IN JP Habac’s I’m Drunk, I Love You, Dominic Roco played the gay best friend of Maja Salvador, who called him by the term of endearment “Baks.” He imbued the role with delicacy and intelligence, never once resorting to caricature. Roco’s performance makes you wish you had a real-life buddy like his character in the movie.
In this year’s Cinemalaya, Roco went from lighthearted fare of I’m Drunk…to serious drama as the rebel husband of Glaiza de Castro in Kip Oebanda’s Liway. He turned in another credible performance that’s powerfully subtle, one that never called attention to itself.
That Dominic Roco is a very good, if vastly underrated actor is not exactly confounding since acting runs in the genes, being the son of the award-winning Bembol Roco.
For Liway, Dominic admitted that the actors didn’t have enough time to prepare. He was told about the project only a few days before cameras started rolling. “That was why I tried to immediately grow some facial hair so I would look more mature.”
He feels the need to be comfortable in every role he accepts. He cited a TV series where he was told he was to play a lawyer and admittedly, Roco felt he had to have ample time to study. But then, local TV doesn’t work that way. One is usually thrown into a project in assembly-line speed which makes time to prepare really scarce.
Liway is memorable to Roco because he was reunited with Glaiza de Castro, his favorite costar. The two have worked together in four movies, including Sleepless where Roco won a Best Actor award at the QCinema Film Festival. Roco is under contract with GMA Artist Center but he doesn’t recall the management arm of the network ever finding an indie project for him. Roco shared that he himself scouts for casting calls for projects that he finds interesting. “I would pass an audition, get the formal offer and then forward it to my handler. It used to work that way until lately when they started to be less lenient.”
But then again, Roco is thankful he’s been able to do projects where he felt his heart was in the right place, like the gay role in the aforementioned movie I’m Drunk, I Love You. The performance earned raves from those who saw it but, unfortunately, it didn’t receive a single acting nomination. “When I won Best Actor for Sleepless, I thought the award would send my career onto the fast lane. But after I won, I don’t think it really did anything to boost my career.”
Lest he be misinterpreted, Roco says that recognition is always flattering but he would much rather that people remember he was good in a certain film. That’s worth more than an actual trophy.
Not unlike his father, he has the mind-set of an actor. “I’ve actually told my management not to push me anymore as a leading man. All I want is regular work and a chance to do meaty roles. It’s hard when you’re playing the lead because the pressure always falls on you.”
He is looking forward to doing a full-length film with his dad. They’ve worked before on the small screen. “It has been a longtime dream,” he said. The 29-year-old strikes us as someone who, from the get-go, resisted being a star and fall into the trap of celebrityhood, just like his iconic dad.
The good news for film buffs is that Roco intends to stay in the business for as long as he can, until his hair grows gray. “This is what I know, this is what I love, and I’ll be doing this for the rest of my life. This is my passion, my life.”
We are happy that we can expect to be enthralled by this fine actor’s gifts in the years to come. And we are quite sure that Dominic Roco will continue to give life to more memorable characters onscreen big or small.