Dolly De Leon ad-libs ‘I need to wiwi’ in Triangle of Sadness

DOLLY de Leon’s epic performance in the movie Triangle of Sadness suddenly catapulted the Filipino actress to Hollywood critics’ circle. Back in the Philippines, she couldn’t be more at home with her witty ad-lib “I need to wiwi.”

Wiwi is the colloquial term for pee in Filipino. It is often used by parents when talking to children, to mimic the sound of peeing.

Östlund style

De Leon gives it to Swedish director Ruben Östlund for being very liberal in giving actors more freedom during filming.

“Ruben is someone very open and accepting of kung ano man ‘yung nilalagay namin,” she said in a press conference. 

In the movie, De Leon’s character Abigail is a toilet cleaner who gets stuck on an island together with A-list passengers after their cruise ship sank.  On the island, Abigail takes charge of the situation and becomes the key to everyone’s survival. 

She provides food, builds fire and fishes. 

Elevator scene

In the last scene, Yaya (Charlbi Dean Kriek) found an elevator leading to a posh resort, Abigay stopped her.

“I need to wiwi. And then we will go.”

De Leon said stopping Yaya from rushing to the elevator and pretending to pee as a ruse was not in the script. 

“Kaming lahat, nag-a-ad-lib kami don. Naisip ko lang ‘yon actually nung moment na ‘yon, ‘di ko siya pinlano it just happened,” she said. 

De Leon explained that she normally follows what’s in the script, and only ad-libbed for a few times.

“I think I just did that twice or three times pero pinili niya ‘yung take na ‘yun so ibig sabihin nag-work para sa kanya,” she said. 

She said she also improvised the spraying of Evian bottle on her mouth and on the chest of Carl, a Gen-Z model (Harris Dickinson).

“Yung pag-spray ko ng Evian bottle sa sarili ko uhaw na uhaw na kasi ako non eh kinakabahan ako dun sa eksenang ‘yon tapos sprinay ko dun sa chest ni Harris Dickinson,’ she added. 

Best picture

Triangle of Sadness was named Palme d’Or, the highest award in prestigious Cannes Festival in 2022.

It also got nominated for the Best Picture at the Golden Globes and forthcoming Academy Awards or Oscars.

De Leon won the best supporting actress at the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards and at the Guldbagge Awards, known as Sweden’s equivalent of the Academy Award.

She was nominated also at the Golden Globes and British Academy Film and Television Awards (BAFTA), United Kingdom’s equivalent of the Oscars.

Photo screenshot from movie Triangle of Sadness