{"id":326,"date":"2021-09-25T17:37:45","date_gmt":"2021-09-25T17:37:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/philippinefilms.com\/pfsi\/the-elephant-in-the-room\/"},"modified":"2021-09-25T17:37:45","modified_gmt":"2021-09-25T17:37:45","slug":"the-elephant-in-the-room","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philippinefilms.com\/pfsi\/the-elephant-in-the-room\/","title":{"rendered":"Elephant in the Room"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Mara Coson<\/p>\n

“He\u2019s given Marlon Brando his jungle, Tom Cruise his Vietnam, Mel Gibson his Indonesia, and Claire Danes her prison nightmare. Jun Juban has turned the Philippines into every country except itself\u2014until now”<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

IN THE 1989 FILM<\/strong>\u00a0Born on the fourth of July<\/em>, Tom Cruise and Willem Dafoe play veteran soldiers in wheelchairs quarrelling in the Mexican desert.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cYou never fought that war, you weren\u2019t even there, man!\u201d Dafoe shouts at Cruise.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThe fuck you mean I wasn\u2019t there, man?\u201d Cruise yells back.\u00a0\u00a0The characters may have been talking about the Vietnam War \u2013 but the accusations weren\u2019t unfounded: the two actors weren\u2019t in the MEXICAN Desert, they were in Ilocos Norte.<\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThe Philippines has been the chameleon of sorts.\u201d Explains line producer Lopezinio \u201cJun\u201d Juban, Jr. who, for over three decades, has been the location wingman of Hollywood to the Philippine territory \u2013 or at least, territory that the Philippines can duplicate. \u201cIn\u00a0Born on<\/em>\u00a0the Fourth of July,<\/em>\u00a0we were Vietnam and we were Mexico\u201d.<\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Award-winning director Oliver Stone calls him his \u201cFar Eastern Secret.\u201d When Stone won the Oscar for Best Director for\u00a0Born on the Fourth of July<\/em>, Juban recalls, \u201cWe got a deluge of phone calls, then all of a sudden we have another coup d \u00e9tat.\u201d Maneuvering\u00a0\u00a0through unpredictable political environments to house circus after circus of a big budget Hollywood films, Juban is himself like a war veteran Juban\u2019s production house duplicates places like Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, and Columbia without anyone noticing a thing. Imagine trying ti tame the mess of the Philippine in order for the crew to shoot a more idyllic Hollywood-grade-setting-giving green lights through shooting permits, recruiting local film crews, and even sourcing pillows so that A-list celebrities have a good night\u2019s rest.<\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The family business started with Juban\u2019s father, a military man who started out by renting military equipment to film studios,, eventually setting-up a movie gun rental company specializing in supplying blanks that would end up being fired by Fernando Poe Jr. Soon, Hollywood wanted to try their hand with a number of war films wanting to be made.<\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0During the filming of Francis Ford Coppola\u2019s war epic\u00a0Apocalypse Now<\/em>, Juban was a young man tailing beside his brother, Dennis, who had run the show. \u201cHe told me, if Coppola were to ask for a \u201cpink elephant,\u201d you shout \u2018coming!\u2019 and we\u2019d figure it out later.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The real pressure started when, in 1979, his older brother went location scouting with an American director and a British producer, and their helicopter crashed, killing his brother and leaving a \u201cspoiled brat\u201d that no one expected to take over to run the family business. \u201cIt was a challenge. I knew I had a backing of our crew, but at the age you\u2019ve got nothing to lose \u2013 that\u2019s what I always tell my kids \u2013 might as well make mistakes when you\u2019re young.\u201d<\/div>\n
Which luck and daring, he proved himself with his work for director Peter Werner in Don\u2019t Cry, It\u2019s Only Thunder. \u201cThe success of (that) first war film led him onto more projects, including\u00a0Born on the Fourth of July, Platoon<\/em>, a few Chuck Norris films, twelve of 24 Survivor franchises from India to Denmark, and most recently, the recently released summer blockbuster, The Bourne Legacy.<\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0And most of the time, like telling Coppola that the pink elephant is \u201ccoming.\u201d Juban does get things done. \u201cThe closure of Ramon Magsaysay Avenue for Bourne was one hell of a feat.\u201dJuban looks back. A few weeks from shooting, the Bourne producers changed from their back street location to orchestrate a much grander and longer motorcycle scene, eyeing Ramon Magsaysay Avenue. The problem was that it was presidential route and that it was a busy road about a mile and a half long with four intersections. \u201cThey asked me, \u2018Is it possible?\u2019 and I said \u2018Wow.\u201d\u201d But Juban plowed through, and brought back an approval from the Office of the President. \u201cYou always have to stand your ground, being the local guy. They have to believe you when you tell them that \u2018look, we will try\u2019 or it cannot be done.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Bourne Legacy<\/em>\u00a0cast and crew is known to have loved the Philippines so much that Jeremy Renner, Edward Norton, Rachel Weisz and Tony Gilroy even made a special video for the premiere.<\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Does Juban ever get starstruck? \u201cI am but I cannot show it. I guess I developed it throughout the years, that I can look at them straight in the eye and never blink.\u201dHe attributes this poker face to the level of trust and professionalism necessary on set.<\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cSometimes, the bigger ones are the ones that are grounded,\u201d he notes, when prodded about his experiences with celebrities. \u201cThe ones who are up and coming, \u2018yun ang kung minsan problematic.\u2019<\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When we think of celebrity experiences in the Philippines, we think of Claire Danes, who was banned, from the Philippines after saying in an interview that the Philippines \u201csmelled cockroaches, with rats all over and that there is no sewerage systems, and the people do not have anything \u2013 no arms, no legs, no eyes.\u201d Juban, who helped produce the 1999\u00a0Brokedown Palace<\/em>\u00a0starring Danes and Kate Beckinsale, once commented: \u201cI cannot apologize for Ms. Dane\u2019s acerbic tongue. I can only hope she chokes on it.\u201dBut he also believes the issue was blown out of proportion, that the unfavourable review was because EDSA had been impassable at the time, and that she was a shoot of a third world jail cell \u2013 of course there were cockroaches and failed sewerage: it was a set.<\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Most actors and producers, on the other hand, are quite happy with their experiences. Kate Beckinsale, who ultimately became more popular than Danes, was very happy with the Philippines. Even Mel Gibson, whose wife had been pick-pocketed from a while shopping \u2013 all the security had been focused on Mel Gibson \u2013 shrugged the mishap off, saying that it could have happen anywhere. As the Bourne Legacy, Juban commented on how surprised he was that Rachel Weisz was so grounded. \u201cI was telling her. \u2018You know, if you have time, you can bring your kids to the Polo Club, you can even watch some polo games.\u2019 She looked at me and she said, \u2018Polo? \u2018I\u2019m not posh!\u201d<\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But it isn\u2019t being tongue-tied in front of celebrities that Juban stays on his feet for, it is how tied his career has been to political stability. Measures need to be made, after all, to ensure all the \u201ccrazy\u201d happens only within the film, with blank guns and special effects, and not by dictators and rioters outside of it. If a political film based in a country like Vietnam can\u2019t be made, it can be made in the Philippines, and vice-versa. The Philippines got Year of the\u00a0Living Dangerously<\/em>\u00a0instead of Indonesia because the film was about Sukarno regime (but since it was filmed in a Muslim compound, even actor Mel Gibson received death threats during filming). The Philippines lost Rambo when Ninoy Aquino was assassinated right before Stallone was about to give the location a final go-ahead.<\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In the middle of producing the 1986 Vietnam War film\u00a0Platoon,<\/em>\u00a0Marcos had fled the country a week before they were about to shoot. \u201cThat was crazy because the contracts and the permits that you had were done by the past regime. So overnight, you had to make sure that our contracts would be honoured. Fortunately, it was, or Platoon would not have been made at all.\u201d When the film came back to Hollywood, it earned Stone multiple Academy and Golden Globe awards.<\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When Juban filmed the six-hour HBO miniseries turned television film about the People Power Movement,\u00a0A Dangerous Life<\/em>, Juban and crew got sued out of the country. Someone had issued a temporary restraining order against them, forcing them to complete the film in Sri Lanka. \u201cCan you just imagine, it\u2019s about the Philippines and when we were doing the People Power scene I had in front of me a thousand Sri Lankans who instead shouting \u2018Cory, Cory\u2019 were shouting \u2018Curry, Curry\u2019?\u201d<\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0While the Philippines was a popular location for Southeast Asian-based plots in the 80\u2019s and the 90\u2019s, we lost our polish due to political instability, Causing Thailand\u2019s leapfrog as the new go-to. It is only now that we are re-entering the consciousness of Hollywood producers as a viable place \u2013 perhaps this time around, not merely a makeshift Vietnam fields but the Philippines as the Philippines.<\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cIf you film in Thailand, you see the temples. If you film in Bali \u2013 you see their roofs.\u201d Juban laments that this is the weakness of the Philippines and something that he is working towards \u2013 so the Manila won\u2019t be a place to duplicate other places, but be a place whose setting is itself. \u201cYou see McDonald\u2019s signs \u2013 we\u2019re too modernizing in a way \u2013 you don\u2019t see the culture. So it\u2019s really rare to use Manila as Manila.\u201d<\/div>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0But things are looking up. Following Bourne Legacy and two upcoming projects \u2013 one blockbuster and one reality show \u2013 the world will once again see Manila as Manila, and the Philippines as something else entirely. The pink elephants are coming.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Mara Coson “He\u2019s given Marlon Brando his jungle, Tom Cruise his Vietnam, Mel Gibson his Indonesia, and Claire Danes her prison nightmare. Jun Juban has turned the Philippines into every country except itself\u2014until now”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"two_page_speed":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/philippinefilms.com\/pfsi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/philippinefilms.com\/pfsi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/philippinefilms.com\/pfsi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philippinefilms.com\/pfsi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philippinefilms.com\/pfsi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/philippinefilms.com\/pfsi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/philippinefilms.com\/pfsi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philippinefilms.com\/pfsi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philippinefilms.com\/pfsi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}