AWARD-winning actor Bront Palarae, father of a 13-month-old daughter, will soon be known to Filipino moviegoers as a scary dad in his film debut in the archipelago country.
Bront, 38, is in Manila to film Filipino-based Malaysian director Bradley Liew’s newest film, Daddy’s Home.
“It’s a psychological thriller, and I play the title character, a father who comes home to his loved ones after some time away at sea.
“His wife and children are looking forward to a happy reunion with him, but unfortunately, he is now a different man, and one who isn’t safe to hang around with,” said Bront in Kaio photography studio, Section 13, Shah Alam Selangor recently.
The filming of Bront’s first Tagalog-language film will last for more than a month.
He will have a break for Hari Raya Aidilfitri in Kuala Lumpur.
“I first met Bradley during the screening of my film, Terbaik Dari Langit, in Tokyo, Japan, three years ago.
“He’s full of interesting ideas, and the first film he directed, Singing In Graveyards, earned the Best Picture at the Malaysian Golden Global Awards last March,” said Bront.
When asked how he handled dialogue in Tagalog, Bront said it was not too difficult for him.
“The language has many common Malay words but the main challenge was to get my intonation right.”
Bront has just wrapped up filming for Indonesian director Joko Anwar’s remake of Pengabdi Setan, which is set to be released at the end of the year.
Based on the 1980 movie of the same name directed by Sisworo Gautama Putra, it is about a father of two children who employs a mysterious housemaid shortly after his wife dies.
His children begin to see ghosts, and it is not long before the family is terrorised by zombies, and suspects that the housemaid practises black magic.
“Everything takes place within a large house, and I play the father. My co-stars are Tara Basro, who was with me in Halfworlds two years ago, Dimas Aditya and Elly Luthan,” said Bront.
Pengabdi Setan is Bront’s third Indonesian film after the comedy, My Stupid Boss, and action film Headshot, both screened last year.
“Now that I’m in Indonesian and Philippine films, I hope to one day star in a Thai horror flick. I can speak the language, since my mother is of Thai ancestry.”
Bront will be directing two films next year, namely 1, 2, Jaga about Indonesian immigrants in the Klang Valley, and Dawn Raid: The Hands That Rattled The Queen, a historical film about Malaysia’s 1981 stock market raid that ended foreign control of the country’s rubber plantations.
As for his daughter, Adeena Imani Nasrul, Bront said he would not mind if she followed in his footsteps into acting one day.
“But that’s depends on her having real acting talent, as not everybody is born to be an actor.”