When renowned director Mike de Leon announced in 2016 that he would once again direct a movie, Pinoy movie fans were overjoyed. At that point, De Leon’s last film had been Bayaning 3rd World, which was shown in 2000.
Shortly after the initial stories of his return to Philippine cinema came out, it was revealed that De Leon’s comeback film would be Citizen Jake. It was expected to be a groundbreaking film — what with De Leon deciding to tap real life broadcast journalist Atom Araullo as the title character.
Citizen Jake is now showing in cinemas. People note that it is a highly charged and very political film. One critic even went as far as to say that it’s De Leon’s “angriest” movie.
However, it seems that there is conflict behind Citizen Jake. By now, everyone knows that De Leon and Araullo have engaged in a Facebook smackdown. We’ll let the following headlines give you an overview of what’s going on.
- Mike de Leon blasts ‘celebrity’ Atom Araullo’s ‘narcissism’
- Atom Araullo addresses Mike de Leon’s ‘hurtful’ remarks
- Mike de Leon calls Citizen Jake star Atom Araullo hypocritical, narcissistic
- Atom Araullo breaks silence on rift with Mike de Leon
- Atom Araullo: Mike de Leon is ‘troubled’ and needs ‘help’
With De Leon aged 71 and Araullo at 35, some people are calling this a Baby Boomer vs. Millennial digital smackdown. (What about the Gen X crowd? Well, we’re the ones writing about it.)
There are those of us who are hoping that De Leon and Araullo are just engaging in online sparring to help promote Citizen Jake. If that’s the case, then it’s a brilliant move. If it isn’t, then it is, indeed, one heck of a sad ending for what had been such a promising partnership.
