Pre-production Ricky Lee began to write the script for
Himala in 1976 under director, Mike de Leon. Ricky Lee (although requested to be uncredited), Gil Quito and Doy del Mundo together co-written
Itim. Quito told Lee, about a female faith healer he and a friend visited in
Malolos,
Bulacan. The faith healer was cured of cancer by another faith healer, leading her to be a faith healer herself. She insists that medicine is just as good as the faith of people, but soon her cancer came back and eventually took her life. This intrigued Lee, enough so that he began to think about writing a story revolving around a faith healer, and soon he and Quito visited another faith healer in
Tondo, Manila. While they were visiting, Lee and Quito remembered the story of Belinda Villas, of
Cabra Island in
Lubang,
Occidental Mindoro. In 1966, the eleven-year-old Villas and several friends reported experiencing visions of the
Blessed Virgin Mary dressed in white and blue, with her as the principal seer eventually healing people. The island experienced a boom in commerce, and this became the main inspiration for Lee's screenplay. With the help of Bibsy Carballo, Lee approached several producers to promote the script but was rejected several times. He entered the script to a contest by the Experimental Cinema of the Philippines where it became one of the selected scripts for production. Lee was given a month to come up with the final draft and was given ₱40,000. Several aspects of the script were revised. One of the unchanged parts is the casting of Nora Aunor as Elsa.
Alternate versions Lee came up with different endings for the script of
Himala. In one version, Elsa did not die; the townsfolk gradually stopped flocking to her and she reverted to being an ordinary person. Many years later, Orly chances upon Elsa drawing water from an old well, having fallen into obscurity along with her "miracle." In another ending, Elsa was
resurrected like
Jesus Christ. In the end and the beginning, Elsa's devotees are depicted awaiting her return to continue healing the sick townsfolk.
Development Shooting began on July 13, 1982, with the arrival of the art department in
Paoay,
Ilocos Norte led by production designer, Raquel Villavicencio. The production team needed a location for the main setting of the film: a barren and arid land where plants hardly grow and where the soil cracks, suggesting that a slight rain would be considered a miracle by inhabitants. The problem encountered by the team is the shooting took place during the
rainy season in the Philippines, and the film was to premiere at the
1982 Metro Manila Film Festival. The region of
Ilocos was selected as shooting location of the film after scouting locations around the country for the driest place. Barangay Calayab in Laoag was used to depict the village of Cupang, with ten carpenters working 24/7 on the set. Around 3,000 extras were employed for the film. Director Ishmael Bernal also asked people actually inflicted by various conditions and diseases to portray the infirm within the film. Bernal also called for the film to be minimalist, direct to the point, and "straight to the soul", discouraging unnecessary dramatic effects. For example, the characters of Elsa and Nimia stood still, with minimal gestures in the scene where they argue as it focused on the dialogue. Another key element of the film was the bare tree where the Virgin Mary supposedly appeared. The tree was against the sky on top of a hill, but it was actually transplanted to the originally barren hilltop. The production team found the bare tree among green, leafy ones near the area, and it was discovered to be a
hibiscus after it began sprouting leaves. For the final scene at Suba Beach, the 3,000 extras were called to participate which were divided into eight groups. Rain fell and the August 6 shooting had to be postponed, while several of the extras fell sick. By the end of August, shooting for the final scene was finished. Eight cameras were used with one placed below a
Meralco crane. 3,000 extras were still used for the scene which was done in one take. Production costs for the film grew due to delays caused by rain and in at least one occasion, a sandstorm. The shooting for the film took two months. ==Subject and impact==