It’s 10 a.m. on a sleepy Wednesday morning at the Spirits Library in Poblacion. The lights are dim, the bar is dry, and the WiFi isn’t cooperating. We’re waiting for Aga Muhlach to show up for his cover shoot.
When he was informed of the call time the night before, he immediately said he would not make it on time. He’d just gotten off filming a movie and promoting another, and badly needed some rest.
Aga comes in at around 10:30 a.m. and brings with him a whirlwind of charm and charisma. He greets everyone with a smile. He shakes the hands of his makeup artist. He jokes around with anyone who’ll listen. He gives a blushing assistant a birthday kiss on the cheek. He says he’s excited to do this shoot. Suddenly, we all are.
PHOTO: E.S.L. Chen
Post a Comment
Suit by Massimo Dutti, shirt by Original Penguin
At 50 years old, Aga comes off as every bit the boy-next-door he was back in the '80s, when he had his star-making turn as Adie in Bagets. He was 14 then. Behind the scenes, it sometimes feels like he still is.
In front of the camera, however, he tells a different story. There’s a focus in his eyes that’s almost unnerving as he moves through poses; an intense desire to present something far from familiar. He’s co-directing this shoot, in a way, taking cues from our photographer and then mixing things up on his own.
He stares at a mirror for one of the shots and tries on different expressions to see what sticks. Contempt. Congeniality. Frustration. Furtiveness. It’s a full-on performance, but laced with enough genuine vulnerability to make the act of observing him feel mildly voyeuristic.
ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOW
For a moment, as he stands tenuously on a sofa on the second floor, he breaks. Our phones are all pointed at him, documenting the behind-the-scenes experience. He asks us if we could stop looking for a second; he isn’t used to all this attention in person. A few seconds later, he makes a joke of the whole thing and resumes his work.
Some of us put our phones away for good.
PHOTO: E.S.L. Chen
Post a Comment
Shirt by Ben Sherman
After the shoot, it’s clear that there’s some inertia from whatever emotions he tapped into. He chews gum throughout our interview. He fidgets. He smokes.
“I don’t really know how to prepare,” Aga says when asked how he normally gets ready for a role. “I think my being nervous, and yung anxiety, is what makes me prepared.”
It’s the first question we ask, and the answer isn’t quite what we were expecting.
This is, after all, Aga Muhlach. The man who’s made millions of women swoon for his characters, who made us laugh with him on every episode of Oki Doki Doc, who inspired countless kids to do a little song-and-dance for one more piece of fried chicken. He’s an institution unto himself in Philippine showbiz.
And he is insecure.
The candor with which he speaks about it is disarming. “Every time I do a movie, it’s like, ‘Oh my God, what am I gonna do?’,” he continues. “‘Kaya ko pa ba? Will this still work?’”
CONTINUE READING BELOW
watch now
It’s an issue that’s plagued him throughout his career. Aga had more or less fallen into stardom at an early age. At the time, it seemed natural for him to enter showbiz—his aunt, Amalia Fuentes, was the Philippines’ answer to Elizabeth Taylor, and his cousin, Niño Muhlach, was one of the ’70s’ biggest child stars.
His father, producer Alvaro Muhlach, provided him with an easy entry into film, he says. “He was like, ‘Oh, there's this movie. You wanna do it? Halika, you do it.’”
PHOTO: E.S.L. Chen
Post a Comment
Blazer by Perry Ellis, shirt by Ben Sherman
It was all fun and games at first, and Aga’s the first to admit it. He didn’t quite understand what the challenges of working in the entertainment industry would really be like, nor did he have any concept of the responsibilities that were tied with a showbiz career. All that changed when Bagets turned him into a matinee idol virtually overnight.
“It really changed my world and my entire pagkatao,” he shares. “It just changed me from that normal kid playing sa kalye—holen, kanal, tex, lahat—and then all of a sudden you're like, you're up there! It was a lead role and it was big, so I was like, ‘Wow, what the hell is happening?’”
It was a lot for a 14-year-old to handle. For the next few years of his life, Aga would have to deal with the pressures of growing up in the spotlight. As he went on an incredibly prolific run during the rest of his teens, with more than 20 films in a span of just six years, he’d regularly find his inner life in tumult.
ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOW
“I went through hard times, many times in my life. People don't know that anymore,” he says, without a trace of shame or wistfulness in his voice. “They always wanna see the good. And as actors also, you try to show them also what's good. I never talked about my past because it's done.”
“Everything you do when you're a teenager is for attention, really. You want to introduce yourself to the world. Parang ‘I'm sikat, I'm rich, I'm like this, I'm like that, I belong,’ and then you realize you don't. It's all insecurities. Insecurities, insecurities, insecurities.”
PHOTO: E.S.L. Chen
Post a Comment
Jacket by Perry Ellis, T-shirt and jeans by Massimo Dutti
Aga managed to sort things out in his early 20s, mostly by learning to accept the fact that constantly comparing himself to others would mean constantly losing a battle that was never healthy to fight in. All it would ever do is make him lose sight of his joys.
“There's always someone better than you. There's always someone richer than you. Someone smarter than you. Someone [better]-looking than you. Someone sexier than you. So it’s okay.”
“It's okay,” he repeats, as though he were reminding himself.
“Once you learn to realize and accept and know that, then you're okay. Madami kasing tao, people who live for what people will say. I see that. Now, I see that a lot. It's sad because if you do things for people, you live for what they're gonna say? ‘I gotta dress this way so people will think I'm rich?’ ‘I've gotta act this way, gotta have this car, gotta have this watch?’ You forget the real you. The happiness you really want.”
As is the case with nearly everybody, the insecurity never really left him in spite of this revelation. He still can’t explain why he became such a heartthrob. He doesn’t display any of the awards he’s won over the course of his storied career; in fact, he doesn’t even know where most of them are. He thinks that posting more about his personal life on social media would be, in his words, “kapal muks” of him.
What he has gotten better at, however, is dealing with all those insecurities as they come, and it’s currently manifesting as a renaissance in his career.
Aga had just wrapped up shooting on Miracle in Cell Number 7—a localized remake of the award-winning Korean film of the same name—just three days prior, and had also recently finished going on a promotional run for his indie thriller Nuuk. Both films feature him in roles far removed from the boy-next-door image his career trajectory thus far has cultivated. In the former, he plays a prisoner with an intellectual disability desperate to reunite with his young daughter. In the latter, he’s an overseas worker who vanishes amid mysterious circumstances, hinting at a darkness hidden within his personal history.
ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOW
He’d chosen these projects precisely because the stories they told were so different from the majority of films in his portfolio. At the time the offers came in, he’d been away from the industry for six years—a lifetime for performers who hadn’t had the privilege of his longevity. He wanted his comeback to be more than just another series of onscreen romances.
“Sabi ko, parang, puro love story lang ginagawa ko. I stopped for six years, tapos babalik ako, love story na naman. Eh hindi naman ako bata na. Parang mahirap nang gumawa ng basta-bastang love story. And the movies that they were sending, the scripts were like, ‘I've done this many times.’ You read one line, ‘I've said this already!’” he tells us.
“Kahit ako, as a fan, parang kung sa tagal ko na sa industriya, kung gagawa ako ng pelikula na pareho lang nakikita nila, parang nakakasuka na. ‘’Yan na naman ang gagawin niya? Yan na naman?’ Di na ako maniniwala diyan. Ayokong bolahin yung sarili ko talaga.”
PHOTO: E.S.L. Chen
Post a Comment
Jacket by Perry Ellis, T-shirt and jeans by Massiimo Dutti
He stresses, however, that the desire to tell newer stories doesn’t stem from a place of personal ambition, but from a desire to just be good at his job. More than anything, it’s the audience he considers when he selects his projects, and he firmly believes that viewers are hungry for something new.
“I always think of my audience in all the films I do. Like, how would they react? Like, will people want to see me doing this? And if not, then I won't do it. I won't do it for myself, in terms of acting, in terms of movies. You want your movies na pinapanood ng tao, so bakit ka gagawa ng pelikula na walang kwenta, pero as an actor, satisfied ka? But yung viewers mo, hindi? What's the point?”
“I'm not that artist,” he continues, again with remarkable candor. “Kasi may magsasabi na, ‘No, that's your art. Dapat wala kang pakialam [sa gusto ng audience].’ I'm like, ‘No! I value my audience. They pay!’ I want them entertained when they watch this. They don't get bored. They laugh. They cry. When they watch this, they're part of you. Andun sila sa movie.”
PHOTO: E.S.L. Chen
Post a Comment
It’s refreshing to hear someone speak so honestly about such a pragmatic view of the film industry. It’s clear from the rising enthusiasm in Aga’s voice that he is aware of the reality that movies are products, and that audiences are customers to be satisfied.
Some actors might be hesitant to speak about these views, worried that being vocal about doing art for reasons beyond art alone feeds into “sell-out” accusations. It’s clear from our chat that Aga has had those concerns, too, but he’s since learned to silence that insecurity—among others—simply by calling a spade a spade. Or, in his case, calling a job a job.
“Hindi naman ako nagpapa-actor effect. For me, it's work,” he says.
ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOW
It just so happens that he derives personal joy out of his job—out of making movies, regardless of the role.
“It's really the movie. Kahit anong role ko dun, basta maganda pelikula. Basta maganda yung movie. Pag maganda yung movie, if people watch and enjoy the film, damay ka na dun, kahit anong role mo. Small, big, whatever. Basta people enjoy the movie, the story, then you're part of that.”
“It's work, but it's my world,” he continues. “It makes you realize sometimes that you just wanna stop, but then… No, eh. This is my world. Because every time I start filming, I just don't want it to end. When it ends, it hurts.”
“Once I start filming, it's always like this. But I never take it for granted. Meaning, every time I start, when I start, then I realize, ‘Man, this is my life.’”
PHOTO: E.S.L. Chen
Post a Comment
Suit by Massimo Dutti, shirt by Original Penguin
For Aga, it’s been a life shaped by external validation. From the issues that arose with his rapid ascent into teenage stardom, to the lingering insecurities he feels when taking on a new project at the age of 50, his experience of the world has been shaped by how he thinks it views him. What matters today, however, is the fact that he’s made his peace with that side of him. Instead of letting dominate his thoughts, he’s learned to work with it, and to weed out the parts that shouldn’t matter.
He just wants to make films he thinks people will want to watch. It’s why he chose to do Miracle in Cell Number 7 and Nuuk. It’s why he’s fascinated with the idea of a Marvel Studios-like cinematic universe involving our local superheroes. It’s why he hopes to one day shoot a realistic war film set on Philippine soil, complete with every painful reality our underequipped, underpaid soldiers face.
It’s also the reason he’s still holding the door open for a reunion flick with Lea Salonga.
Beyond that, he’s good. He doesn’t need more awards to validate his skills as an actor. He doesn’t need a million likes on Facebook or Instagram. He doesn’t need his ego massaged on a daily basis.
He may not be at peace with himself 100 percent of the time, but he’s learned that he doesn’t have to be. What’s important is that he’s finally learned to find that peace whenever he needs it, both in his personal life and in his career. It’s given him the confidence to pursue what really makes him happy.
It’s also given him the confidence to be real about everything, which includes letting us know he is truly exhausted. He can’t be perfect, and that’s okay.
The honesty is appreciated.
ADVERTISEMENT - CONTINUE READING BELOW
In this story: Produced by Clifford Olanday and Paolo Chua • Photographs by E.S.L. Chen • Styling by Ton Lao • Interview by Marco Sumayao • Grooming by Joan Teotico • Production assistant Roland Mae Tanglao • Photography assistant Lancer Salva • Grooming assistant Mary Jane Agaton • Styling assistants Ryan Viloria and Miguel Dela Rosa • Shot on location at The Spirits Library
Get The Latest Updates From Esquire! Subscribe to our newsletter!
Latest Feed
Load More Articles
Esquire Money
Most Popular
Most Shared
Close
We use cookies to ensure you get the best experience on Esquiremag.ph. By continued use, you agree to our privacy policy and accept our use of such cookies. Find out more here.
