Anne's sister to join showbiz, too?

Author: Mario E. Bautista
Column: Freehand

Anne Curtis says it's not true that Jericho Rosales acted like a primadonna refusing to do a love scene with her in "Baler" due to his religious beliefs as a born again Christian. "In fairness to him, hindi naman siya nag-inarte sa shooting," she explains. "He's just wondering kasi, meant for general patronage ang movie kaya sa script, wala naman talagang indicated na there'll be a love scene. Kasi kung may love scene, baka hindi na maging GP ang rating. So he's just concerned na huwag sana 'yung sobra. But our director, Mark Meily, is someone you can trust and he knows how to handle love scenes tastefully. "

So how was the love scene? "It's beautiful, as seen in the trailer. Likod ko lang mostly ang shown na hinahalikan niya. It's something even children can watch kasi hindi naman baboy o malaswa ang treatment. If it would be baboy, I'd be the first one to object. "

Anne is happy that her younger sister Jasmine is in Manila with their mom to spend Christmas with her. What if her sister also joins the movies as she's pretty enough to be a movie star? "It's all up to her. I love this business and I know how hard it is. But it's her choice. If she'd choose to join showbiz, I'll support her. "

Did they come home to keep her company now that she just broke up with Sam Milby? "Not really. The original plan was I'll be the one to go to Melbourne to spend Christmas with them. Kaya lang, may 'Baler' nga ako na entry sa filmfest, so I can't go home to them, so sila na lang ang nagpunta rito para naman I'm not all alone on Christmas Day. "

How did her mom and sister accept her split up with Sam? "Siyempre, nalungkot sila kasi they already met him when he had a show in Australia. But I've since moved on and I'm glad Sam and I are in good terms na rin. Pinagbati kami ni Direk Wenn Deramas sa set ng 'Dyosa' kasi maaapektuhan nga naman ang trabaho namin doon kung hindi kami nag-uusap at all. At least, now, we communicate again. "

DIANA REVEALS AFFAIR WITH WENDELL

Diana Zubiri is honest enough to admit there was some rivalry between her and her sexy co-stars in "One Night Only": Katrina Halili, Alessandra de Rossi, Valerie Concepcion, and Jennylyn Mercado.

"Puro kami babae kaya, siyempre, hindi maiiwasan 'yung magkaroon ng competition among us, although we don't acknowledge it openly kundi parang secret lang, sa sarili lang namin," she says. "Pero hindi naman naging dahilan 'yun para magkaroon kami ng problema with each other while shooting the movie. Wala kaming naging problema sa isa't isa and shooting went on smoothly. I've worked with them in the past. Sina Katrina at Jen, kasama ko sa GMA. Sina Alex at Valerie, nakasama ko na rin sa ibang shows. Lahat kami, naiintindihan namin 'yung mga parts namin dito at enjoy kami sa mga roles namin kaya naging masaya ang shooting at makikita sa pelikula na we all had a good time doing it. "

After her convincing performance in two consecutive GMA drama series, "Babangon Ako't Dudurugin Kita" and "Gaano Kadalas ang Minsan", Diana is glad to do a sophisticated sex comedy for Director Joey Reyes in OctoArts' filmfest entry, "One Night Only". "Pare-pareho po kami ng reaction ng co-stars ko when we first read the script. Sobrang nakakatawa po talaga ito. The theme maybe naughty but the way the story unfolds is really hilarious. "

At its last presscon, we asked the whole cast who is the object of their fantasy they'd wanted to spend "One Night Only". Some of them either didn't understand the question or they're just dumb they don't know what to answer. Here are their answers. Empoy - Si Tina Paner. Bata pa ako, nakita kong humaba ang leeg niya sa "Tamis ng Unang Halik". Jayson Gainza - Si Juday. Heart shaped kasi ang lips niya. Alessandra de Rossi - Jules Ledesma. Jon Santos - Si Empoy. Joross Gamboa - Gina Pareño noong kabataan niya. Jennylyn Mercado - Tapos na. Wala na. May baby na nga. Katrina Halili - Wala. Valerie Concepcion - Si Jon Avila, sa movie. In real life, wala. Ogie Diaz - Sa babae, si Ann Kimper ng That's Entertainment Tuesday edition. Sa lalaki, si Leonardo DiCaprio. Ricky Davao - Si Katrina Halili, if I were the same age and not just for one night. Ang lakas ng dating niya. Joey Reyes - Akihiro Sato. Diana Zubiri came late and someone asked her the same question. She gave the most candid answer: Wendell Ramos. Muntik na kami noon, pero hindi natuloy. Niligaw-ligawan niya ako pero naisip naming mas mabuting huwag ituloy kaysa ituloy.

CHRISTOPHER LAUGHED OFF MON'S WINNING

HOW did Christopher de Leon feel when Mon Confiado bested him as best supporting actor in the recent FAMAS rites for his intense portrayal of a drunken military trainer in "Banal," his entry in the Metro filmfest last year? Instead of answering, Boyet just laughed and laughed.

In his entry in the filmfest this year, "Magkaibigan," he plays the role of a doomed man whose life is numbered because of a terminal illness, something he has played before in "God, Save Me. " Does he expect to win this time? "No," he says. "I don't expect anything. I just do my best in portraying whatever role is assigned to me. "

Bro Bo (for Brother Boyet) has won so many filmfest best actor awards for such films as "Ganito Kami Noon, Paano Kayo Ngayon," "Haplos", "Imortal", "Bulaklak ng Maynila" and "Mano Po 3," making him the winningest actor in the annual filmfest. Is he happy with the way his career is still going on right now?

"I've always considered myself as a character actor who can play any kind of role and at my age, I'm just happy na hindi pa rin ako nawawalan ng projects, sa TV man o sa movies. I can do father roles, anything. I've just finished 'Kahit Isang Saglit' and ABS says they're readying another soap for me with Hilda Koronel, so I'm excited about it. Now, heto nga, I have a new movie in 'Magkaibigan', which is one of the best films I've made in collaboration with writer-director Joey Reyes. "

Is it a tearjerker? "It is, pero hindi puwersado ang pagpapaiyak sa viewer. Actually, people will both laugh and cry, just like in real life. Direk Joey told us he wants no crying binges. Kahit anong bigat na ng eksena, bawal ang outburst ng emotions. Everything is so quiet. Even when I revealed to my best friend, Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, that I have a cancer, it's all done in a matter of fact way. Walang masyadong kadramahan. It's common knowledge that the story is based on his friendship with Rudy Fernandez at mismong si Daboy, at his last moments, laging sinasabi sa mga tao: 'Walang iiyak. Ayoko ng malungkot'. During his last few days, I'd often visit him at ayaw niyang makitang malungkot ang mga tao sa paligid niya. 'Magkaibigan' is like that. It's actually more a celebration of life, how to deal with death and how to accept the loss of a loved one. After this, I'm supposed to do a new film for Director Mel Chionglo about the assassination of a radio broadcaster. They're offering me the role of the broadcaster but I chose to do the assassin, instead. For a change. "
CESAR ENJOYS BEING WITH BEAUTY QUEENS

Cesar Montano was obviously thrilled when three international beauty queens came to the set of "Singing Bee" to tape for its episode to be shown this Sunday after "Goin' Bulilit. " These are Kapuso host Miriam Quiambao who crosses over to the Kapamilya station to be a special contestant along with 2005 Ms. International Lara Quigaman and this year's Miss Earth Karla Paola Henry.

Cesar says this special episode with beauty queens is one of the most enjoyable "Singing Bee" editions he has done so far. "It's really a big thrill and so nice to be surrounded by the world's most beautiful women," he grins.

Will Miriam, who's first runnerup at the 1999 Miss Universe, be able to beat her equally beautiful rivals in singing? "I promise to do my best," she says. "I might not be a great singer but I can carry a tune naman so I'm confident na hindi ako mapapahiya. "

But for tonight, three "Pinoy Fear Factor" participantes will be competing in "The Singing Bee": TV host Phoemela Baranda, actress LJ Moreno and the hunky chef Jose Sarasola who's just been sent home from Argentina. Will this be as hard a challenge as the stunts they did in "Pinoy Fear Factor"?

"Yes, ibang klase ito kasi I also have a fear of singing and I must conquer it to win the P1 million prize in 'Singing Bee,' " says Jose who has previously conquered his fear of snakes and high places. "Providing the missing lyrics for a song will be a very difficult test for us nina Phem and LJ. "NINA ON KIM: KANYANG-KANYA NA SI GERALD

IN a TV interview, Kim Chiu admitted she got jealous when Gerald Anderson became very close to Nina Jose while they were doing "My Only Hope. "

What can Nina say about this? "Naku, wala naman siyang dapat ipagselos sa akin," she says. "I'm harmless. Kanyang-kanya na si Gerald at wala akong balak agawin ito sa kanya. Wala akong ibang focus ngayon other than my career, lalo na ngayon at nagpe-pelikula na ako. "

Nina feels lucky to be in not just one but two Metro filmfest entries of Regal. "I play one of the haunted classmates of Kim and Gerald in the 'Class Picture' episode directed by Topel Lee in 'Shake Rattle & Roll X'," she says. "Tapos kasama rin ako sa 'Desperadas 2'. I play a nurse at kasama ko sa hospital si TJ Trinidad who is a doctor. Pinagselosan ako ni Iza Calzado, TJ's wife, as she thought we're having an affair. "
DIDITH COULD HAVE BEEN WITH THE 'LEGENDS'

OUR condolences to the family of singer Didith Reyes who was found dead last Monday. At the presscon of the "Legends of OPM", Eva Eugenio and Claire de Fuente just told us they would have enjoyed singing with her in their concert at PICC at December 30. And now she's gone.

Didith rose to fame with Vicor Music in the mid-70s with the song "Araw-Araw, Gabi-Gabi" which was used in the same movie whose story was patterned from "All Mine to Give" starring the late Charito Solis. She was later launched in her own movie, "Nananabik", with the late Ricky Belmonte as leading man. Other hits of Didith include "Bakit Ako Mahihiya" and "Damong Ligaw", both of which also became movie theme songs. She lost her luster when she became difficult to handle and it's said she got hooked into drugs. Some well meaning folks tried to help her in Laguna but she allegedly returned to her old vices of booze and drugs.
MORE SPECULATIONS

MEANTIME, as we predicted, speculations about the untimely demise of Marky Cielo continue to crop up. The latest that we heard is that Marky got someone preggy and his mentor (Rommel Gacho) reportedly gave him a dressing down and told him his career is finished since he won't be given any more shows.

Another lurid report says he has a gay benefactor who threatened to harm Marky so he hanged himself. Honestly, it's sounding more and more ridiculous. Let's just heed his mom's request. Whatever truths may be revealed, they will not bring back Marky's life. So just let him rest in peace with the Lord, okay?

CHAIRMAN BF TAKES JOB SERIOUSLY

MMDA Chairman Bayani Fernando invited the press to the turnover of P300,000, part of his winnings from "Celebrity Duets", to Child Haus, a foundation for sick children (mostly with cancer) at the Quezon Institute grounds initiated by the philanthropist, Ricky Reyes. It's also a Christmas party for the press where writers played games and won big prizes at the raffle.

BF really wears many hats. Aside from being MMDA chairman, he's also head of the Metro Manila Filmfest committee for six years now to raise funds for charitable projects led by the Mowelfund. MMFF financial highlights record an all-time high in gross receipts under BF's tenure since 2002, doubling even tripling the amount listed in the records even in the first year which amounted to P315,299,233. 05 as against the previous year's P147,731,964. 00. In 2006, MMFF recorded the highest gross at P415,824,324. 70 which has yet to be surpassed this year. Last year's gross, was at P377,305,615. 65. "I really take my job here seriously and I want to serve more and more people in the industry through this prestigious festival," he says.

Source: People's Journal