The villainous character of Lizardo had been played by Philippine cinema icons Max Alvarado, Philip Salvador, and Christopher de Leon. In the 2018 Metro Manila Film Festival, Jake Cuenca brought out his own version of the iconic character opposite Coco Martin as Flavio in “Ang Panday.”

In an episode of Tonight with Boy Abunda, Jake mentioned that the biggest challenge was to not repeat the said actors’ previous acting styles. That’s why he didn’t watch their versions prior to filming.

He was excited to finally play a character akin to his favorite, The Joker. But he also had to control the enthusiasm so to avoid acting like The Joker. “If you go to my house, I have so many Joker paintings. It’s because I always dreamt of being like the Joker. But in this movie, the challenge was to not copy The Joker, to come up with an original performance na ‘pag nakita ng tao, hindi nila sasabihin na ‘Ay, kinopya lang niya si Joker,’” shared Jake.

He added, “It’s different being a fan of The Joker and it’s different when you actually have the opportunity to somewhat become one.”

Apart from being selective with the roles, he also diligently studies his assignment to offer something new to his audience each time. It also helped that Coco knows how to showcase his actors’ strengths. “He’s an actor’s director. Honestly, alam niya ‘yung pinagdadaanan ng isang artista in a scene to scene basis. Alam n’ya ‘yung strengths and weaknesses kada isang eksena,” said Jake.