The DARNA interviews: Vilma Santos

DARNA Interview with VILMA SANTOS by Eric Cueto

[from the Official Mars Ravelo’s Darna website]

Eric: Vi, what's your favorite among your Darna movies?

Vilma: Of course, it's "Lipad, Darna, Lipad" since it was my first. It was really well done. Do you have a copy of it?

Eric C: I don't have this movie either. But if I am able to find one, I'll give you a copy. How did you prepare for this movie? Did you have any special "fight training" before you started filming? I heard that Action Star Tony Ferrer guided you.

Vilma: No, there was no training on the set before filming. It wasn't Tony Ferrer who guided me but the stuntmen called SOS Daredevils.

Eric C: Did you have any difficulties with your own stunts?

Vilma: Not really. I was a bit of a tomboy in those days so I learned things quickly. Actually, there was a time when an accident occurred. I had to go and do the tumbling bit where the stuntman was supposed to catch me. I accidentally kicked him in the face and he got a bloody nose and had to be brought to the hospital. I, on the other hand, hit my head on a rock and got a splitting headache.

Eric C: I head that you developed a fever the first time you had a scene with snakes?

Vilma: That's true! I was terrified of the snakes the first day of shooting on a rooftop of a building in Santa Mesa. I think I kept getting fevers for a week. Then, they let me touch the snakes first before every shoot so that I could get over my fear.

Eric C: how's Celia as Valentina and Gloria as Impakta?

Vilma: Celia, she's really good! And Tita Glo was so scary as Impakta, I love her so much.

Eric C: How about Liza?

Vilma: She's good too! I remember her costume that was made of sheepskin with a pair of wings. We filmed the "Babaing Lawin" episode in Antipolo.

Eric: Did you have aerial fight scenes with Liza?

Vilma: No we didn't. We fought on land..mostly in a cave. I remember my aerial fight scene with Gloria (Romero). We were standing on a stage with a dark bacground and there was a black cloth covering the half lower part of her body and there was a large electric fan in front of us.

Eric: Was there ever an origin scene where you received the magic stone with the coming of the shooting star?

Vilma: I already had the power of DARNA from the start of the movie. I only had an origin scene in "Darna Vs. the Planet Women" where the magic stone fell from the sky.

Eric C: Were you excited when the role of Darna was offered to you for the first time? Also, did you watch any of the Darna movies that came before you were offered the part?

Vilma: I saw Eva Montes' "Darna at ang babaing Tuod" at the movies and Rosa Del Rosario's Darna on TV. I also watched "Darna: Ang Pagbabalik (The Return)" on TV but don't care for it… it had bad production values. Of course, I was excited when I was offered the role of Darna. I even had to ask permission from the Nuns at my school because of Darna's 2 piece costume. Besides, there's nothing obscene about the costume because this is a Superheroine after all. But I asked advice from some fans and they were concerned that I might get criticized for being daring. This is why I wore body stockings in the promotional pics for the movie. It looked so terrible and made me look fat with body stockings. William Leary and Douglas Quijano convinced me to remove the body stockings before the Press Con. I remember changing into my Darna costume and I remember their words telling me- "Vi, the stockings look terrible so why don't you surprise all of them by not wearing them. Besides, you have the looks anyway." So there I was at the Press con without the body stockings."

Eric C: What do you think of Angel as Darna?

Vilma: She's doing great on the TV series as Darna. I do watch it and she looks great as Darna. Even the fight scenes are believable. That's because when you're Darna, you cannot be lethargic. You need to look like you can really knockdown Super-Villains.

Eric: Do you mind making a guest appearance in the Darna movie or on a TV series?

Vilma: I don't mind as long as the role is good. A long time ago, in Dolphy's Darna, I was offered the role of Darna turning over the stone to Dolphy's character. But I was pregnant (my baby named Lucky).

Eric: What other memorable experiences did you have as Darna?

Vilma: The flying scenes. That was really hard because you have to balance your body on 3 steel bars while a large electric fan in front of my face which gave me headaches after takes. I also remember the flying scene where Darna was flying towards Manila and the background music was the song - "My Beautiful Balloon". I remember the boy Angelito who played "Ding" in "Lipad, Darna, Lipad".

Eric: Were you able to take some Darna memorabilia?

Vilma: None. We returned everything to the studios.

Eric: What's the difference between the your Darna and the version today?

Vilma: Technology is much more advanced today. The harder scenes are easier to make now. Whenever I shot my scenes as Narda changing to Darna, the camera remains steady as as I get dressed in costume and return to the same spot before the transformation.

Eric C: Vilma, You have done every role already except playing "Impakta" or an "Asuwang". Would you consider playing a Darna villainess like what Gloria Romero did?

Vilma: Yikes! Do I already look like a Vampire? (Laughs out loud) Actually I starred in a Vampire movie already "Anak ng Aswang" (Vampire's Child) but I was not the Vampire. Gloria Romero played the Vampire. Actually I think that's an interesting role and I don't mind playing a Villainess as long as it's a good story.

Eric: (Jokingly) By the way Vilma, when are you surrendering the "magic stone" to me?

Vilma: (Laughs) Oh well, it's not time yet for me to give up the "magic stone" to you."

Eric: Vilma, could you do the "Darna yell" one last time?)

Vilma: We might wake up the people in this hotel. It's really late.

Eric: Please Vi. (Then Vilma gets playful with the "Darna yell")

Vilma: "Jworna!!! (makes funny expressions) Wasn't there another Actress who sounded like she was having a difficult time yelling "Darna"??

Eric C: I know the actress who did the yell that way. ..........AND THEN..... VILMA REALLY GOT INTO CHARACTER

Vilma: DARNA!!!!

Eric C: Hehehe I almost fainted with great joy. Imagine - I got to hear the most famous Darna of them all do the yell... in person !!

All the Vilma Fans applauded as we all stayed up late into the early morning with the "DARNA OF ALL SEASONS" (who is still very pretty ..even without make-up)

DARNA #15: Darna (1991)

1991 – Darna (Viva Films)

[Release date 25th December 1991]

Director Joel Lamangan Story Eddie Rodriguez, Bey Vito Screenplay Frank G. Rivera Producer William Leary Executive Producer Vic del Rosario Jr Supervising Producer Eric Cuatico Musical Director Willy Cruz Cinematography Ramon Marcelino Sound Supervision Rolly Ruta Editor Ike Jarlego Jr Assistant Director Bey Vito Associate Producer Edith Manuel Assistant to the Executive Producer Sandy Santamaria Production Designer Benjie de Guzman Costume Designer Ernest Santiago Associate Editor Marya Ignacio Production Manager Lydia de Leon

Cast Nanette Medved (Narda/Darna), Nida Blanca, Edu Manzano (Dominico Lipolico), Pilar Pilapil (Valentina), Tonton Gutierrez, Bing Loyzaga (Impakta), Dennis Padilla, Atong Redillas, Donna Cruz, Tony Lambino, Dencio Padilla, Errol Dionisio, Archi Adamos, Ray Ventura, Boy Roque, Jun Hidalgo, Jim Pebanco, Carmi Matic, Guila Alvarez, Roland Montes, Rachel Alejandro (Donna), Herbert Bautista, Manny Castaneda, Joko Diaz, Keempee de Leon, IC Mendoza, Jinky Oda, Oscar Peralta, Amy Perez, Cherrie Pie Picache, Daria Ramirez, Ricardo Reynoso, Sylvia Sanchez, Raymart Santiago, Jimmy Santos, Jeffrey Veloso, Mary Walter [IMDB also lists Vina Morales, “Anna Marie Falcon”/Francine Prieto (Young Narda), Lorli Villanueva (Darna's Mother)]

From the Official Mars Ravelo’s Darna website:

After 10 years of hibernation Darna is back ! This time vivacious Nanette Medved carried the Darna mantle.

Darna hit the second spot at the box office in the 1991 Metro Manila Film festival.

The Darna icon soldiered on as esteemed director like Joel Lamangan tried their hand at the comic book legend. The results were mixed though. Lamangan used Nanette Medved in Viva Films’ Darna (1991), but it was Valentina again who stole the thunder, thanks to Pilar Pilapil’s comic performance.

Darna was Nanette's first solo picture. In this new campy updated version of Darna our super heroine had a little costume change, her head dress was replaced by a tiara - which I don’t really like! But of course, that is just my personal opinion. Viva's version of Darna is not really my cup of tea. Don't get me wrong, I just thought they can do better.

18 years of beauty rest Darna's number one arch enemy Valentina also made her comeback. The man eater Valentina was humorously played by one of the finest actresses of Philippine cinema Pilar Pilapil.

Another comeback queen is Babaing Impakta essayed by Bing Loyzaga. The flying vampire was also played by the veteran actress Gloria Romero in Lipad, Darna, Lipad.

Dominico Lipolico, a new villain was introduced in this movie played by Edu Manzano.

The movie started somewhere in South America. A group of treasure hunters lead by Domico found a cave full of treasures of golds and precious gem stones. Not wanting to share the good fortune, the greedy Dominico killed his men. Soon after, a voice of the devil that sounds like Ben David echoed in the cave. He told Dominico that he found the most powerful possesion of the darkness, a powerful necklace that will give him super powers, eternal youth, fame and fortune. In exchange of this, Dominico must spread demonism in South East Asia, starting in the Philippines.

As the story continues, a young Narda and Dong yes, a new brother of Narda, was introduced in the movie. She now have two brothers Ding and Dong. Don't their names sound like a door bell? I don't get why would they have to introduce a new brother? The character of Dong is really not that important in the story and did not make such a difference in the movie.

In the meantime, Dominico teamed up with Valentina and Babaing Impakta to spread evil. Of course, Darna after getting caught by her villains and almost turned her into one of them did her best to stop Dominico and his allies. I really enjoyed Pilar Pilapil comedic performance of Valentina and her snake puppet side kick Vibora voiced over by Ruby Rodriguez. It was really hilariously funny, at least to me. This come back movie of Darna doesn't have much to offer, some scenes are re-created from Lipad, Darna, Lipad. I also noticed Nanette keeps on posing with her hands on her hips you know, that typical superhero pose. It seems like she is always ready to have her picture taken. The people behind this movie should have given Nanette some time to have more training for her fight scenes to make her portrayal of Darna more believable. And also, what was the deal with her deflecting bullets with her bracelets? It reminds me of my other favorite super heroine who flies an invisible jet. To top it all I am so annoyed by that over acting police man.

The special effects were not that good either to think that it was made in the 90's. In fairness to Joel Lamangan, he is one of the finest local directors in the Philippine cinema can offer. Maybe because Darna was Joel first major movie to handle and fantasy adventure is not his area.

DARNA #16: Darna Ang Pagbabalik/"Darna The Return" (1994)

1994 - Darna Ang Pagbabalik/“Darna The Return” (Viva Family Entertainment)

[Release date 9th June 1994]

Directors/Writers Peque Gallaga, Lore Reyes Executive Producer Vic del Rosario Jr Associate Producer Teddy del Rosario Managing Producer Ricky del Rosario Musical Director Archie Castillo Supervising Producer Fred Samantela Art Direction Juliet Nanola Fetalve Editor Danny Gloria Visual Effects Monching Reyes Crew and Equipment Coordinator Oli Laperal Jr Production Manager Pong de Leon First Assistant Director Jerome Pobocan Second Assistant Director/Casting Director Jerry Lopez Sineneng Stunt Director Boy Salvador Prosthetics Supervisor Benny Batoctoy

Cast Anjanette Abayari (Darna/Narda), Edu Manzano (Max), Cherie Gil (Valentine), Pilita Corrales (Valentina), Rustom Padilla (Pol), Bong Alvarez (Magnum), Lester Llansang (Ding), Eva Ramos (L300 Noisy Mother), Pen Medina (Barangay Captain), Jemanine Campanilla (Pia), Romy Romulo (Valentine’s Driver), Jun Achaval/Dwight Gaston (Pilots), Jinky Laurel (Bank Teller), Chiquixeres Burgos (Governor), Bong Regala (Army Lieutenant), Noel Carpio (Police Sargeant), Mel Kimura/Justine Dee/Elsa de Venecia/Marissa de Guzman/Demi Alvarez (Valentine’s Assistants), Lilia Cuntapay (Old Valentina), Eugene Enriquez (Welder), Michelle Rufo (Eazy)

From the Official Mars Ravelo’s Darna website:

Gallaga’s Darna: Ang Pagbabalik (1994) was technically polished and Anjanette Abayari looked sensational in the revealing Darna costume; yet as a Darna movie (and a Gallaga film), it wasn’t memorable.

Fearless Anjanette essayed the role of Darna almost perfectly, without using a stunt double. For the fourth time aging reptilian, Valentina returns with Valentine and Magnum, her kids. Their mission is to get Narda's magical stone so Valentina can have her youth back. Her son made Narda fall in love with him so they can easily get what they want.

A volcanic eruption in the country side forces a number of families to abandon their homes in Talisay and seek refuge in Manila. Young country girl Narda leads a secret double life as the crime figthing Darna and can trasforms back and forth between this two personas by yelling out either "Narda" or "Darna". While trying to find her grandmother and little brother Ding, Narda is viciously struck upside the head and her magical stone that furnishes her power is stolen. The culprit is Valentine Adan, a tele evangelist who claims that only she can protect the city from an advancing lahar ( volcanic mud flow) and will save those who have pledge their undying devotion to her. Valentine’s dark intentions become more and more aparent and Narda discovers that the woman is actually the daughter of Valentina, Darna's arch enemy. Ding is able to recover the magical stone allowing his sister to transform back into Darna and in the ensuing chaos the aged Valentina is injured and reveals her true form. Like her mother Valentine is actually a gorgon concealing the snakes on her head beneath a bathing cap like hat (turban) before the inevitable face off with Valentine, Darna gains a new ally when she helps police lieutenant Max Ablan ( Edu Manzano) foil a bank robber and later, a kidnapping perpetrated mob boss Magnum (Bong Alvarez). The crime lord manages to escape in both instances, and is actually playing a key role in Valentines plans. She also has another clandestine operative, who is charged with making sure that Darna is helpless to protect Manila from the rapidly approaching lahar.

The movie showed some improvements in special effects. I am trying to be fair about giving my comments but, Peque Gallaga and his co-director used numerous slow motions that I thought is not relevant in some scenes. The flying scenes are accomplished with atrocious blue screen rear projection and cel animation, while the bladder and morphing FX utilized for the monsters are equally quaint. Althought it occationally delivers the serial-style thrills one expects from this genre, the screenplay is episodic and the proceeding are too slacky paced. They should also have revised the storyline like how Narda lost her memory and acted silly in almost half of the movie. It was a waste of time and negatives. I almost fell asleep waiting for Darna to show up again.

Cherrie Gil was great as Valentine. The only problem is her snake wig looks so fake they were not moving at all. And what's up with Valentine's allies? Why do they keep leaving their necklaces at the scene of the crime? It was not explained in the movie. If Valentine only wants Narda's magical stone she could had easily killed her when she had the chance. In the early part of the movie one of Valentine's followers hit Narda on the head that caused her memory loss and stole the magical stone. And when Valentine's car accidentally hit Narda and they came face to face, why didn't she recognize her? These are just some of the loop holes of the movie that I thought would have been easily spotted. I know that our local film makers can make such a great version of the next Darna, they just have to review the script carefully and give her more fight scenes and powerful enemies. And stop making Darna deflecting bullets because she is not vulnurable to any man made weapons. There also was a scene where Valentine hit Darna with a TV antenna and actually made her bleed. It does not make sense at all. Darna The Return, showed potential on making decent special effects. And one more thing - STOP changing Darna's costume we almost didn't recognized her.

Jared Auner’s review from his Worldweird Cinema blog:

DARNA ANG PAGBABALIK aka DARNA THE RETURN is a wacky Filipino superhero film from the early 1990s. It's filled with cheap special effects, poorly choreographed fights, decent enough looking latex creatures, blunt hack-job editing and only serviceable cinematography and acting. It's also completely fascinating and totally entertaining. Darna is kind of a Filipino Wonder Woman rip with a dash of Captain Marvel (you know: "Shazam!") and this is the second and final(?) film in the series. I haven't seen the first, but here's what I can make out about the series from this film.

Darna is Narda, a young, pretty and rather *ahem* busty young girl who when she swallows a magic pearl (I'm not making that up I swear!) and yells "Darna!" becomes, well yes, Darna, a flying , eye-laser-beam shooting, bikini-wearing superheroine out to defend poor Filipinos from bizarre supernatural villains, corrupt industrialists and rampant natural disasters. It's the rampant natural disasters that are featured prominently in this feature. Narda/ Darna's village is destroyed by a flood which displaces her family to the slums of Manila. Even worse, during the disaster Darna loses her Magic Pearl! It's been stolen by Valentina (or something), Darna's medusa-headed archfoe who needs the pearl to keep her medusa-headed mother alive (or something). She also happens to be attempting to take over the Philipines by sending out subliminal messages through the television, which is slowly winning the populace over to her weird, new age-y cult thing. Narda's mother falls for it.

Eventually Narda gets her pearl back, falls in love with two men, one a cop with a secret and the other her cousin (!?!) and it all ends with some wonderfully inexpensive special effects, silly fights (the ultimate showdown reminded me of a BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER episode at about 1/3 the production cost)and some sentimental exposition. It's all pretty weird and well, y'know, foreign. But it keeps up a terrific pace, with a constant barrage of cheesy fantasy and fighting. The inept film-making, acting and (on the DVD I viewed anyway) really horrible subtitling only enhances the bizarre spectacle of the whole thing. Go forth and find it, now!

Darna vs The Planet Women (1975)

1975 - Darna vs The Planet Women (Tagalog Ilang-Ilang Productions)

[release date 26th December 1975]

Director/Screenplay Armando Garces Music Carding Cruz Cinematography Botong de Guzman

Cast Vilma Santos (Darna), Rosanna Ortiz (Elektra), Eva Linda, Lita Vasquez, Lieza Zobel, Diana Villa, Zandro Zamora, Bentot Jr (Ding)

Todd Stadman's review from his Die, Danger, Die, Die, Kill! blog:

This review of Darna vs. the Planet Women benefits greatly from the fact that my wife generously agreed to watch along and translate the film's Tagalog dialogue. It must be said, however, that this arrangement was not an easy one to negotiate. I think my wife, quite understandably, would prefer to think of the Philippines' cinematic heritage as being defined by such lauded artists as Lino Brocka, and would rather live in blissful ignorance of that dark underbelly that plays home to figures like Dolphy, Chiquito and Weng Weng.

Still, she was intrigued by the fact that Darna vs. the Planet Women starred Filipino screen icon Vilma Santos. In fact, when I first talked to her about Darna, and mentioned the fact that Santos was the star most identified with her big screen incarnation, she didn't believe me. It was almost inconceivable to her that an actress as revered and respected as the oft-awarded Santos would have ever been low enough to don silly superhero duds for a series of cheesy comic book movies. To put it in perspective, I think it would be tantamount to someone trying to convince me that Meryl Streep had been the star of Electra Woman and Dyna Girl.

But the truth is that Santos didn't appear in the Darna movies out of hunger, and was in fact already a star at the time of first taking the role. I think this says as much about the stature of Darna as it does about that of Santos. Darna was, after all, an iconic figure in her own right at that point, having been the star of both a best-selling comic book and a popular series of movies for over twenty years. Given that, I imagine that the offer to play her, despite bearing with it the risk of ending up looking a bit ridiculous, was a difficult one to refuse -- just as the opportunity to play such freighted pop cultural totems as Batman or Superman has been for many Hollywood actors who might otherwise have been loath to parade before their audience stuffed like sausages into form-fitting lycra.

Darna vs. the Planet Women was the third, as well as the next to last, Darna film to star Santos, though you might not guess that from watching it. For some reason it was decided -- despite the fact that Santos' debut as Darna, Lipad, Darna, Lipad, had been far and away the most successful Darna film ever -- that, three films later, a Batman Begins should be done on Darna, rebooting the series and, in the process, altering certain aspects of the lore that had surrounded the character in the previous films. And so, with Planet Women we get a retelling of Darna's origin that for some reason recasts her formerly able-bodied alter ego Narda as being disabled by a gimp leg.

But before that retelling, we're treated to a half hour or so of light village melodrama, during which Narda bickers with her somewhat thick-witted boyfriend Ramon (Zandro Zamora) and bears up nobly to repeated taunting by a gang of liquored-up local rowdies (who you just know are due for some big time payback once Darna Time comes around). At this time we are also reintroduced to Narda's little brother, Ding -- here played by Bentot Jr. -- who acts as Narda's confidante, constant companion, and a very informal sidekick once she makes the transformation to superheroine. Ding is a chunky little wiseass in an ever-present striped shirt who will readily shake his undersized fist and mug defiantly at a bad guy as long as Darna's around for him to hide behind in the event of retaliation. In short, put this kid in some overalls, give him a monkey, and render him as a cartoon and he's a dead-ringer for Spritle from Speed Racer. Ding reaps many benefits from having a superhero for a big sis, as we see in those scenes where he gets to ride Darna like a pony as she flies through the skies above the islands.

Finally the Planet Women, a band of bikini-clad space amazons who are each color coded with a different shade of primary-hued body paint, make their appearance, interestingly choosing a small rural village in the Philippines as ground zero for their invasion of Earth. As their first act of conquest, they put the whammy on Narda's beau Ramon with a paralyzer ray -- by appearances, simply because he was unlucky enough to be wandering around in the vicinity of their flying saucer. Narda then happens upon Ramon in his frozen state and falls to her knees in lamentation, only to be answered by a surprisingly laid-back sounding voice from the heavens who reassures her and sends down to her a small stone with the name "Darna" written on it in glitter. Following the voice's instructions, she swallows the stone, shouts "Darna", and is instantly replaced by the scantily clad super amazon we've all been waiting to see -- a transformation that leaves even young Ding unable to restrain himself from exclaiming about what a hottie his sister has suddenly become.

The Planet Women, who are lead by the Ronald McDonald be-wigged Electra (Rosanna Ortiz), come armed with a shopping list of Earth scientists whom they plan to abduct, setting the stage for most of the movie's action, which involves Darna's efforts to thwart those abductions. This leads to some of Darna vs. the Planet Women's most indelible moments, including a scene where Darna bursts through the wall of one of the imperiled professors' homes, leaving a perfect, Darna-shaped hole behind her, and a rooftop kung fu fight between her and a Planet Woman that I'll just refer to as "the blue one". This is a film that goes out of its way to show that our heroine is truly a woman of her times, and so, in addition to a lengthy scene in which Darna shows her stuff on the disco floor, we're given a weirdly static kung fu match that consists almost entirely of Bruce Lee-style stance-taking and smirky goading of the opponent with come-hither hand gestures, and almost no actual fighting.

In comparison to the utilitarian and nearly mute performance of Eva Montes in Darna and the Tree Monster, the last Darna film I had the pleasure of watching, Vilma Santos gives us a Darna who is brimming with personality, boasting a charming combo of golly-gosh do-gooderism and cocky, cobra-necked bravado. By dint of this, she even seems to win over the Planet Women themselves, who turn out to be much more honorable than your average Earth-coveting space invaders. Ultimately, Electra and Darna agree to settle the whole matter woman-to-woman, and when Darna comes out of the fight on top, the Planet Women, true to their word, pack up their stuff and head back from whence they came.

With its dodgy technical execution and resolutely rural sensibility, Darna vs. the Planet Women is third world pulp cinema at its purest, with the most extreme example of conspicuous consumption seen on screen being the destruction of a chicken shack. Still, you just know that I'm going to say that I enjoyed it anyway, and I did. Vilma Santos makes for an appealingly plucky heroine, and it's not hard to see why she is such a beloved figure in her country. On top of that, the film, like the most savvy hostess, shows that it knows how to entertain on a budget, delivering up a generous amount of cheesy thrills with the simple application of colored paints on an impressive expanse of exposed flesh, some imaginative repurposing of discarded household objects in its cash-strapped sci-fi sets, and some truly head-slap worthy primitive special effects. That's enough to guaranty that I'll be taking another return trip to Darnaland in the very near future.