olive, hunched in front of a wobbly desk (set up by the lobby), dissecting the film's script. All over the PAL office, the production crew labor the night away--laying cables and setting up lights, here, there, everywhere. While talents clad in '80s outfits amble aimlessly all over the place, Miss Mega is quietly having a restful and relaxing time in a PAL executive office that has been hastily converted into a mega-dressing room.

As if part of a quotidian ritual, Mega-Shawie is having a manicure/pedicure from her trusted and longtime girls: Cely and Nida. "They've been doing my nails since I was 14," Sharon introduces the girls.

That finished, she then heartily throws herself into the next task at hand: Dinner.

She is having turbo-broiled chicken--minus the skin and fat, of course. "Tonight is my chicken night," she informs us. Sharon, disciplined and determined, religiously and conscientiously follows her diet. In fact, direk Olive has expressed deep concern (as much for her star's health as for the film's continuity) that Miss Mega might look too slim by the shootings' end.

After dinner break, TF, (that's equally trusted Mega-Stylist Tito Fanny Serrano) enters frame, to begin Shawie's transformation into an '80s woman.

TF waves his magic wand and, minutes later, Sharon emerges from the dressing room, in a pink polo shirt and modish wig.

"TSCS circa 1991," Sharon describes the hairstyle, a stylish, short bob. Co-star Carmina Villarroel (who portrays lesbian half-sister Jackie), is now parading around in her very '80s vest. Memories of Carmina's dreadful ordeal in Manila traffic must be erased and forgotten, as she readies for her dramatic scene with her screen sister.

Direk Olive hands out her motivation tips, like secret passwords to an esoteric club for hurt women. "Think of your own sister, or a friend, who is having personal problems," direk Olive instructs Carmina. "If you get the urge to touch her, to comfort her, feel free to do so."

Direk Olive's instructions to Miss Megastar, who is playing a woman who has just bought a plane ticket to escape from an unhappy marriage, consist of seemingly random one-liners that only Sharon can understand. It's almost as if direk Olive and Sharon are conducting the most intimate of one-on-one conversations--never mind if there are a dozen crew people, not to mention bit players and kibitzers hanging around the set.

The method is akin to madness, really.

Sharon herself avers that an actor's best tool is her own reservoir of emotions--of memories, both happy and sad. "Ordinary people can just forget about painful events in their life," Sharon explains. "Not actors."

Should a scene call for it, hurtful and heartbreaking memories must be conjured up at a moment's notice.

"No wonder some actors end up crazy," Shawie jests. If not loony, at least "over-fatigued" (an oft-abused and misused showbiz term).

By the time the cameras get ready for grinding, it's already close to midnight.

After prepping her actors, direk Olive, like the head Inquisitor (as in tormentor) begins the night's show.

The three most-awaited words of the evening echo in the PAL office: "Motor! Speed! Rolling!"

Sharon and Carmina do their stuff for direk Olive's unflinching camera. Carmina's face is awash with sincere sisterly sympathy. Concern is written all over her face and in the small, gentle gestures. Sharon, on the other hand, is the portrait of a woman on the verge of self-discovery, torn between freedom and responsibility. You can almost see the emotional tug-of-war, the push-and-pull in her eyes. As a number of emotions--confusion, courage, fear, fierceness, restraint, resoluteness--register on her face, you sense a glimmer of hope for Dianne.

Dianne, as interpreted by Sharon, may not be a hopeless, hapless wimp, after all. There is quiet strength in the depths of Dianne's soul. After the first take (that was interrupted by wayward phonecalls and gate-crashing houseflies), the cast and crew take five.

Breaktime.

It's way past midnight. And as PAL ground employees pose for pictures with and ask for autographs from Miss Megastar (one even asked Sharon to sign her stewardess' scarf), it is evident that for Sharon Cuneta, this is not just another ho-hum day at work.

This is one of her most enduring of passions: acting. This is her world. Welcome to Mega-World.

Yes, even a Megastar must take a break from the emotional roller-coaster ride that is a movie shoot.

Between takes, Sharon gets a massage and Carmina cracks jokes--just shooting the breeze, as if it's the most normal profession in the world to stay up late and watch the sun rise as you inhabit lives other than your own.

Sharon takes a stroll down memory lane with production designer Manny Morfe. The mag-kumares are talking about on-the-set memories, specifically of Sa Hirap at Ginhawa. "I love shooting in Baguio," Sharon recalls. "And we only did that movie for 21 calendar days. It's because we had such a small cast."

While everyone is having a (late) midnight snack at three in the morning (except Sharon who is adamantly sticking to her diet), someone suddenly asks direk Olive why she's staring at the wall.

"I'm thinking of ways to edit this scene," direk Olive answers matter-of-factly.

Sharon and Carmina are flabbergasted. As they shoot a scene, their director is already editing the footage in her mind. How's that for fast-forward thinking.

Back to work.

That single scene is repeated half a dozen times, to capture the different angles as well as the various moods, textures and nuances. By the end of the l-o-n-g shoot, dawn is about to break--even the drunken crooners in a nearby videoke joint have called it a night . . . In fact, the sun is already shining when Sharon turns over the wig to stylist Fanny, and the wristwatch and pink polo shirt to production designer Manny.

It's now 6 a.m., Friday morning. When Sharon left her home, it was Thursday morning.

That is why you need not wonder why Sharon is shedding weight oh-so-effortlessly. Her Spartan working schedule seems more rigorous than a Jane Fonda low-impact aerobic session.

Although she wrapped up work at 6 a.m. and got home at 7, she is supposed to be up at lunchtime, to prepare for her record signing day at Tower Records.

Welcome to another day at Mega-World.