Paul in 2018: Busier with projects; baby can wait
Like Ang Larawan (Best Picture), Siargao’s box-office chances dramatically improved after the Gabi
Ng Parangal, now with more theaters added to the two movies that opened at the tailend. Maybe even after the end of the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) tomorrow, Jan. 7, the MMFF committee will keep mum on the ranking of the eight official entries although it’s already public knowledge that Vice Ganda’s Gandarrapiddo: The Revenger
Squad and Coco Martin’s Ang Panday have been unchallenged on the No. 1 and No. 2 spots since Day One.
Violating MMFF rules and risking being slapped with a P200,000 fine, Vice has very proudly announced that his movie has grossed more than P400 million so far, a little more than the total gross of last year’s MMFF.
Paul has directed/ produced a few movies (Transit, Thelma,
Kid Kulafu and Dukot, among them) and Siargao (which won him MMFF’s Best Director) is the only veritable moneymaker.
“Yes,” Paul told Funfare at a thanksgiving lunch the other day at the Relish restaurant (on Scout Limbaga, Quezon City), “among my films Siargao did the best (at the tills). I’m happy. It’s a great way to start the New Year.”
Obviously missing the point, a selfmade “critic” wrote that Paul didn’t know how to tell a story and all he did was show the breathtaking (panoramic view) of Siargao and the actors (Jericho Rosales, Erich Gonzales and Jasmine Curtis-Smith, MMFF Best Supporting Actress) surfing. In fact, the surfing waves are a metaphor and symbols of the big and small “waves” in the characters’ love stories.
“And Siargao,” explained Paul (who owns the Harana Surf Resort) in a pre-MMFF interview, “is very much a character in the film; it sets the tone and the mood all throughout. It was the perfect title for the film. Siargao has become very special to me. I was able to visit the island a couple of years back and instantly fell in love with it. It just brings out the simplicity in you, to be free, raw and laidback. It renews your mind, keeps you creative and allows the heart to breathe and to love.”
In 2018, Paul will be busier and he told Funfare that he and wife Toni Gonzaga might not have time to have another child. Their first, Severiano “Seve”
Elliot, is turning two years old on Sept. 30. “We have no plans this year, maybe in another two years or when Seve is three years old.”
Throughout the year and perhaps until the most of 2019, Paul will be kept on his toes by several projects.
“I’m working right now on a script for Aga Muhlach and Bea Alonzo, a romantic drama to be shot abroad, in North America, this is with Star Cinema. We plan to shoot middle of 2018. I’ll be directing and producing. I’m developing a film for Toni and her sister, which I will produce only, and working on a script now with Froilan Medina as my writer for a story that takes place in Kapalong, Davao Del Norte. A non-violent drug war film. I’ll direct and produce. I will also direct and produce, together with Bianca Balbuena of Epic Media, a Palanca Award winning screenplay written by Lilit Reyes.”
Up to now, Paul is hounded by the rumor linking him to Siargao star Erich, never mind if he had already denied it to death. Did the tsismis affect him at work? “During shooting, I’m pretty much locked in and focused on telling the story at hand, working closely with my actors and collaborating with my team. To be honest, I don’t mind it at all and it doesn’t bother me.”
Reminded that the finest directors have admitted that they fell in love (figuratively) with their actors, at least during the filming, Paul said, “I fall in love with the story. That’s about it.”
And doesn’t he enlist any actor for a second time?
“Actually, I do. Before she was cast in Siargao, Jasmine was in Transit. I work with actors that I feel are best for the characters of my story. Whoever I feel can bring life to my characters are the actors I want to work with. And I’m looking forward to one day collaborating and working again with Erich, Jasmine and Jericho.”
(Clarification: Tickets for the March 10 show of superstar comedian Russell Peters are priced at P8,190, P7,135, P6,080, P3,970 and P2,910, and will go on sale 10 a.m. of Jan. 8 via www.smtickets.com)
(E-mail reactions at entphilstar@yahoo.com. For more updates, photos and videos, visit www.philstar. com/funfare or follow me on Instagram @therealrickylo.)