Tom Rodriguez has revealed how landing a role in an upcoming series, The Cure, is a childhood dream come true.
In the series, directed by Mark Reyes and also stars Jennylyn Mercado and LJ Reyes, Tom plays Greg, a family man who works for a pharmaceutical firm successful in creating effective medicines.
One day, Greg’s life takes a turn when his mother is diagnosed with late-stage cancer. Desperate to find treatment, he gets his hands on an experimental drug derived from a type of rabies that only exist in simians and gives it to his mother. The drug becomes the root of an infection that threatens to spread all over the city.
In an interview with Manila Standard and some select members of the entertainment press, the 30-year-old Kapuso actor revealed how his character would evolve from someone who has a weak personality into an action hero.
“My character, he’s weak in the beginning. And the look, they didn’t change the way I look. I even get to wear my glasses, which is somehow much closer to how I usually am when I’m just at home,” he started.
“Greg means well. He wants to do good things. His natural instinct is to jump into and take risks but pag nauunahan ng utak niya..that stops him. That’s his barrier in the beginning. But all he wanted to do is to protect his family,” he explained.
Talking about the character, he said although Greg is depicted as somehow geeky and weak in the beginning of the story, he will transform into some kind of an action hero due to the development in the series that requires him to run, jump off a building and do some other crazy physical stunts.
“The stunts…they are so much fun to do. You feel renewed. Whereas when you do dramatic scenes sometime it can be the opposite, it can be draining,” Tom said while showing some bruises and scratches on his forearms.
Little did many people know, Tom is a big fan of action genre. As a kid he enjoyed watching Star Wars and E.T.. He was interested in any Stephen King stuff and even pretended as Indiana Jones that's why one of his dream projects is to do an action series or film.
“Action and sci-fi are the genres that I grew up with. It’s my first time to do an action series, and I hope they’d give me more like this. And I’m happy whenever GMA offers me something because every project stretches me in one way or another. Every role that they’ve given me makes feel so scared, but in a positive way,” he stated.
Tom is also fortunate that because of his role’s physical requirement, he’s able to keep fit without going to the gym.
“I wasn’t able to prepare physically but because of the stunts I’m doing right now, I am able to burn all the calories I packed after the Bench show. The stunts serve as my form of exercise,” he ended.