Best Actor nomination in the US excites Jake Cuenca
His Best Actor nomination at the 2014 Queens World Film Festival in New York boosted Jake Cuenca's self-confidence as an artist.
Jake earned the nomination for his performance in the 2013 Cinemalaya film "Nuwebe," where he played an abusive father.
He competes against Kevin Thomas Costigan (Killer), Robert Nolan (Mourning Has Broken), Dexter Camara (Silencio), Rob McClure (Recursion), Robbie Capaldi (Brighton), Daniel Kyri (Pefect Day) and Chaske Spencer (The Hero Pose).
First nomination in the US
"Natutuwa ako na napansin ako doon sa ibang bansa. It's my first nomination in the States. I will not be able to go, but just the nomination alone na-boost yung confidence ko," Jake said during the press conference of "Tayo Lamang" on Wednesday, March 5.
His co-star Barbara Miguel got a Best Actress nomination from the same international award-giving body. "Nuwebe" itself is nominated for Best Narrative Feature and Best Director Narrative Feature (Joseph Laban).
Risky topic
Jake feels proud of the film, which many consider risky because it tells a story about incest and rape.
"One week of shooting lang iyon. Literal na indie talaga iyon. I'm so proud of that movie and I'll always do another movie with direk Joseph Laban. It's something na so heartfelt, so real. I'm so happy that the States noticed it."
After a number of mainstream and indie movies last year, Jake said he will be more selective about his next project.
"I’m not rushing to do a movie again because I think what I did last year was super good. In terms of indie and mainstream, all I did were super good. So, until na may mag-offer na mas maganda or mas kapareho, hindi ako nagmamadali gumawa ng proyekto."
Variety of roles
Jake wants to always challenge himself by taking on variety of roles. He played a bus driver in "Tuhog" and a gay in "Lihis" (2013). For ABS-CBN's newest teleserye "Ikaw Lamang," Jake plays Franco, a haciendero’s son.
"More than anything else, gusto ko lang umarte. I like to do roles that break boundaries, provocative ones. I'm always going to push for something different. I don't like doing same thing over and over again."
He doesn't mind playing a support or villain role.
"I really don't care kung ano man ako, kung bida ako or kontrabida ako. Sa akin, basta may in-offer na role at tumagos sa puso ko ay gagawin ko iyon, whether it's an indie movie, mainstream movie, ekstra o bida, kontrabida. Hindi importante sa akin iyon."
Reunion project
"Ikaw Lamang," which also stars Kim Chiu, Coco Martin and Julia Montes, is Jake and Coco Martin's reunion project o after the teleserye "Tayong Dalawa." Coco played support to Jake and Gerald Anderson back then.
Jake was supposed to star with Coco in "Juan dela Cruz," but he (Jake) was then doing another teleserye. Jake is excited to work with Coco again because they complement each other's acting skills.
"Unang-una, yung sa "Tayong Dalawa," magkakapatid talaga kami ni Gerald at Coco. Ever since, we always have that relationship. So nung in-offer sa akin ito, unang-una, excited akong gawin ang project na ito kasi makaka-trabaho ko si Coco. Sa Juan dela Cruz, kami dapat iyon. So, sa project na ito, hindi ako nagdalawang isip Kasi kami ni Coco, kapag kami ang magka-eksena we always push it to the limit."
