Anyone would enjoy a helicopter ride. Why not? But hanging in the landing bar of a helicopter as it hovers hundreds of feet above ground for minutes is not exactly the kind of fun helicopter ride anyone would enjoy except if you're actress Jennylyn Mercado!
Known for being dainty and sweet and dramtic in most of her roles for television and movies, Jennylyn's career took a death-defying twist with this helicopter stunt which was needed for her upcoming Quark Henares film for Regal Entertainment entitled "Super Noypi." And mind you, she did her own stunts in the movie!
"At first, I was just supposed to hang from the bar of the helicopter a couple of feet high only. But I thought it wouldn't look good on screen. I then let them take me higher and I hang longer than what was expected," she explained proudly in Tagalog.
If she used a double for such a stunt, moviegoers would know it wasn't her anymore because the camera was in front of her, showing her facial reactions.
"I just enjoyed the scene because it would be a waste if I didn't. If I put my fear first then I won't be effective especially on film," she gushed.
She stressed though that she wasn't anymore aware of time when her stunt commenced because she was focused on her acting and not committing any mistake. For her safety, her body was harnessed to the helicopter just in case her hands slip and she falls.
The helicopter scene was just a few of the stunts she had to endure (but had fun doing) for "Super Noypi." Before doing their fight scenes in the film, she and the rest of her co-actors had to train for weeks in various martial arts - Arnis and Tae Kwon Do, and gymnastics too before filmming began.
"I'm not really your type of a courageous person. I also had fear about my helicopter scene but I just wanted to try it," she said with a smile.
The irony of it all though was that Jennylyn has vertigo. According to her, she found out about it just recently and it is triggered by stress. She's just glad that she didn't have a vertigo attack while hanging for dear life from the chopper's landing bar. Jennylyn's most recent vertigo attack was during a mall show wherein halfway through a song she fainted and woke up inside the mall's infirmary.
In "Super Noypi," Jennylyn plays a martial arts expert from the future who went back to the past to locate other "Pinoys" with superpowers to help her save the country and the whole world from an evil nemesis.
"Super Noypi," whose concept is like that (except for the superhuman powers part) of the international box-office hit "Terminator" in terms of saving the human race by going to the past, also stars her onscreen love team Mark Herras, John Prats, Polo Ravales, Katrina Halili, Monsour del Rosario, Andrew Muhlach and Sandara Park.
Written by Fair Raymundo and Enzo Valdez, "Super Noypi" tackles the lives of a group of teenagers and how they will be changed by their discovery that they possess superhuman powers and that their parents were all superheroes.
For this "Super Noypi" project, one of the official fim entries of Regal Entertainment to this year's Metro Manila Film Festival, Mother Lily Monteverde has brought together experts from the United States and Asia. Her goal is for her film to be truly loved and enjoyed by children of all ages this Christmas season.
These experts are Joe La Penna, a prosthetics expert who worked for "Saturday Night Live" and "Tales from the Dark Side," visual effects supervisor Ted Godwyn of Geebo Digital and stunt directors Philip Ko of Hong Kong and Jon Escudero of the Philippines.
"This is the first time I've been given an action film project. I'm used to doing sweet romance and dramatic films. I'm very excited of the outcome and I'm sure moviegoers will enjoy ‘Super Noypi,'" Jennylyn exclaimed proudly.
"Super Noypi," despite being physically taxing, has been a good test of Jennylyn Mercado's versatility as an actress. She enjoyed every moment especially the camaraderie she built with her co-actors and director. And if she's offered another action-packed movie, she said she wouldn't mind accepting it since she also looks up to Angelina Jolie who's known as Lara Croft in the "Tomb Raider" film series.
With her bravery in doing her helicopter stunt, we now know why Jennylyn is an Ultimate Survivor, in showbiz and in real life! Entertainment.
source : Dyaryoboy
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