Showbiz merry-go-round

Author: Isah V. Red
Column: Life & Entertainment

In the heat of the election campaign, Ruffa Gutierrez announced her separation from Turkish husband Yilmaz Bektas, who several days later faxed his own official statement on why hes filing for divorce.

It, however, inflamed the Gutierrez clan to go full throttle in rebuking Bektas claims about Ruffas insatiable yearning for fame.

Now, the recently uncoupled Ruffa and Yilmaz are on the warpath exchanging tirades she on television, he on the facsimile machines and electronic mail.

Where is this leading to?

To a bitter divorce and a dysfunctional family with Ruffa as a single parent to her daughters by Bektas, thats where.

How sad, really! After all, Ruffa was like a princess who finally wed her prince charming. But now, shes been reduced to a working mom.

Well, theres mommy Annabelle Rama to look after her and make sure she gets jobs on either the Kapamilya network or Kapuso channel, whichever will take her at Annabelles price.

In the meantime, she gets on board The Buzz while the original queen of the Sunday talk show, Kris Aquino, braces herself to face Cristy Fermin with a straight face.

Shaking news

News about the death of movie scribe/publicist Joey Diego sent shockwaves to the industry, especially to those who have had business dealings with the dear departed. Apparently, Diego, before he decided to leave the world of the living to join the world of the dead, was in some kind of networking endeavor and successfully convinced colleagues to entrust their hard-earned money to him with the sweet promise of instant wealth.

The promise was obviously broken as Diego, in his last days in this world, tried his best to raise the amount he needed to meet his commitments to his investors. Apparently he failed. Now, all the money is gone, and so is Joey Diego.

Shocked to the spine was Alfred Vargas and Marvin Agustin who were Diegos clients as their publicist.

Joey Diegos untimely demise should serve as a warning to other movie scribes who are motivated by their blind ambition to surpass, if not equal, the financial standings of the movie stars they work for as publicists.

Scary sequel

Caught a screening of 28 Weeks Later (Twentieth Century Fox) at one of the cinemas of Shangri-La Cineplex last weekend.

Yes, the movie stars Robert Carlyle (from Danny Boyles 28 Days Later) as Don, a survivor in London when an outbreak of the rage virus nearly annihilated the population of the city.

28 Weeks Later picks up where Boyles film ended. Now, Don is both anxious and happy to be reunited with her son, Andi (Mackintosh Muggleton) and daughter Tammy (Imogen Poots) who are coming home from Spain where they were evacuated at the height of the rage virus attack.

It is six months after the rage virus has annihilated the Mainland Britain. The US Army declares that the war against infection has been won, and that the reconstruction of the country is beginning.

But something along the way goes wrong.

Carlyles siblings defy army orders not to cross the river. In their abandoned house, they find a survivor that turns out to be their mother Alice (Catherine McCormack) who their father said he has seen while she was being attacked by the rage virus victims.

Thats when trouble for the US Army begins.

Spanish filmmaker Juan Carlos Fresnadillo takes the job from Boyle for the sequel. He snagged the directing chore based solely on two minor works Esposados, a short film honored by the Oscars in 1996 and Intacto, the 2001 thriller that made the rounds of film festivals.

Fresnadillo keeps the narrative tight so the audience is on the edge from the beginning till the end. Dialog is minimal, but the camera continuously gives us hints on what to expect from the ominously lit sequences.

This is a high-concept sci-fi horror thriller. It would have been easy for Fresnadillo to make a film that conforms well with Hollywood formula for commercial consideration, but he defies narrative conventions and springs up surprises from the first sequence until after we thought we could sit back, relax as we watch a helicopter hovering above the blue waters of the English channel and expect that its going to be a happy ending after all. Nah

Highly recommended, but watch it with someone you trust. Who knows, he or she might be a rage virus carrier.

Dennis turns a year older

Last Saturday, Dennis Trillo turned a year older he is now officially 26 years old. The actor hosted a birthday bash at the soon-to-open Barrakz on Tomas Morato (right across the building where the popular after-dinner joint Kalye Juan is located).

Dennis parents were on hand to entertain relatives and their sons friends from the secular world.

But of course, people from show business dominated the party. We spotted fellow Kapuso stars Angel Locsin who came close to midnight to greet Dennis. The two might star in a movie intended for the forthcoming film festival in December, according to Lily Monteverde of Regal Entertainment who joined us at our table with columnist Wilson Lee Flores.

I was seated at a table with Malou Choa Fagar of Tape Inc., actors Ian de Leon and brother Kenneth, who just arrived from the US for a week-long stay with mom Nora Aunor, the Superstar.

Stars came by and left Alfred Vargas, Gabby Eigenmann, Valerie Concepcion, Dingdong Dantes who came with Karylle, Sid Lucero and his girlfriend, Cristine Reyes, Allan K who is one of the owners of the new entertainment facility on the stretch of Tomas Morato (Dennis is also an investor, by the way. Just one of 10, he told me).

I was surprised the party didnt have the usual dazzle of showbiz get-togethers, but instead, despite the motley crowd, it was perhaps the most tolerable parties in local tinsel town that I have been to lately.

Source: Manila Standard Today