The actor-singer Gerald Santos plays challenging role in ‘Mamasapano’

Doing “Mamasapano: Now It Can Be Told” brought a number of challenges to actor-singer Gerald Santos, who essays Christopher Lalan, the lone survivor in the 54th Special Action Force (SAF).Although this was not Santos’ first time to act in an action film, he is nonetheless thankful that he is given another challenging film project. In 2016, he did the docu-action-drama, “Emilio Jacinto: Utak ng Katipunan,” where he played the legendary national figure.

The character that Santos is playing is very controversial, too. He really wanted to talk to Lalan before starting filming. “We went back to Baguio twice to try talk to him, but we were not given a chance,” he disclosed.

Produced by Borracho Films of lawyer Ferdinand Topacio, “Mamasapano,” which is an entry to this year’s Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF), was completed in a span of nearly three years. They started gathering the cast late in 2019 then began principal photography in 2020.

Santos was the first choice for his character in “Mamasapano.” He did not replace any character in the film.

Doing a film like “Mamasapano” is undoubtedly different than acting onstage. “Acting in films is very difficult,” Santos attested. “I did a film last year, ‘Deception,’ with director Joel Lamangan. I learned a lot from him.

Although he has conquered the international stage when he played Thuy in “Miss Saigon” in the UK and the European tour from 2017 to 2019, Santos refuses to rest on his laurels. Late in 2019, he also did the Asian tour of “Sweeney Todd” with Lea Salonga.
“I still want to do and achieve a lot of things,” the 31-year-old Santos insisted. “I’m still relatively young. I want to cement my legacy as an artist. I want to solidify my body of work.”

Santos is set to leave for Denmark to do another run of “Miss Saigon” at the Det Ny Theater in Copenhagen. He needs to speak and sing in Danish. The musical will run from February to June 2023.

He is spending the holidays away from his family.