www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=612091&publicationSubCategoryId=52People Asia
By Kristel Dacumos
September 15, 2010
JOHN LLOYD Cruz: The Leading ManBetween the flashes of light and clicks of the camera, we catch a glimpse of the person behind the “celebrity” as JOHN LLOYD shares his thoughts about his craft, the awkwardness of being himself and why he thinks ordinary is better.
It was the first quarter of 1997. You know the actor Allan Paule? He was the scoutmaster and I was the scout boy that he was going to molest. Imagine that!” laughs multi-award winning actor JOHN LLOYD Cruz, 26, of his first TV appearance on the show Compañero y Compañera, which dispensed legal advice to viewers writing of their misfortunes. “It was a re-enactment scene so we couldn’t really show a lot,” he says, laughing. He remembers it as a milestone in his career. “That was the very first one. I was 13.”
From then on, this ABS-CBN Star Magic Batch 5 member rose to become one of the most bankable dramatic actors of his time, with a slew of endorsements on the side like Greenwich Pizza, Smart, Bench, Clear Shampoo, Biogesic, AXN Watch, Belo Medical Group, Urban Bags and Bigatin Card (for TFC).
He has garnered all of the most illustrious awards ever bestowed on an actor. The most notable of which are Best Actor for the Movie One More Chance (2008 Golden Screen Empress Awards), Best Actor for All About Love (2007 Film Academy of the Philippines LUNA Awards), Film Actor of the Year for Dubai (2006 Guillermo Mendoza Memorial Awards) and Best Supporting Actor for Dubai (2006 Star Awards for Movies). He has them all.
At 18, JOHN LLOYD won his first award for Best Drama Actor (2001 Star Awards for TV) in the Dawson’s Creek adaptation Tabing Ilog in 2001 then claimed the title of Philippine Cinema’s Box Office King with the widely successful films – One More Chance where he starred with Bea Alonzo (2007), A Very Special Love (2008) and the sequel You Changed my Life (2009) both starring Sarah Geronimo. The sequel, which earned P240 million, now ranks as the top-grossing Filipino film of all time. JOHN LLOYD thanks his lucky stars for being so blessed and thanks the support of his fans – which include both the loyal and the odd. He shares, while on one of his meet and greets, one of the fans hit him at the back of the head. “Binatukan ako. As in sadya yun (He smacked me in the head intentionally)!” he exclaims. JOHN LLOYD was about to give the fan a piece of his mind, but when he turned around he was dumbfounded to find a full grown man smiling at him like a little school girl, shaking with excitement. “He just gave me the thumbs up sign. I guess he just got excited. It was weird and creepy at the same time,” he laughs. Even though he has grown from a teen heartthrob to the matinee idol he has become today, JOHN LLOYD
has yet to experience having fans who would throw bras and panties at him on stage. “They say I’m handsome but I’m not that handsome. Sayang!” he chuckles.
With a demanding work schedule that swallows up most of his days, if JOHN LLOYD is lucky enough to have two days off, he instantly imagines spending those days with family. “I like hanging out with my family. I have a big family. My titas and titos we have a get together at home. We love to eat, we enjoy eating and drinking.” And if free in the mornings, JOHN LLOYD enjoys mountain biking at the San Mateo, Rizal trail or listening to his childhood musical heroes like Chris Cornell, the former lead singer of Soundgarden, and Jeff Buckley.
But what this self-proclaimed neat freak doesn’t do with his spare time is read tabloids. “Nope, not even one,“ he stresses. “I don’t want it to reach a point when it becomes one of my guilty pleasures.” JOHN LLOYD stays clear of the tabloids as well to avoid reading about himself. “I’m not sure pain is the right word. But somehow it pains me to hear people making judgments about me without hearing the whole story and hearing my side, especially between common friends.”
Making the Common ExtraordinaryOften portrayed as the wholesome good boy-next-door in movies and off screen, JOHN LLOYD confesses that “It’s imaging, it’s a package.” When asked if he gets frustrated being packaged as so, he simply replies, “Well, there are things that you need to compromise. But sometimes, given the proper timing, they give us roles that we really want.” And one of these opportunities was his controversial gay role in Star Cinema’s In My Life where he acted opposite Luis Manzano and Vilma Santos. JOHN LLOYD, who won the Gawad Tanglaw Best Actor award, Gawad Pasado Award for Pinakapasadong Aktor ng Taon and the 26th PMPC Star Award for Movies for Movie Actor of the Year for his portrayal, admits that he had no qualms about doing intimate scenes with another male character even if he is straight. He accepted the role because he liked the challenge of playing real, every-day characters.
There’s mastery to subtlety; what looks easy onscreen is rather sophisticated, he says. “It’s not easy portraying a character that is very common and ordinary. It is (actually) harder to portray a real and common character than let’s say, a serial killer. When you think of a serial killer, the audience can already imagine the character in their head – and the actor hasn’t even done anything yet. But with an ordinary character, it’s challenging for the actor to flesh out the role and build layers. As an actor, you think about how you’re going to make your character engaging for the next two hours. This is the most exciting part of my job.
“(On the other hand) that’s the downside of commercial actors (who choose such roles). People think, ‘Ano ba yan puro pa-cute, napaka-common, napaka-safe (That’s so common. That’s too safe.)’ but I just look at it from the perspective of ‘How will I make this character interesting?’ It looks easy but all I can say is try for yourself if it is…
“I believe that every character is your creation. You give birth to a character then you become a creator. In our own little ways, in our own little world, we are creators. So imagine a scene where all the actors are collaborating. I guess this is why they say that film is the biggest form of art.”
Contrary to popular belief, he says “you don’t need to experience a lot of things in order to be a good actor. Because most of the characters you portray, you haven’t experienced their lives. You don’t need to try to kill yourself in order to know how to portray someone who is suicidal.” But he, however, believes that, “You have to be in touch with your emotions (to be a good actor) because it’s your tool. If you’re in touch with your emotions it’s easier to access them. It gives you the flexibility to play other characters.” JOHN LLOYD doesn’t have any particular dream role in mind and simply states that he just wants to be able to portray as many characters as possible.
And he has proven his flexibility time and time again – having earned recognition from the most reputable award-giving bodies like Gawad Urian, Star Awards, ENPRESS Golden screen Awards, Gawad Pasado, PMPC Star Award for Movies and FAMAS – but JOHN LLOYD feels that all these don’t mean a thing. “ I’ve been in the business for 13 years but that doesn’t mean that I can do everything. More often than not, I still get nervous with every movie.” In the acting workshop, which he’s currently attending with Immortal co-star Angel Locsin, JOHN LLOYD learned from his mentor Direk Laurice Guillen, “that it’s okay to be nervous but you have to control it.”
Beyond the Silver Screen “Acting is not my life,” he says firmly. But then backtracks, “I’d like to correct that. Acting plays a big part of my life but I have a bigger part of my life that is more precious to me.
“I’m the type of person who will do my job, who’ll wake up in the morning, be on set, do my job the best way I know how and I’ll give my 110 percent. But at the end of the day I still have my own life to live and as of the moment that is more precious than what I have.”
JOHN LLOYD Cruz, Philippine cinema’s sweetheart, is at a point in his life when the awards don’t matter as much and praise is no longer needed as his focus is entirely on honing his craft – because at 26, this leading man has already been there and done that.
But he’s still looking at doing more.
