Letting it all hang pays off for Marco Morales

Author: Mario E. Bautista
Column: Dream Factory

LOTLOT de Leon is frustrated with her career here as she now seldom gets acting jobs so she packed her bags and left for the US to see her biological dad, an American, whom she was able to track down through the internet. (But what about her biological mom, the one who sold her to Nora Aunor? Did she get to trace her, too?)

She's said to be hoping her real dad can help her find a new job there and start a new life. (Or maybe her adoptive mom, Nora Aunor, can also help her.)

Someone can't believe it's been that easy for Lotlot to leave her four kids under the care of ex-husband Ramon Christopher. "Para sa isang ina, di ba mahirap basta iwanan na lang ang mga anak niya?"

But Pilita Corrales herself has told us before that it was Lotlot who decided to leave their home even then. "Siya ang umalis, hindi siya pinaalis," she said. It's said that even when Lotlot was still here, their kids (mostly teenagers now) really stay with Monching.

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Klaudia Koronel is supposed to follow her husband Andy Zhang in New York right after their Iglesia ni Kristo wedding last month, but she begged off as she had to finish and help promote her new movie, "Estasyon," directed by GMA-7 news reporter Cesar Apolinario whose debut film, "Banal," won him a best director award. "My last film was 'Live Show' pa with Direk Joey Reyes," she says. "Ang tagal na. I accepted 'Estasyon' as Direk Cesar is an old friend. Nang makulong noon ang isang relative ko, he helped me para mapalaya yun. Even then, he's telling me he wants to direct me in a movie. Heto nga, nagkatotoo na and it's so different from any of the sexy films I've done before. I play here the grieving mother of a teenage boy (newcomer Christian Galindo) who wants to go to Quiapo and join the procession for the Nazareno para gumaling ako sa sakit ko."

We've seen "Estasyon" and Klaudia is totally deglamorized as the probinsiyana mom. She delivers a solid portrayal and shines in several scenes, particularly in the ending where she's talking silently by herself in the rain. "Stressed out ang looks ko sa movie as the shooting coincided with the preparation for my wedding. Bumagay nga. I'm proud of the film and I'd like my husband to see it but he'sasking me to follow him in New York so I'm leaving on October 16."

Andy is an I.T. (information technology) consultant who shuttles back and forth to New York, Atlanta and Arizona. "So palipat-lipat din kami roon," says Klaudia. "Hindi rin ako nakaalis agad kasi binaha ang magulang at kapatid ko sa bahay nilang malapit sa creek noong Ondoy and I had to help them muna."

"Estasyon" is a movie for Catholics. How come she accepted it when she's Iglesia?

"Nagtanong naman ako and as long as I'm not made to kneel before a religious image daw or hold a cross, okay lang."

Her role actually symbolizes that of the Blessed Virgin and the film's climax shows her in a Pieta pose with her son. Indeed this is a far cry from the films she did with Seiko like "Anakan Mo Ako" where she's scantily clad.

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On the set of "Sagrada Familia," we learned that Emilio Garcia is also a victim of the Ondoy flood as he lives in Filinvest Cainta. "What made it horrible is that I wasn't home when the floods came," he says. "I represented GMA-7 in a badminton event and I took my wife with me without knowing so our three kids, aged 12, 8 and 1 year old, were just left with their yaya. When the yaya called me that the flood has entered our house, we triedto rush home but the streets going home have become impassable. It's the first time this happened in our place. My wife and I felt so helpless. I wanted to swim to our house but soldiers guarding the road wouldn't let me as the current is so strong. We got stranded inside our car but we couldn't sleep the whole night as we kept on thinking of our kids. It's good a kind-hearted neigHBOr saw my kids inside our one-floor bungalow and took them at the second floor of theirhome. We were able to go home the next day when the waters subsided. We all cried ng mga anak ko. They were traumatized by the flood. When I opened the door to our house, natulala ako. Walang natira sa mga gamit namin but I'm still thankful buhay ang mga bata. We now stay with my in laws. I want to move elsewhere. Ayoko naman sa condo, mataas nga, but when we were living in a condo, there was an earthquake and my wife, who's pregnant then,got so scared and lost our baby. Ayoko nang isipin how much we lost. My focus now is to just keep on working to earn it back."

He's just happy that he continues to get assignments. He in three new movies, the political film "Dukot" and the movie about seamen, "Marino," and he's now playing the lead role in "Sagrada Familia" for Legalas Entertainment, directed by Joel Lamangan. "GMA-7 also told me I'm in the new TV series ni Aljur Abrenica, 'Prince Charming,' now that my last show with them has ended, 'Kung Aagawin Mo ang Lahat sa Akin.'"

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Hunky stud Marco Morales started his acting career in October last year with "Walang Kawala," that gave him notoriety as the "frontal nudity king." Since then, he also did "Butas," "Heavenly Touch," "Booking," "Big Time," and "Pipo," where he also showed his manhood. He's now in DMV Entertainment's new offering "I Luv DreamGuyz," directed by Joel Lamangan.

"I've also done two international films," he adds. "I did the Spanish film 'The Consul of Sodom' with Spanish actor Jordi Molla where I played his Pinoy lover and I did a French film, 'Off World,' which is now being shown in Europe. Local actor Marc Abaya is also in it."

So letting it all hang out pays off?

"I'm glad I don't have any inhibitions kasi hindi ako makukuha for the European films if I weren't that daring. 'Yung Spanish director didn't even interview as he doesn't speak English. What he did is he just watched some of the films I did and got me on the basis of that.

"I play a full-length role in that period film set in the '50s kasi pinakita ako as a young man and 30 years later nang nagkaasawa na ako. I enjoyed the experience working with them kasi ibang-iba ang discipline nila sa acting at sa production. Tayo, we play it by ear, sila, may storyboard."

In "I Love DreamGuyz," he plays Rico, a macho gay dancer who falls in love with another dancer, newcomer Jay-L Dizon, who, in turn, has a live-in girlfriend, Nina Jose. "It's the story of five guys who are all member of a dance team going to Japan called DreamGuyz. The other members are Sherwin Ordonez, Mhyco Aquino and newcomer Miggy Valdez, with Jao Mapa as our gay manager called DD Gandangpepe."

Source: Malaya