After portraying challenging and award-winning roles on TV and the big screen, Urian award best actress winner Janine Gutierrez will take on the role as producer for the first time in the documentary about her Mamita Pilita Corrales, that she is completing next year.

Although she’s busy with taping for her newest series, “Lavender Fields,” Janine has started working on the documentary which she plans to release next year.

“We started filming snippets about Mamita, the last one was her 85th birthday (last August 22),” Janine said. “We gathered together on her birthday. We want to include that so the people will know who is really Mamita behind her ‘Asia’s Queen of Songs’ title.

“We want to show how is she as a singer, a mother and lola, how she is behind the scenes. What many people don’t really know.”

They are now gathering Pilita’s archives, from ABS-CBN, her films in the past, her performances, her rise to being a top singer and being “Asia’s Queen of Songs.”

“Mamita’s life is really inspiring and I want to share that to the Filipino people,” Janine said. “Even her love life is included in the docu. We will interview a lot who became connected to her life through the years. We will talk to a lot of people.

“A lot of her files in her archives in San Juan house were destroyed by the Typhoon Ondoy. We are not rushing anything. I know it will be a long process.

“We need to gather a lot of files. I just want to work on the legacy of Mamita and present the documentary on the right time.”

Janine wants to present an encompassing coverage of Pilita’s life, the important moments that happened to her as an artist who performed in other countries, like Australia and the US.

“There are really docus which I like, like Celine Dion’s which showed her life, how she started, her struggles, how her life is today,” Janine said. “I think when the people know about Mamita’s life, they will really be interested. That is inspiring.

Also working on the project is documentary film director Baby Ruth Villarama (“Sunday Beauty Queen”).

Meanwhile, Janine is undoubtedly challenged with her new contravida role as Iris in “Lavender Fields,” where she gets to work with equally competent co-stars.

“I always think about the things which make me mad to achieve the Iris character,” said Janine. “My co-stars have all been helpful.

“Kami ni Echo (Jericho Rosales), we even did a workshop together. We play husband and wife in the series. We don’t have sweet moments. We despise each other. We just need to make our relationship strong. ‘Yun ang hugot ni Iris.”

The workshop really helped and they were able to discuss their respective characters from the start.

“On our first day, they made me wear a bikini and Echo and I already had a kissing scene together,” Janine shared. “We also had a fight scene. They wanted to establish our relationship as a couple.

“We talked about our roles to help our portrayals. More of familiarity so we don’t look awkward on the set since it’s our first time to work together.”

In the beginning, Janine started doing a number of takes for her Iris character. She was advised by her director not to display her vulnerability for her role.

The scenes with Jodi Sta. Maria as Jasmine, who became the mistress of Tyrone (Echo), were initially hard for Janine

“They even talked to me that my face looked really tame,” Janine said. “When that happened, even during lunch break, I avoided smiling so they will not see me happy and smiling.

“At the start, I didn’t know if what I was doing was right. Should I call Ate Ana Feleo because that’s what I do to help me in my characterization? I wasn’t sure if I did my scenes right.

“So when ‘Lavender Fields’ started airing, and I saw that the bosses were happy, I was so relieved.”