BARON GEISLER FINDS A MENTOR IN 'DELIVERY RIDER' DIRECTOR LESTER PIMENTEL ONG

BARON GEISLER RECENTLY SHARED HOW HE FOUND A MENTOR AND FATHER FIGURE, who continues to inspire him on and off the set, in “Delivery Rider” director Lester Pimentel Ong.

- NATHALIE TOMADA

In the action-drama, Baron plays a high-functioning person on the autism spectrum who works as a delivery rider and gets entangled in danger after a job gone wrong. Also starring Jake Cuenca and child star Euwenn Mikaell, the film is currently streaming at No. 1 on Netflix Philippines.

Their partnership, however, began earlier via the 2023 action series “The Iron Heart,” where Baron played the antagonist. Direk Lester was aware of the actor's controversial past, from alcohol abuse to “history of misconduct,” but recalled how impressed he was by Baron's renewed professionalism and commitment when they got to work together on the ABS-CBN primetime show.

“It was my first time to work with him and I saw his dedication to work,” the director looked back in an exclusive interview with The STAR. “I was impressed by his professionalism and his talent — his acting talent.”

A former martial arts champion turned TV and movie director, Lester also knew Baron's brother Donny from the national taekwondo team and was aware that Baron had some martial arts background himself.

“I knew he was doing his best to recover and get back into the industry. Dun ko na-realize that he has a talent in martial arts na alam namin lahat pero hindi pa nagagamit. Hindi pa masyadong nakikita kasi most of his roles didn’t require it,” he said.