Direk Joey calls Kim-Gerald starrer his "retirement film"

Comebacking Jake Roxas is happy with the break given to him by award-winning direc-tor Chito Roño, who included him in the cast of the new ABS-CBN series "Imortal," which premiered two weeks ago on the Kapamilya network's Primetime Bida block.

But before this stint on "Imortal," Jake had the chance to work with Direk Chito in the afternoon series "Magkano ang Iyong Dangal," his first show on ABS-CBN. The actor is grateful for this second chance to pick up his career from where it was left off five years ago.

The former Viva contract star, who also did several TV shows on GMA 7, disappeared from the scene for quite some time. But since he always had plans on making a come-back, he made it a point to keep himself in shape and did away with excess poundage through biking and maintaining a balanced diet.

"Imortal" is Jake's second assignment on ABS-CBN and he's hoping to get more acting jobs through the help of his new manager, Biboy Arboleda. In "Imortal," he plays the role of Magnus, the leader of the vampires. "I need to show in my acting that I am really bad, not so much to impress Direk Chito, but just to prove to him that he did not make the mistake of putting me in this show," said Jake. "Maybe he did like what I did in our first show together that he cast me here and for that I am very grateful."

Working with Direk Chito keeps Jake on his toes, especially when he's doing a take. "You have to be serious in your job if you are working with Direk Chito. You can joke around when you're off camera but once it's a take, you've got to deliver. He can be a good friend but when it comes to work, Direk Chito expects you to give your best," he said.

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Some press people felt bad when Katrina Halili left the presscon of "Beauty Queen" without even sitting down for an interview with entertainment writers.

Maybe Katrina really didn't want to grant an interview. She probably sensed that even if it were a presscon for "Beauty Queen," for sure the press would nudge her to speak about her ongoing case versus Hayden Kho. So, rather than be cornered and forced to talk, Katrina opted to leave the presscon.

Katrina has said in another interview that although she has moved on, she still finds it uncomfortable to be constantly asked about the case. There's no instance when she tries to answer them without feeling butterflies on her stomach. For now, her concern is get-ting enough acting jobs to keep the income coming since she has to pay more than P400,000 for her bills and other personal necessities.

But it was not only Katrina who "snubbed" the press at the presscon. Marvin Agustin also didn't stay on for the individual interviews with the press. Is he hiding something that's why he also didn't stay?

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Direk Joey Reyes is hopeful that the appointment of Ms. Grace Poe Llamanzares as the new MTRCB chief would augur well for the film industry. And we share the optimism of Direk Joey. We believe it's about time that the MTRCB is headed by somebody who has knowledge or affinity with the members of the film industry to better understand the problems besetting this beleaguered sector of society.

The film industry has been reeling from many problems since the Asian financial crisis caused a decline in film production in the country. Whereas before we used to have an output of more than a hundred movies a year, today's film producers couldn't even mus-ter a total of at least 30 movies a year. If not for the indie filmmakers, there could have been even less movies coming out in the theaters.

Good thing, Direk Joey still manages to come up with projects, thanks to producers like Star Cinema which is giving us "Till My Heartaches End," the newest movie featuring the tandem of Kim Chiu and Gerald Anderson.

This is a love story inspired by the film "500 Days of Summer" and Direk Joey even jok-ingly called "Till My Heartaches End" his "retirement movie." He said he can now retire because he had already directed Kim and Gerald in a film.

Direk Joey even added that we would look at Kim and Gerald differently after watching them in this movie since both portrayed mature roles in the film and did justice to it.

"Till My Heartaches End" opens in more than a hundred theaters nationwide on October 27.