Iza, Dimples talk about motherhood
DIMPLES Romana is used to working with superstars through the years. Her best friends in the industry are big-name stars, as well. In “The Caretakers,” Dimples gets to work for the first time on the big screen with Iza Calzado.
“I believe in perfect timing,” Dimples maintained. “When direk Shugo (Praico) approached me and told me I would work with Iza, ang role ko is always support to bigger stars, the superstars.
“I feel that in this business, if you are able to collaborate with budding stars and superstars, there are no small roles, only small actors.
“The energy of Iza was very timely for me to experience at this point in my life because I needed a refresher on motherhood. I needed to feel a new mom energy in my life. That was a new experience for me. She was always excited to see her daughter, Deia, even to talk to her over the phone.”
Iza and Dimples are perhaps the ideal “dynamic duo” to be in the cast playing both moms in Rein Entertainment and Regal Films’ joint venture, “The Caretakers.”
“I became a mother at a very young age,” admitted Dimples, who is a mother of three. ‘So, my protective instincts were super high. Especially when I felt very fragile and very, very vulnerable.”
Dimples is mom to Callie, now 21, nine-year-old Alonzo and two-year-old Elio.
“When you are still young and you have to protect another child, as I was growing older, so was she,” Dimples said, talking about daughter Callie. “But to see Callie flourish into the person that she is now – she is even living abroad (in Queensland, Australia) – it is nice to think that being protective as a parent doesn’t need your presence and close monitoring every day.”
Callie works as a pilot in Australia.
“That is a big achievement for her family,” Dimples beamed. “God knows how hard my husband and I work for our family to send our eldest to study in Australia.”
“Coming into this, the protective instinct of a mother comes out naturally, especially if you love someone. Protecting a person or the environment, that’s in us. We choose who we want to protect.
“We choose who we want to become as people, as caretakers of this land. I feel like when you become a mother, you understand that. But I’ll also say that ‘The Caretakers’ is not just about being a mother. Not every girl becomes a mother.
“But all of use love and care for another person. It will not need for you to take giving birth to actual children to have protective love over those that you love.”
“When I watched (her and Iza’s characters) Lydia and Audrey in the film, I understand both of them together. I didn’t side with anyone. If I find out that somebody hurts my child, babalikan ko talaga. I think that’s the entire beauty of this film.
“When you think about it, in loving and protecting all those around us, where do you find the right or the wrong thing. That’s when you will really think if you are protecting somebody or the environment around you. Does that make you wrong when you protect the people and the country that you love?
“Even if I go, if I will take care of my environment, somebody will always look after my children. The environment will protect my children when I’m gone. If I want that to happen, this early, I need to do my important duty, to take care of the very land that will make sure my children will be okay.”
Meanwhile, Iza is a new mom to her daughter Deia, who turned two recently. “Madaming layers and pagiging nanay, like what Dimples said earlier,” Iza granted. “Whoever I think I’ve been mothering, people in my life in so many different ways.
“I guess even my father (Lito Calzado), when he was still alive, in some ways I was mothering him. When I think of mother, I think of somebody who takes care of someone. Not all mothers just put a child into the world.
“Some have adopted, some have nurtured or nourished as teachers. You nurture and nourish in different ways. A plant, an animal, humans or any living being. In that regard, I have been giving that energy into our home. You will do everything that you can in that moment for our loved ones.
“You will do everything that you can in that moment. I think we all are just doing our best, with what we have with what we have in that exact, same moment. Tama o mali. In that very moment, consumed by her anger, Audrey was making what she thought was the best decision for her family. Eventually, she acknowledged it was such a bad plan
“In that moment, (my character) Lydia, she just did everything to protect her family to ensure they will not be thrown out of their house. I think, we will really do everything that we can for our loved ones.
“The regrets are always in the end. Audrey didn’t see, she was so worried how to provide for her daughters. When in reality, nature will always provide and take care of us.
Consumed by anxiety and anger, she didn’t realize that her first role was to take care of her children. In the end, we have to savor the moments with the people who take care of us.
“Life is so unpredictable. I think of that every day as a mother. The best way I can protect them is to love them.
“I think we all just doing our best. Right or wrong, in that very moment, Lydia just did everything to protect her family so that they can’t be thrown out from their house.
Even when her eldest Callie was still a child, Dimples has worked with direk Lino Cayetano(one of the producers of ‘Caretakers’) in “Once Upon a Time.”
“When you turn 40, you just allow life to happen,” Dimples maintained. “You do full surrender in your life. You wake up, you’re healthy, you’re okay. Anything that comes on top of it is just a bonus for me.”
“I’m proud of the films that I’ve done in the past. I’m just ‘extra, extra’ proud with ‘The Caregivers’ no. This film means something to my children. It will mean something for the future generation.”
In the latter part of “The Caregivers,” Dimples had to wear a harness in a scene where she had to bravely hurdle heights.
“The challenge that I had to wear a harness was not easy for me because I’m afraid of heights,” Dimples said. “And we shot that scene after midnight. But you really need to be brave in doing that scene. Nakakatakot ako sa film na ito.
Dimples had full trust to her producers. “But hindi ako natakot while doing that scene or baka mahulog ako,” she admitted. “I know Rein Entertainment. I know Regal Films. I know there’s nothing for me to worry about.
“I had full trust. It was not a challenge for me to shoot the physical. It was more of a challenge for me that my face doesn’t give any inkling to the audience watching the film.”
Iza got to work with Dimples a long time ago. They briefly worked together in a Dreamscape series, where Dimples played a young Susan Roces and Iza was a young Pilar Pilapil.
“Dimples also played my mom, Maryann, for the story of my life in ‘MMK (Maalaala Mo Kaya)’ before,” shared Iza. “I always see her in social gatherings. Our interaction was mostly just that.
“Finally, we got to work together in ‘The Caregivers.’ We don’t stop talking on the set. We became the dynamic duo of chika. I can’t imagine how direk Shugo wrapped up this film. Dimples and I were really madaldal.
“I enjoyed her energy and I get inspired with her being a businesswoman. This woman works hard. I admire her for that. Nobody could contest that.
“Jodi Sta. Maria and Sunshine Dizon were two of my favorite actors. I will include Dimples to that list. Working with her, hindi siya nagdamot. Nakipag-sayaw siya sa akin. She really gave when I needed help in a scene.
“It’s hard to establish a deeper friendship at this stage in our lives. It’s easier when you are younger because you have so much time. But when you get older, you have so much on your plate.
“For it to become deeper, it will take a lot of conscious work. Even if we are not on the same space hanging out, she can count on me and I can count on her. I am grateful for that.”
