‘So low’: Baron Geisler defends himself vs Ping Medina, movie director

MANILA, Philippines – Baron Geisler has spoken up after Ping Medina called him out for urinating on Ping while shooting a scene for the movie Bubog. (READ: Ping Medina calls out Baron Geisler for behavior on set)

Ping and director Arlyn dela Cruz both warned film industry members against working with Baron, following the incident.

On Facebook on Monday, November 28, Baron posted his own reaction to Ping and Arlyn’s posts.

Baron addressed the director and apologized, saying that the issue was a misunderstanding.

“I asked you 3 times na ‘Direk may gagawin po ako,’ then you just said gawin mo na lang sa eksena. Kung tinanong nyo po ako kung ano yun di sana naiwasan ang mga bagay na ito.”

(I asked you 3 times, ‘Direk, I’m going to do something,’ then you said to just do it in the scene. If you had asked what I was going to do, then we could have avoided this.)

Baron said that the behind-the-scenes footage will show no proof of his being disrespectful towards anyone.

“But you were trying to pull off a Brillante Mendoza, bulong ka sa artista na sampalin mo para magulat or maganda reaction (whisper to the artist to slap somone so he’ll be caught by surprise or the reaction will be nice),” said Baron, referring to award-winning director Brillante Mendoza, the man behind the 2016 Cannes Film Festival nominee Ma’ Rosa.

“I was slapped many times. So I thought… ahhh… so it’s okay pala to surprise my co-actors sa (on) set.”

Baron called Arlyn out for trying to influence other filmmakers against him: “So low po of you to discredit my name. You are better than that po. Mahal kita (I love you).”

In another post, Baron also reacted to Ping Medina’s post about the incident, saying, “Hindi ako naapektuhan sa paninira.” (I am unaffected by people trying to ruin my name.)

“So low,” he said about the photo Ping included in his post. “Lalo na sa mga naniniwala agad (Especially those who believe right away). Inspect… know the truth. ‘Wag mag judge agad. Plastic na industriya (Don’t judge right away. The industry is plastic).”

Moving on

Meanwhile, Arlyn took to Facebook to explain her side of events, saying that Baron was asked to show no emotion when killing Ping’s character during the scene in question.

Arlyn said she rehearsed and demonstrated what she wanted of each actor. For Baron in particular, she said: “He knew I focused on his execution of the role, explained to him where the character is coming from because I do not want a shade of Baron in the acting of Baron here… not the usual.”

While Baron is sober, said Arlyn, he understands and follows her direction, but this time, he was drunk and groggy from his anti-depressant pills.

Arlyn speculated that Baron’s urinating on Ping was a need to impress, following a previous scene where Ping and an inexperienced actor did well.

“There was an earlier scene before this, and you believe, it was where something changed in him or something was triggered in him,” wrote Arlyn. “Ping stole the scene, and another one too, a non-actor by the way. He knew it, I think he felt it. He wanted to redeem himself in the next scene.”

After the incident, Baron told Arlyn that he’d understand if his character was removed from the story. Arlyn said that she had already been thinking of killing off his character, and knew how she was going to go about it.

The director ended with a message for Baron:

“When you apologize, you do not make other excuses. We understand you… you are just being you. It’s all about you.

“Ownership is a virtue and you knew, I believe, it was even in your calculation that we all end up in this controversy. You wanted this… again – the attention, the headlines.

“There are people who respect you and gave you all the openness to be what you said you really are… there are shades of that person, especially when you are not drunk.

“You need to be treated for alcoholism and aren’t you taking too much of those anti-depressant pills?”

A few minutes later, Arlyn sent out another post, this time saying that she was no longer mad about what Baron did, just sad.

“I always move on and I always forgive, whether the apology is sincere or not. However, there’s a clear decision on my part – I am done with this person,” she wrote.

“May you find your peace and may you be the kind of son that you have always wanted to be. You know that you found a friend. You lost one,” Arlyn said to Baron.

She also mentioned a journalist that Baron allegedly disrespected: “Doon sa binastos mong kapwa ko mamamahayag, ikaw na mag-apologize.

(For my fellow journalist that you disrespected, I’ll leave it to you to apologize.)

“Hindi siya stupid, nagtanong lang sa iyo… she just asked the questions based on the requirement of the segment producer.”

(She wasn’t stupid, she was just asking… she just asked the questions based on the requirement of the segment producer.)

Arlyn is also a news director and anchor for Radyo Inquirer.

 

– Rappler.com