‘Truly, something precious deserves the effort and the investment, just like the rare chance to know Mike de Leon.’
Director-producer Mike de Leon holds a special place in my generation of film enthusiasts and film workers. Actually, as a director he made only a few feature films. The most notable of which were: “Itim,” “Kung Mangarap Ka’t Magising,” “Kakabakaba Ka Ba?”, “Kisapmata,” Batch ’81,” “Sister Stella L.,” “Bayaning Third World.” The last movie he made was 2018’s “Citizen Jake.” De Leon also produced and served as the cinematographer of “Maynila sa Mga Kuko ng Liwanag” of director Lino Brocka.
The general consensus of the industry is that although he was not prolific, de Leon never made a bad film. Each one was noteworthy, elegant; certainly required watching for anyone into Philippine cinema.
Stories circulated about de Leon’s idiosyncrasies. For instance, how he got mad at a writer because the latter hailed him as a candidate for National Artist. Or that he spoke to his German Shepherds in German. Or that he brought a date to the mass graves in Auschwitz. Or that he didn’t want to be called “Direk.” And that he didn’t know what production assistants (PAs) were.
My favorite story about him was his decision to strike his name out of the credits of “Hindi Nahahati ang Langit,” a melodrama about the tense, forbidden love between stepsiblings. According to Charo Santos-Concio, who produced this movie, “I guess Mike was pressured and we didn’t have enough funding at that time. It’s very frustrating for a creative person when resources are limited. One day, he sent word to remove his name in the credits… It was difficult for me to make the call. I said, ‘Well… if that was going to make him happy, Mike and I don’t have to fight over this.”
This anecdote demonstrated de Leon’s conviction, fiery mood and artistic integrity. He wasn’t easy to work with but he was certainly a master of the craft, someone one could learn from.
So when I found out that “Citizen Jake” starring Atom Araullo was going to have its theatrical run, I reached out to de Leon’s friends, production designer Cesar Hernando and cinematographer Ding Achacoso, so I could apply to be the movie’s publicist. My job interview was at de Leon’s home in Quezon City. I don’t remember being formally interviewed but what I thought would be a short meeting turned out to be an hours-long peek into de Leon’s world. He loved chatting. He was into fitness (his home had a swimming pool and a gym). He seemed friendly and relaxed, not the temperamental artist that he was often depicted. And yes, he had big dogs that were being handled by a dog trainer at that time.
“Citizen Jake” ran into problems during the promotion because of the conflict between the director and the star. But we got by. What I would like to take away from that time was that de Leon was kind and gracious to the small group who worked on promoting “Citizen Jake.”
In 2019, when a launch was being planned for a book he was writing, I got called to possibly help with the event. De Leon was easygoing at that time but his passion for the book project was evident. One of the things I was most impressed about him was how he, at 72, learned to use a design software so he could make a layout of what he in mind and show this to the book designer. Clearly, he never wanted to stop learning and be creative.
The last I saw de Leon was in 2023, during the launch of the Blu-Ray box set of eight of his films at UP Film Center. As he was signing the cover of the box set for me, he asked if I bought the set or if I was given a complimentary copy. I replied that I bought it. Truly, something precious deserves the effort and the investment, just like the rare chance to know Mike de Leon.
De Leon passed away last week at the age of 78.
