Richard Gutierrez on producing own film, fulfilling Hollywood dream

If it were up to him, Richard Gutierrez would like to see a movie version of the action-drama series “The Iron Heart,” with him not only as the lead star but a coproducer, as well.

“A movie would require a longer time to prepare, though. The work we do for TV, especially now that we’re already working on our second season, is very strict when it comes to following schedules. We have to be on the dot. We can’t miss a beat,” he began.

“A movie would require material that will run for a maximum of two hours. I’m open to the idea of doing it because, this way, the storyline will be improved. I would also love to produce it on my own, but ABS-CBN owns the intellectual property rights for ‘The Iron Heart,’ so let’s see. I hope we can collaborate with Star Cinema,” he told Inquirer Entertainment in a recent interview.

Former rivals

Speaking of collaborations, Richard admitted to feeling excited about the news that former rivals ABS-CBN and GMA 7 “are now helping each other.” He was referring to the drama series “Unbreak My Heart,” which is currently airing on the Kapuso network and streaming on the Viu app.

“They are sharing talents. This has never happened before. It’s a breakthrough in our local industry,” said Richard, who started as a young talent at GMA 7 before becoming a Kapamilya in 2017. “It was amazing to hear that the big bosses of both media outfits sat down to discuss and agree to do a project together. A lot of us actors wanted to work with each other even before, but because we were tied up with a network, we couldn’t. Finally, it is happening. I hope this continues. Let’s pray for the success of their first effort to merge because we want to see more of this in the future.”

Richard said he would love to do a project with Dingdong Dantes, one of the Kapuso network’s top actors today. “I miss working with the people of GMA 7. Aside from ‘Mulawin the Movie,’ Dong and I have never done anything again. An action project for TV would be nice. I would also like to do projects with some of their new artists,” he declared.

To work abroad is also a possibility for Richard, he said. “This should really be the target of Filipino artists now—to work with an international production. This is the one thing that we should focus our attention on, especially because, after the emergence of streaming, it became easier for many to cross over. We now have more opportunities. I think with our skills, our talents and everything we can offer as an industry, the fulfillment of our Hollywood dream doesn’t seem impossible anymore,” he added.

Exciting news

“It doesn’t have to be Hollywood right away. We can conquer Southeast Asia first by tying up with some of them. Besides, Filipino-produced material can now be seen in Thailand and Malaysia. This is the most exciting news for us today.”

Richard disclosed that “The Iron Heart” has already tapped Singaporean Ace Wang Yan Bin as its action director. He works alongside our very own Lester Pimentel Ong and Richard Ibasco Arellano.

Gutierrez as Apollo/Tisoy in “The Iron Heart”

“When we work on our action scenes, he looks at the ‘John Wick’ series as our standard,” Richard added. “But we also have different references in action. Sometimes, we would adopt Jackie Chan’s style, meaning, we would make use of the things we see in our environment as weapons. We also make Jet Li, Ethan Hunt [from the ‘Mission Impossible’ franchise] and the James Bond series as references. Oftentimes, we would watch videos to get ideas, but end up making it our own with what we currently have.”

Open to suggestions

Collaboration is a big deal on “The Iron Heart” set, too. He explained: “I give my input as well. Sometimes, when I see a stunt or fight choreography that I want to do, I would first make sure they’re OK with it. What’s great is that our directors are very open to suggestions. They know my strengths. They also know what moves will look natural in relation to how I move.”

The team has come a long way compared to when they were just starting the series, Richard observed. In fact, shooting fight scenes is now a lot easier and faster to do than the talking scenes. “While action scenes usually take us from 30 minutes to an hour, talking scenes are much longer to shoot. I would often tell them this as a joke, ‘Guys, did you know that ‘John Wick’ took six weeks to rehearse this stunt? Tayo six minutes lang!’ I’m proud that even though we were given limited time to do fight scenes, we still managed to come up with something visually good,” he declared.

Since the project is physically demanding, Richard admitted to having had several off days on set, as well. “There were times when I’d get sick just when we were scheduled to shoot multiple fight scenes. I’d just take medicine and still do the work. I knew early on what was expected of me. Ginusto ko ito eh,” he stressed.

“The Iron Heart,” which also stars Jake Cuenca, Dimples Romana, Sue Ramirez and Albert Martinez, airs at 8:45 p.m. on the Kapamilya Channel, A2Z and TV5. INQ

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