PAULO AVELINO, JANINE GUTIERREZ IN NEW BIG-SCREEN DRAMA
Prime Cruz said he is veering away from romcom. “This film isn’t romcom. It is romance but not romcom. There is drama which makes it a romantic drama but it isn’t too heavy to make it really drama
Last Tuesday, former Kapuso and now Kapamilya actor Paulo Avelino, known for the iconic role of Goyo in the film of the same title, reconnected with his former home studio via a starring role opposite Kapuso star Janine Gutierrrez in a film to be directed by Prime Cruz from a screenplay written by current belle Jen Chuaunsu and produced by T-Rex Entertainment.
The film that is partly based on Cruz and Chuaunsu’s real-life experiences will be called If We Don’t Make It.
“This is about two people with unresolved issues with a lot of things undone and unsaid,” Chuaunsu explained. “We are very aware that in life we have a lot of ‘what ifs’ and this is what the film wants to tackle.”
The press conference at 77 Limbaga, the restaurant owned by Rex Tiri, the man behind T-Rex Entertainment that brought to audiences two outstanding films — Deadma Walking and Patay na si Hesus — was the film’s initial salvo as the writer, director, and two lead stars along with the producer had their first story conference to detail the characters and the shooting schedules after which they met with some members of the entertainment media.
If you’re still skeptical about Ian Veneracion’s singing talent, then your last chance to confirm for yourself that he, indeed, can sing is to watch “Ian: In Color” tonight at the Music Museum.
Avelino, whose film Goyo is nominated for Best Picture in this year’s EDDYS (on 14 July at New Frontier Theater), said that the film is giving him an opportunity to explore other characters available to actors like him. “I play a provinciano here and a musician, and I have some issues with friends that need closure,” he said.
Gutierrez expressed her joy over the character that she’s going to play. “In some ways, I am that girl when I was in school. I don’t talk much especially about my feelings for some things, especially other people because I didn’t know if my feelings were going to be reciprocated. Ang hirap yata nung may feelings ka para sa kanya tapos wala naman palang feelings sa iyo yung tao (That’s hard, if you have feelings for someone and then you discover he doesn’t have feelings for you) or worse he doesn’t even know that you have feelings for him.
Gutierrez is now rumored to be making beautiful music with ex-Kapamilya and now Kapuso actor Rayver Cruz after she and her then boyfriend Elmo Magalona went their own separate ways.
Paulo is currently in ABS-CBN’s The General’s Daughter, a drama series on prime time, playing opposite Angel Locsin, while Janine is the lead star in GMA’s The Revenge of the Dragon Lady on GMA’s afternoon block.
The two have not worked together in any project that is why both are excited to be in this film. “Paulo is a very competent actor and I am happy to have this chance to be in film with him,” she said to which the actor complimented her, saying, “Sa ganda ba naman ni Janine, sino ba ang aayaw na makapareha siya (With Janine’s beauty, who wouldn’t want to be paired with her)?”
Prime Cruz said he is veering away from romcom. “This film isn’t romcom. It is romance but not romcom. There is drama which makes it a romantic drama but it isn’t too heavy to make it really drama.”
Jen said, “Only Prime can say what it will be, because he based it on his life… well some of it... and some are imagined.”
Will this signal the end of romcom in Prime’s film universe? “I think we still need romcoms,” he said. “And that’s because the audience loves to watch romcoms in whatever situation.” But, he said, “We need a punctuation mark, a coma perhaps, before we do another real romcom.”
Last night to watch ‘Ian: In Color’ tonight
If you’re still skeptical about Ian Veneracion’s singing talent, then your last chance to confirm for yourself that, indeed, he can sing is to watch “Ian: In Color” tonight at the Music Museum. Tonight’s the last performance of the two-night concert with Regine Velasquez-Alcasid as his special guest. Last night, it was Ogie Alcasid who appeared with the singer-actor.
In fact, Ian is very grateful to the couple who offered to produce the concert for him. Although he was apprehensive about Regine’s guest appearance (‘I might be star struck and then I can’t sing anymore”), he has gathered enough strength to overcome his fear of Regine on stage. “I think I’d be able to sing pa rin.”
Does Ian intend to make singing his other profession? “Not really, but I am glad that now I am starting to be known also as a singer, not just an actor and a painter. I have always been a singer all my life, tago nga lang (He’d stop singing if another person comes in the room when he is singing or he wouldn’t even hold the mike at a videoke bar but when he finally holds it, that’s it, he can sing all night long) and I never did tell anyone that I could carry a tune. It all happened by accident, when I was doing a series for ABS-CBN and the character I played needed to play the piano and sing a tune. I had no choice but to do it. There, everyone said, ‘May tinatago palang talent itong si Ian (Ian has been keeping his talent hidden),” and everything else followed.”
A recording of songs he himself wrote could follow after this concert. Already he has a couple of songs on Spotify — “I’ll Miss You Most” and “Afraid for Love to Fade” — and he said more will be coming. An album featuring those songs is also in the offing.
So, don’t miss “Ian: In Color” tonight at the Music Museum, Greenhills Shopping Center, San Juan City.
Remember Taki?
If you’re a dabarkads or a fan of the noontime show Eat Bulaga, you must remember Taki, the multiracial girl that had been on the show for some time until last year when she packed her bags and went back to Tokyo.
Taki is Japanese with a smattering of Brazilian, Spanish and Filipino blood on the side of her mother.
She is back where she belongs, I guess, as she is now a member of a Japanese all-girl group called Faky. And the group is traveling around the globe. It all started in Tokyo then it had gigs all over Japan. This time around Faky is flying to Brazil and Canada then back to more gigs around Japan.
Is Taki coming back to Manila and rejoining Eat Bulaga? At the rate things are going for the Japanese girl, she could be in Manila with fellow Faky members Lil’Fang, Mikako, Akina and Hina for a gig.
And let’s hope they make an appearance on Eat Bulaga when they find themselves in Manila, and that should be soon.
Not-so-blind items
I guess these items won’t be too hard to guess. As I was roaming the showbiz circle, I overheard some of them being the topic while the writers were having dessert after a sumptuous luch.
She is back where she belongs, I guess, as she is now a member of a Japanese all-girl group called Faky. And the group is traveling around the globe. It all started in Tokyo then it had gigs all over Japan.
The first item that overwhelmed me was about this TV personality who the media people having slices of banana loaf and coffee refer to as the “TV henyo” or genius. This guy, they say is the all-around guy in a TV network who can do shows on his own and can ignore suggestions from the management. Apparently, the guy has proven that his show (without the help of the minds of the network’s executives) can run smoothly and earn money for the network. But what dismays the media people is the seeming arrogance of that guy. In fact, that’s one of the reasons the media people say why his longtime friend and partner left him for good.
I have known this person but I can’t seem to reconcile what I heard of the person. Maybe I’m not that close to the people he has worked with or has been working with him.
Another thing that disgusted me was this item about a starlet who during a taping called out her alalay and in a voice everyone in the dressing room could hear told her to go and buy her a condom and added that she and her boyfriend are going to meet after the taping.
The media people stopped sipping their coffee and asked, “Why announce to the world
that she has a
date? Do the other people in the dressing room care?”
Or do we care. But, this starlet is not the bargain-basement type. She is driven in expensive cars and how? The media people simple heckled in contempt.
That’s about all with the not-so-blind items this week because I know you know who these people are.