River Joseph on joining frats, forming ‘real brotherhood’ in ‘Pamilya Sagrado’

Being part of the drama series “Pamilya Sagrado” has opened his mind to both the good and the bad about fraternities, said young actor River Joseph.

“I was never part of any fraternity. I’ve heard stories of the violence that happens during initiations, also during frat fights. I personally like to stay away from conflicts, just like my character in the show, but then this show really opened my mind. Before shooting, we studied everything we could about fraternities. We did interviews with real frat members. It helped us in the show to act out being part of the community,” River told Inquirer Entertainment in a recent interview.

“I came to realize that there are benefits to being part of a brotherhood in terms of connections and the benefits you could get, not just in college but after, especially in certain professions like in the fields of medicine and law,” he pointed out.

“But then, there’s also the initiation that comes with it. As long as it’s controlled, I feel like it could be beneficial. I heard that back then, before the law on hazing was passed, it was really different.”

River, who took up business management at De La Salle University, said he never got recruited to become part of a fraternity. Working on “Pamilya Sagrado,” however, enabled him to experience what this feels like.

“Yes, we formed a brotherhood on the set, not just the actors but also the cameramen. Tropa ko na sila! We’re almost done taping the show, and I’ll be really sad to not see those people anymore. We got locked-in in Baguio City. When I wake up in the morning, I see my frat mates, my coactors. When we’re not on the set, we all work out together. When we eat out, we still do it together. I’m closest to my roommates Jeremiah Lisbo, Miggs Cuaderno and Emilio Daez. Of course, I’m also close with Kyle (Echarri), Grae (Fernandez), Valentino (Jaafar) and Dustine (Mayores).”

River’s character, Steven, is part of a fraternity led by Grae’s character Justin. He said taping for the initiation rites, which he called “hell night,” required the cast to express real emotions.

Intense scenes

“We shot it for a whole day, so it was so tiring. I had just come from the Star Magic prom, so we left Manila at 3 a.m. We were on the set at 7 a.m. We shot all the scenes in that particular location. There were two batches of initiations. We were all so drained and tired.

“I remember when we were filming that scene, we were all crying. It was because of the intensity of the scene. It wasn’t nice seeing my coactors shouting in pain, even though it wasn’t real. We weren’t really hitting them, but the emotions were real. I also wasn’t able to control myself,” River added.

River’s first foray into acting was via the teen-oriented series “He’s Into Her,” starring Belle Mariano and Donny Pangilinan. It was still very clear to him how he reacted to setting foot on a set for the first time.

“I still remember how my whole body was shaking. I was perspiring so much. Our wardrobe team was already having trouble with my costume because I kept perspiring. I was really nervous,” River recalled.

When it was time to shoot his first scene, he remembered feeling very stiff. “I kept thinking, ‘Is what I’m doing correct?’ There were so many things going on in my head. I even accidentally looked at the camera. Luckily, the director didn’t notice that, but if you watch my scenes in ‘He’s Into Her,’ you’ll see me looking. Compared to now, I’m much more relaxed and comfortable to be in front of the camera and on the set.”

Workshops, trainings

River attributes this improvement to the acting workshops and training he attended as an artist of Rise Artist Studio, a subsidiary of ABS-CBN.

“I started with hosting, and our facilitator was Tito Boy Abunda himself. As an actor, I’ve attended workshops headed by directors like Mae Cruz-Alviar and Cathy Garcia-Sampana, who are also top Filipino directors,” he began.

“Of course the improvement was also because of the number of projects I’ve done, the different productions I’ve been part of, as well as the different people I was able to work with. As in a lot of things, even in sports, you have to do things repeatedly and you keep working hard. Anything is learnable as long as you put time into it.

He continued: “Now, in ‘Pamilya Sagrado,’ it’s so much easier to read the script and memorize the lines, because we already know where we’re coming from. We know how our characters would react to certain situations. I hope the audience will see an improvement in my performance as the show progresses.”