Richard junks movie with Anne

Author: Mario E. Bautista
Column: Freehand

THE supposed romantic movie, "Maybe This Time," pairing Richard Gutierrez and Anne Curtis for the first time is being dumped upon the suggestion of the leading man himself. Richard feels it would be better if they'd do a horror flick instead since he's been doing nothing but love stories lately.

Also, horror flicks always do well at the tills since it has a big market. So GMA and Viva Films, who are co-producing the project, are now scouting for a good horror material for him and Anne. But the director who's supposed to meg the project, Maryo de los Reyes, begged off. He's not that keen on doing a horror flick and, also, he'd be busy shooting the movie of the Aljur Abrenica-Kris Bernal love team for Regal, as well as the new romantic comedy on GMA-7, "Adik Sa'Yo," starring Jolina Magdangal, Marvin Agustin, Dennis Trillo and Jennica Garcia.

Meantime, Richard's "Zorro" continues to rule. Antonio is arrested due to the planted evidence of Ramon (TJ Trinidad) showing he killed Don Roberto (Joel Torre). The boy Pepe (Buboy Villar) is held captive by the "mga taong pula" to be fed to the giant snake, Serpentina, but Zorro saves him and kills the snake. Pepe meets his long lost mom who's with the taong pula and it turns out he's really a prince called Prinsipe Alugbati.

NEW LEADING MEN, LADIES

GMA-7 is really like a beehive of activity these days with so many shows under production. Aside from the aforementioned "Adik Sa'Yo" meant for primetime, there's "Rosalinda" launching their new discovery Carla Abellana. They're hoping it'll be as big a hit as "Marimar" that catapulted Marian Rivera to full stardom. For a while, there's talk that Mark Anthony Fernandez will play the male lead, Fernando Jose (played by Fernando Carillo who even came to Manila at the height of the show's popularity). But Mark will now be Marian's leading man in 'Darna. ' It's said the final choice as Fernando is Geoff Eigenmann, who's certainly no hunk like Carillo. Maybe Geoff should do more workouts before taping starts. And we hope he and Carla would have good on-screen chemistry so that a new love team will be born.

Geoff is supposed to be cast in another new show, the TV remake of "Kung Aagawin Mo Ang Lahat Sa Akin" for their afternoon "Sinenovela" that will replace "Dapat Ka Bang Mahalin. " But he's now out of the cast that stars Glaiza de Castro, Maxene Magalona and Patrick Garcia. "Paano Ba ang Mangarap" is also ending soon and replacing it is the TV remake of "Ngayon at Kailanman" to star Heart Evangelista and JC de Vera. Both "Kung Aagawin" and "Ngayon" are former movies of Sharon Cuneta.

In "SRO Cinemaserye," replacing "Ganti" that ends tonight starring Sheryl Cruz and Marvin Agustin is the thriller "Suspetsa" with Paolo Contis, Jennylyn Mercado, Yasmien Kurdi, Baron Geisler, Nadine Samonte and Ryan Eigenmann. Another new project is the local adaptation of the Koreanovela "Stairway to Heaven" with Dingdong Dantes as lead actor. They're still looking for the right leading lady for him and Dingdong is said to be suggesting that they borrow another actress from the rival network to play the pivotal role of Jodie.

PROBLEM STARS

AT the "Lipgloss" 4th season presscon, it was asked if it's true that Saab Magalona was unceremoniously axed from the show. "Season 3 pa lang, aalisin na siya, but we gave her another chance," says producer Tessa Mangahas of Prime Events. "Lagi siyang nale-late. It's a ruling na bawal magdala ng boyfriend sa set but her boyfriend is always there. Nadi-distract siya at biglang nawawala. She promised to change but she didn't. Bitbit pa rin niya the same guy. We gave her enough warning. Gusto nga naming sabihin sa mother niya but we thought hindi pa sila magkasundo that time. Ang performance niya, hindi rin nag-improve. When we learned okay na silang mag-ina, we tried calling Pia several times but she's not picking up. "

The show's head writer, Dinno Erece, adds: "The scripts of five episodes of 'Lipgloss' were drastically changed because she didn't show up, pati 'yung episode na kinunan on location in Cam Sur. '"

So what are their standards in choosing which stars will remain for the next season and which ones will be terminated? "We have brainstorming and meetings every week," says Tessa. "Of course, we prefer stars who are professional and don't give us headaches. It also depends on how the public accepts the presence of the stars in the show. When someone doesn't click, we have to let go of him. "

"But not all stars were axed because they're incompetent o walang appeal sa viewers," adds Dinno. "Mahirap din, kasi we just borrow stars from ABS-CBN. Best example is Ejay Falcon. After winning sa PBB Teens, wala siyang ginagawa sa ABS for one and a half years. Pinaghirapan namin 'yun kasi pangalan lang ng friend niya sa show, hindi pa ma-pronounce ng tama. Naka-seven takes. He pronounces semester as simister. Pero napasikat namin siya in 'Lipgloss. ' All the episodes where he appeared sa third season are topraters. Dahil doon, ayaw na siyang ipahiram sa'min for another season. May gagawin na raw sa ABS. So we had to kill his character. Siya 'yung nagpasabog ng bomba sa last episode ng third season. Ganun din si Princess Ryan, who clicked in the second season pero hindi na rin pinahiram uli ng ABS. Si Mikee Lee naman, hindi namin balak tanggalin. But then, kumuha ng daily classes, so hindi na siya puede. Kaya we are now building up our own homegrown talents. "

NEW DISCOVERY

A NEW actor introduced in the new season of "Lipgloss" to start this Saturday on TV 5 at 5 p. m. is Enz Guazon, who's managed by PJ columnist Joey Aquino. The youngest of four kids, his real name is Lorenz Timlos and his dad hails from Roxas City. "Guazon is from my mom," he says. "I was discovered by Tito Joey sa Candy Cuties Fair in Makati last October. I took the audition for 'Lipgloss' and I feel so blessed na nabigyan ako ng chance dito. This is my first TV show. "

Born on September 6, 1990, he's a third year psycho major at La Salle. He's now taking acting lessons at ABS-CBN and also sings and plays the guitar. In "Lipgloss", he plays Chip, the best friend of Brent (Nikko Ibaviosa). Other new cast members are Benj Besa, Rhen Escano, Cherry Kubota, Regine Angeles and Lovi Poe. More about them later.
HOLLYWOOD ACTOR MAKES FUN OF PINAY BRIDES

SUPPOSEDLY patriotic Pinoys have another fight to pick, this time with actor Alec Baldwin who said in a May 12 interview with David Letterman that he is thinking of getting a Filipina mail order bride or a Russian one. Expect the same violent reaction like what happened when "Desperate Housewives" made fun of the quality of medical education our doctors get here and when a Chinese writer in Hong Kong referred to us as a nation of domestic helpers or servants. Well, we guess the truth really hurts.

Whenever we visit our daughter in Cagayan de Oro City, we can't help but notice the prevalence of Caucasian men there who are married to local girls. You see them in the malls, restaurants, and other public places. We're told their relationships started with mail order bride catalogues. These foreigners say they like Pinay wives as they're caring and submissive.

We should not be too onion-skinned. We should look at ourselves first and see if what other people say about us has a grain of truth. In Hong Kong, Macau, and Singapore, there are really so many domestic helpers roaming around the parks during their days off. And they're not ashamed of their jobs, since there is dignity of labor.

If we really don't want to be called a nation of servants and mail order brides, then we should all make a concerted effort to oust all the crooked people we now have in our government so that our women will not resort to working as DH abroad and to getting foreigners to be their husbands in the hope that this will improve their miserable lives in this impoverished country of corrupt politicians.
MOVIE REVIEW: THE ACCIDENTAL HUSBAND

LOVERS of rom-coms will enjoy "The Accidental Husband. " It stars Uma Thurman as Emma Lloyd, a love expert who dishes out practical, even cynical and anti-romance advice on radio to people make decisions about their unhappy relationships. One of the women she counsels to end her relationship with her boyfriend heeds her advice and dumps her fireman fiance, Patrick (Jeffrey Dean Morgan of "Grey's Anatomy", "Watchmen").

As may be expected, Patrick gets so mad at Emma, who's also about to be married. To take revenge, he lets a computer-whiz boy, Ajay, hack into government records and make it appear that Emma is already officially married to him. Emma is aghast when informed that she cannot marry her groom, Richard (Colin Firth), a perfect gentleman, simply because she's already married.

She is then compelled to seek Patrick to talk to him about their situation so they can get an annulment. But Patrick wants to have a confrontation with her. When they meet, though, instead of telling her the reason why he did it, Patrick becomes attracted to her and she, to him. Soon, Emma is hitting the sack with him and cheating on her own fiance.

The film's basic plot concept is a strong one even if it may sound predictable. You know they'd eventually end up in each other's arms. But even if the story idea is cliche and formulaic, with the usual obligatory happy ending, those who enjoy a good romance flick will no doubt like it.

There's also a cute subplot about the Indian family who has a restaurant below where Patrick lives and another one about Colin Firth's publishing business involving the classy Isabella Rosellini (daughter of the legendary Ingrid Bergman). Colin's role as the boring boyfriend is not that distant from his role in "Bridget Jones' Diary" where he was similarly eclipsed by Hugh Grant.

A fairly watchable film good for an evening's entertainment, the film has good production values and engaging acting. Uma Thurman may be a terrific action star as shown in "Kill Bill" but she also does rom-coms with equal ease and knows how to handle her daffy kind of role well, just like in "Prime" with Meryl Streep as her psycho-analyst and "My Super Ex-Girlfriend" with Luke Wilson.

Jeffrey Dean Morgan already shone in "P. S. I Love You" with Hilary Swank. He gives another relaxed and solid portrayal here as the charming fireman. They also have good chemistry on screen despite their contrasting personalities.

Source: People's Journal