Award-winning actor and television host Dingdong Dantes returns to primetime television in the action-drama series “The Master Cutter,” where he plays a former Scout Ranger living a double life as a tailor and tracker-for-hire.
Premiered first on Netflix on May 8, 72 hours ahead of its local television debut on GMA Prime tonight, the series follows Anthony “Atoy” Padua, a highly skilled former soldier trying to rebuild his life while secretly helping people track criminals, recover stolen property and seek justice.
For Dantes, the role of Atoy offered both a physical challenge and an opportunity to portray a character unlike any he has done before in his nearly three decades in show business.
“The challenging part is doing different kinds of characters. Because, of course, I did a clown character here, there’s also a nun. So, physically, it’s a bit challenging, but at the same time, it’s really fun to do. Because this is something that I haven’t done yet, even though I’ve done a lot of things on television,” Dantes shared during a press conference hosted by Netflix Philippines.
Asked what convinced him to accept the project, he said, “Well, I think there’s no reason to say no if you’re given such a beautiful project like this. Especially when you’re with such a talented cast. One of the biggest casts, I think, that I’ve worked with in my entire career.”
“But at the heart of the story, more than the spectacle, and more than the action scenes that you see, is the heart of the story. I think it’s all about a modern family story. It’s all about different types of relationships,” he added.
While the series features large-scale action scenes and suspense-driven storytelling, Dantes said some of his favorite moments happen inside Atoy’s tailoring shop.
“There’s nothing more fulfilling than the character of Atoy when he is the master cutter or the tailor. For me, it’s very, very fulfilling,” he said.
“Atoy’s shop, Mang Delfin’s Tailoring, is situated in Baclaran. Baclaran has a very nice community, that’s where we shoot. You’ll see later on in the series, how fun, how colorful, and how full of character the place is and much more, if you get to meet the characters,” he added.
According to the actor, Barangay Tabanglupa — the fictional community featured in the series — becomes the center of the show.
“There are a lot of talented characters that form the Barangay Tabanglupa. For me, it’s very fulfilling because Atoy, as a character, and as the tailor, and as the master cutter, he’s able to bring all of these characters together,” Dantes said.
“Their lives are intertwined, in one way or another. I get to know their stories. I get to know what’s important in their lives,” he added.
Meanwhile, director Dominic Zapata said the series was deeply inspired by the real-life Baclaran community where he grew up. However, he cited production challenges caused by airplane noise from nearby airport operations.
“There was so much pushback that we did this in Baclaran. And with good reason, because if you shoot there in the morning, it’s like every 10 minutes, there’s a plane passing by. That’s not going to work when you’re shooting. It’s going to be too noisy. But because it’s landing, it ends quickly. It lands quickly, so you wait like 15 seconds, and then the sound disappears. But because that’s my neighborhood, I really wanted to shoot there,” he explained.
Zapata revealed that one of the show’s central inspirations came from a real-life tailor named Mang Delfin.
“There’s a character called Mang Delfin. He was an actual person. He was a master cutter. He used to work in Bergamo as a master cutter. Then, he started doing home service. He goes to you, give you swatches, you choose a fabric, then it comes back after 10 days for fitting. And he was really good,” he recalled.
“That’s where my inspiration started. He had access to all these people. That’s where it came from,” the director said, adding that he also wanted to shine a spotlight on tailors and the often-overlooked stories behind the profession.
Zapata also praised the production’s action team for mounting cinematic sequences despite the constraints of television production.
“I don’t think, personally, in my almost 30 years of doing television, we’ve done action scenes quite as big as the one we did in ‘Master Cutter,’” he said.
“Believe me, I’ve done quite a number of action scenes. But that opening scene, that’s hard to top,” Zapata added.
The director also expressed hope that the Netflix release would help strengthen cultural ties across Southeast Asia.
“I’ve been talking to Dong for a long time. Every time we talk about regional things, I said that Southeast Asia should act like an EU, that we should help each other,” Zapata said.
“When I see them, they’re like brothers — Indonesians, Thai — these are our people. So, I’m so excited to watch what we’re doing here, to familiarize them with our culture, the same way we familiarize ourselves with other cultures when we watch shows from their countries,” he said.
The series also stars Max Collins, Shuvee Etrata, Sienna Stevens, Jo Berry, Paolo Contis, Tonton Gutierrez, Joey Marquez, Polo Ravales, Ketchup Eusebio, Max Eigenmann and Rio Locsin. Also featured in the series are Sparkle stars Charlie Fleming, Prince Carlos, and Anthony Constantino.
“The Master Cutter” airs Monday through Friday at 8:15 p.m. on GMA Prime and streams through Kapuso Stream, GMA Play and Netflix.
