MANILA, Philippines — There were tense moments.
And it wasn?t the staged tension, where Erik ?El Terrible? Morales crashes a beer joint to the strains of a Mexican ditty, approaches a table where Manny Pacquiao and trainer Freddie Roach are seated and engages the Filipino ring icon in a staring match.
During the making of the San Miguel Corp. commercial that is not only sure to spawn spoofs — proof of its potential blockbuster caliber — but also sure to go down in advertising lore as a major coup, there was still leftover tension from a bitter rivalry.
?You could feel [that they were uncomfortable with each other],? said a San Miguel insider, who revealed to the Philippine Daily Inquirer what happened behind the scenes on condition of anonymity.
The first scene that was shot was the toast scene, and the official revealed that when ?they needed to sit right next to each other, you [could] tell by the body language [that they were uncomfortable]. Erik was leaning [to] the left, Manny was leaning [to] the right.?
It did not help that Roach, the American trainer who sparred verbally with Morales in the days leading to their November match in Las Vegas, where Pacquiao floored Morales in the third round to end their super featherweight trilogy on a winning note, had a cameo role in the commercial.
?During the shoot, Freddie Roach approached Erik, but he didn?t get the response he was expecting,? said the insider, who was privy to every detail of the shoot. ?The following day, Roach decided to see Erik in his room, to clear the air. On his way to Erik?s room, he met Erik who was also exactly about to do the same thing.?
2-day secret shoot
So as the shooting day wore on, the tension between two of the boxing world?s fiercest gladiators thawed and ?they started getting comfortable with each other.?
Everything proceeded smoothly from then on.
The two-day shoot for the commercial, which was conceptualized in December, was held in a Forbes Park mansion in Makati City in the second week of January. It was kept under wraps, although when Morales flew to the country for a supposed vacation, there were already reports that he and Pacquiao were going to shoot a commercial for the giant beer company.
Pacquiao shrugged off the animosity that clouded the early days of the shoot when interviewed by a television news show.
Friends outside ring
?We?re friends,? said Pacquiao of Morales. ?Boxing is a business, outside the ring we?re friends.?
And that friendship is sealed over bottles of San Miguel Beer, or so the ad says. After the staredown, Morales breaks into a smile and raises two bottles of San Miguel?s Pale Pilsen brew, and hands one to Pacquiao.
Then, the Mexican boxing legend utters the line that should end up immortalizing the ad: ?Wala kang katulad, Manny (You are peerless, Manny).?
?The objective of the campaign is for San Miguel to be a catalyst in bringing people together, not just locally but worldwide,? a corporate source explained. ?With Pacquiao?s victory, we thought it was timely. Our concept for the campaign has been reconciliation and friendship. We?ve been communicating it through the years. And who would best embody reconciliation but Erik Morales and Manny Pacquiao??
Morales, who also told a news program that he considers Pacquiao a friend, had no qualms signing up for the campaign. But he was concerned about the story line of the ad at the start, the source said.
?The interest of Morales was how the story board was going to look like,? said the insider. ?We couldn?t avoid for him to be adamant, because it?s going to be aired in his opponent?s turf. It?s not that he has something against Manny personally, he was just curious how the story line would come out.?
30 takes for 4-word spiel
And then there was the Mexican?s speaking line. The source said that it took the three-division champion 30 takes to perfect his four-word spiel.
?As soon as he got his copy sheet, he kept reading it — even in his car, during lunch. Even if it?s just one line, his manner of delivery, the syllabication, the inflection is different,? the insider said.
Because the ad brings together two of the most sought-after super featherweights in the ring business, speculation was rife as to how much it cost to finance the ad. However, San Miguel officials refused to divulge even a ballpark figure.
McCann Erickson, the agency of the food conglomerate that handled the commercial, signed a confidentiality clause that bars its members from divulging estimates of the production cost.
Most expensive ad
Industry sources, however, said this could easily be one of the most expensive commercials in the history of local television.
A business associate of Pacquiao, who also spoke with the Inquirer on condition that he not be named, revealed that Morales got P5 million for the commercial while Roach received P2 million.
The associate said taxes for their talent fee were already paid by San Miguel and that Pacquiao and the beverage firm made sure that Morales and Roach did not spend a single centavo during their stay here and during the shoot.
In fact, both were driven to and from the location of the shoot in a pair of luxury cars worth P20 million each.
The source did not reveal Pacquiao?s talent fee, although the boxer already has a lucrative pact with San Miguel, which requires him to do commercials for the company.
Pacquiao is San Miguel?s biggest endorser, and this is his second commercial with the company after the ?Painom? ad with television star Kris Aquino, which was launched in 2005.
Bloopers
And like every film shoot, this one had its share of bloopers.
When Pacquiao and Morales started getting comfortable with each other, the Filipino started coaching his Mexican counterpart, especially with the latter?s speaking line.
?But Manny has punto (Visayan accent),? said the source. ?So nakukuha din ni Morales yung punto (So Morales would end up speaking with the same accent.)?
Small wonder it took 30 takes to shoot the Morales sound bite.
Because Pacquiao has proven that he can carry himself comfortably in front of the cameras — he already has several commercials to his name — all eyes were on Morales during the shoot. And the future Hall-of-Famer acquitted himself well.
?He was easy to work with, very professional,? said the source. ?He never complained. He acts well; he works very well with the camera.?
Gracious host
In reality, there was little for Morales to complain about once the boxer got over the tension between him and his rival and the cold war that created friction between him and Roach.
Pacquiao was a gracious host, the business associate said, to Morales and wife Andrea, gifting them with a crucifix pendant encrusted in diamonds.
And Morales was warmly accepted by the Filipino people, prompting the Mexican to wonder out loud why he was well loved in a country that is home to his fiercest boxing rival.
?He kept asking me why people continued to mob him,? the associate said. ?He really expected to be a hated figure here.?
