John Arcilla on His Road to the Volpi Cup—'acting and expressing do not have boundaries'

In the early 70s, the young Arcilla lived amid a coconut plantation in Baler, Aurora. His family moved to the humble place as people in Manila squabbled over trampled democracy due to Martial Law. As a child, the actor had no luck in finding things that could entertain him; he only relied on his imagination and the company of his loving siblings. 

"When Martial Law was imposed in Manila, my family and I had to live in Baler, Aurora; life was a bit uneasy in the city. Suddenly, from the busy city life, we stayed in a house in a middle of a coconut plantation," Arcilla recalled. "That's how my imagination grew wilder; every night I would look up the ceiling and imagine myself performing on stage, being on television, and shaking hands with people."

Arcilla's family is devoted to performing arts; on every occasion, there was at least one member who performed spoken word in front of the whole clan. "I grew up in a kind of family who loves spoken word so much. My father loves to sing and my mother is a cineast [a film enthusiast]," he shared.

As a young boy, Arcilla's family knew that every fibre of his being was made for performing in front of a large audience. In one instance, the actor went straight to a nearby flagpole and danced whilst the Philippine national anthem was playing.

"When I was just three years old, our house in the province was in front of a school where my siblings were enrolled. My mother told me that I'd dance every time I hear the Lupang Hinirang. So one time, I went to the flagpole, waited for the students to sing, and danced without anything on. The people did not know whether they should laugh or sing. My brother and sister took me home out of embarrassment. That was my first public performance!" the actor jokingly said.

According to Arcilla, many events that happened in his childhood foreshadowed his fate in the future. The star recalled receiving Severino Reyes' highly-acclaimed zarzuela Walang Sugat and dreamt of portraying the lead role on stage. "I remembered reading and being fascinated with Severino's Walang Sugat, a book given to me by my eldest sister. When I became an adult I became Tenyong," he disclosed.

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Before reaching the big screen, Arcilla was first a theatre actor under the Tanghalang Pilipino, Cultural Center of the Philippines' (CCP) resident theatre company. There, the star was able to play leading roles in Orosman and Zafra and national artist Ryan Cayabyab's Rizal musical trilogy: El filibusterismo (1993), Noli Me Tángere (1995), and Illustrado (1996). Later on, Arcilla joined the Actors Workshop Foundation 

"I think I was actually influenced by my parents' interests, that's why I actively participated in theatre. I had a chance to perform through Tanghalang Pilipino in 1990 and then I became a talent under the Actors Workshop Foundation under Laurice Guillermo and Leo Martinez."

Contrary to what many of his new fans know, Arcilla's big break was not his portrayal of Philippine General Antonio Luna in Jerrold Tarog's historical biopic Heneral Luna. He first became a talent for a food commercial where he repeatedly uttered: "coffee na lang, dear" (just coffee, my dear).

The wildly successful commercial caught the attention of different gag and nighttime shows and eventually opened opportunities for Arcilla. "After Tanghalang Pilipino, I got this commercial 'coffee na lang, dear'. That specific ad opened a lot of doors for me because the phrase became a household tagline, a lot of Filipinos spoofed it," he said. 

"I was even invited to the Martin After Dark show, which was a really big thing back then," he added.

While many performers fawn over the idea of following the Stanislavski System or method acting, Arcilla realised that he had to develop a new, original technique.

"There is this three-dimensional method I studied that involves physical, psychological, and sociological aspects of acting. But lately, I have come to a stage where I already dismissed some of the things I learned and incorporated what I discovered throughout my acting career," he said. 

"Time will come when certain techniques just become natural to you and you can create or discover your own method; at the end of the day, these are just theories of other actors," he explained. "Those methods were effective to them, not to me, so not all theories are applicable to all actors. My acting technique now is more of what I learned and what I discovered from my own exploration."

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The acting experiences that Arcilla had in the past brought him to where he is today. The Volpi Cup holder shared that there was an outpour of congratulatory remarks the morning he received the good news.

"I was very excited when Erik [Matti] said I should do an acceptance speech 'just in case,' but I did not bother watching the award's night because it happened at seven in the evening there, that means it will be streamed in the Philippines at one o'clock," Arcilla disclosed. "I slept and said 'I will just surprise myself the next day; but then at two o'clock, my phone was ringing so loud. . . I checked my family's group chat on messenger and then bam—there goes the news."

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The star has two upcoming movies that Filipinos should definitely look out for. He joined the cast of A Hard Day, and Big Night, the sequel of the comedy movie Panti Sisters.

"I just want to embrace the opportunities coming my way; my heart, my mind, and my soul are ready. I have a lot of shows coming up. Besides Ang Probinsyano, I have two more projects like A Hard Day with Mr Ding Dong Dantes and Big Night with Christian Bables."

A Feat For The Filipinos

Arcilla's win at the Venice Film Fest has set a premise among equally-talented Southeast Asian actors who were once deprived of winning the award due to language barriers and cultural differences in filmmaking. In the future, Arcilla hopes to see more Filipinos holding the Volpi Cup.

"This is just very timely. . . [the international] film industry finally noticed us. Asians are doing the same thing they're doing. Like I always say, 'acting and expressing do not have boundaries, we all cry, we all aspire,' [so], I do not really think we're different from them. I hope this win opens more doors for us."