Mylene Dizon foregoes Pusan Int'l Film Fest owing to new pregnancy

Award-winning actress Mylene Dizon rues she can't join the Philippine delegation to the prestigious Pusan International Film Festival in South Korea where her latest movie "100," one of the top winners in the Cinemalaya Film Festival, is in competition.

Owing to her delicate condition (Mylene is three months pregnant of her second child with Paolo Paraiso), she deemed it wise to pass on the chance to attend the red carpet premiere of "100." According to Mylene, while her ob-gyne did not exactly tell her not to travel, she felt it was just right to stay at home to safeguard her pregnancy.

"I really wanted to come but I can't risk my child's safety," said Mylene in an interview on the taping of “Dyesebel” at the poolside of Danarra Hotel in Quezon City last Tuesday. “Besides, they are set to leave anytime this week for the festival but I just can't leave because I am busy.”

Busy indeed, she is. Mylene is taping for “Dyese-bel” which is due to finish on the 17th of October. The last taping day for “Dyesebel” will either be on the 13th or 14th of October. She also recently wrapped up work for the horror movie "Shake, Rattle and Roll 10" which is an entry to the Metro Manila Film Festival this December.

Even if she's pregnant (her tummy is not yet that big), Mylene is happy to be busy. She particularly enjoyed her stint in ‘Dyesebel’ as she had long wanted to do fantaserye. ‘I prayed for this,’ said the actress."Most of the things I wished for came true. I wished for a fantaserye and came ‘Dyesebel’. I wished for good movie projects and I had ‘Ploning’ and ‘100’. I wished for a child and I became pregnant."

Doing "Shake, Rattle and Roll 10" is also a dream come true for her as Mylene had long been wishing to be part of the successful horror series being produced by Regal Entertainment. So even if she's playing an aswang in one of the episodes, Mylene relished the experience.

"I didn't imagine it was a film project that was hard to do. Imagine, I had prosthetics and they had to make me look dirty because we were supposed to live in the jungle. I have to look black so even my nails and toenails had to be dirtied. So each time I finished a shoot, I spend two hours in the bathroom to clean myself. I really feel dirty kasi kaya I really scrub myself very well," recalled Mylene.

What if she wins an acting award in the Pusan filmfest? Remember she won a best actress award at the Cinemalaya film fest for "100." "Alam na ni Eugene Domingo kung ano ang sasabihin sa acceptance speech in case I win," she said with a laugh. "Pero sayang talaga I won't be able to join them."

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"Mag-ingat Ka Sa…Kulam" had a very successful premiere night held at SM Megamall Cinema 10 last Tuesday night. The event was attended by the movie's entire cast, headed by Judy Ann Santos and Dennis Trillo.

The film, which was Graded A by the Cinema Evaluation Board, got terrific response from the mammoth crowd who attended the premiere. Juday gave a superb performance in her dual role as Mira and Maria. The film will send you at the edge of your seats. It's a guaranteed shriek-aloud film.

We had a chance to chat with Dennis at the dinner held at Max's Restaurant who said that even if he had seen some parts of the film when he was dubbing, nothing beats seeing the whole package, with the special effects, the sound effects and the musical score all packed in for the scary moments. The sound, music and visual effects were the ones that made "Mag-ingat Ka Sa…Kulam" very, very scary. But it's not the type of horror film that would drive you to laughing fits because you find the scenes or situations stupid. The story will hook you right from the start.

"The whole movie is really very scary," said Dennis. "It was very terrifying especially in the scenes were Juday's character made the switch. The musical scoring really helped a lot to intensify the scenes and make them scary."

When asked if he'd be willing to do another horror film, Dennis gave a positive response. "Pinoys love scary movies. With the high cost of living and the numerous problems besetting us all, we all just want to be entertained and be stimulated by scary scenes. Horror movies are very entertaining."

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JC de Vera will be Rhian Ramos' last dance when she holds her debut party this Friday at the Manila Peninsula Hotel. Rhian said she and JC have bonded well during the taping for their new show "La Lola" and more than the fact that they are featured in a new project together, their bonding drew them closer.

But Rhian also invited her other leading men in her past projects like Richard Gutierrez (her first TV partner in "Captain Barbell"), Mark Herras (her leading man in" I.T.A.L.Y.").

She expressed surprise when told that JC said she’s his crush and that he finds her very attractive and beautiful.

"I didn't know that I am his crush because he didn't tell me," said the young actress who added that she might get conscious once she and JC meet again on the set of "La Lola."

Rhian is excited with her debut although she said that she doesn't like the idea that she's maturing now. "I don't think I am ready now to be an adult although I believe being an adult is also an exciting phase in a person's life," she added.

Now that she’s already 18, Rhian said her mom told her she can already entertain suitors but she's not yet ready to fall in love.