Wenn dies a winner

True to his nickname, director Wenn Deramas died a winner. (Wenn does sound like win, doesn’t it?)

According to STAR sources, it was Wenn’s movie, Star Cinema’s Beauty and The Bestie, that finished top grosser in last year’s Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF), although the Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) which is in-charge of the annual event has refrained from revealing the actual grosses of the seven official entries perhaps to head off further controversy.

At 6:13 yesterday morning at the Capitol Medical Center in Quezon City, Wenn succumbed to a heart attack, for sure resting assured that he was a winner until the very end, leaving behind a sterling record of blockbuster movies that included Ang Tanging Ina (and its sequels) starring Ai-Ai delas Alas; Petrang Kabayo, The Unkabogable Praybeyt Benjamin and Girl, Boy, Bakla, Tomboy with Vice Ganda; and Sisterakas also with Vice Ganda, Ai-Ai and Kris Aquino, which also topped an MMFF.

It was actually a double tragedy in Wenn’s family, June Torrejon-Rufino, Wenn’s manager, told Funfare.

Every Sunday, continued June, Wenn and his two children (one 15 and the other five years old) would eat out along with Wenn’s friends, relax at a spa and then hear Mass.

Direk Wenn with Bimby Aquino Yap, who starred in his 2014 film Praybeyt Benjamin

“Last Sunday,” related June, “the same routine. At 9:30 in the evening, Wenn got a call that his sister Wawa complained of chest pains. Wawa was living with Wenn and she was only with the maid at home, so Wenn called a neighbor and requested the neighbor to help bring Wawa to the hospital. Wenn and company reached the hospital at around 10:30 and saw Wawa being revived at the Emergency Room even when she was dead on arrival.

“Wenn stepped out of the ER and even tried to make light talk with his companions. It was 2:45 a.m. Suddenly, tumirik ang mga mata niya. It turned out to be a heart attack na pala. The doctors tried to revive him, administering 66 cycles of resuscitation. Wenn died at 6:13 the next morning.”

June said that two years ago, Wenn suffered “a mild stroke.” Last year, Wenn brought his children on a vacation in the States and he felt “somewhat sick” when he came home.

“He called to tell me that his legs were manas (swollen),” said June. “The swelling didn’t subside for four days. Wenn was on the set of Beauty and The Bestie. I advised him to consult his doctors. He was diagnosed to have clogged arteries so he underwent an angioplasty. Wenn went straight to the set of Beauty and The Bestie as soon as he was discharged.”

Ai-Ai delas Alas, Kris Aquino and Vice Ganda, stars of 2012’s Sisterakas, another MMFF top grosser of the late director.

Myrna Ann “Wawa” Deramas was 57 while Wenn was 49, the youngest among five siblings, one of whom died a few years ago while two are based in the US. There will be a double wake at the Arlington Memorial Chapels on Araneta Avenue, Quezon City.

“Natakot ako,” Kris texted to Funfare, “because he was 49. Di ba may pamahiin tayo sa Chinese about your age ending in 9? Made me realize how stress sa work natin takes such a toll. He was thoughtful, he knew I loved his mom’s recipe of menudo and he would share it with me. I loved his creativity, his yellow pad and his red .5 pilot pen to write scripts on the set. He gave me one important lesson — nakawin na sa’yo ang lahat, huwag lang ang oras mo kasi hindi na ‘yan maibabalik.”

It’s taking Wenn’s friends time for the painful reality of Wenn’s death to sink in. Comedian Joey Paras, who was entrusted by Wenn with the lead role in Bekikang The Movie, was in shock.

“Up to now,” Joey texted Funfare before noon yesterday, “in denial ako. Ayoko tanggapin kasi importanteng TAO siya sa buhay ko. Kanina pa ako iyak nang iyak. Bekikang will be my greatest memory of direk Wenn. He fought for me. He fought for that movie. Story niya kasi ‘yon. And luckily, ako ang gusto niyang gumanap bilang si Bekikang. Marami pa pong alaala. Pero as of now…wala na akong iba pang gusto munang balikan, kasi masakit.”

Ai-Ai was inconsolable, begging off from making any comment. Vice Ganda and Coco Martin, Beauty and The Bestie stars, didn’t make any comment.

Yesterday’s edition of It’s Showtime, wherein Vice is one of the hosts, offered a moment of silence for direk Wenn.

“I was direk Wenn’s suki in Kung Maibabalik Ko Lang, a segment on Tessie Tomas’ Teysi ng Tahanan show on ABS-CBN,” said Sylvia Sanchez. “It was his first directorial job on TV. He was the only director who really ‘squeezed’ the emotions out of me, talagang piniga niya ako to show eight kinds of emotions. I learned a lot from him.”

For his part, lawyer Ferdinand Topacio said, “I will miss direk Wenn. I knew him, if only briefly. He was a good friend and true to Ms. Claudine Barretto, whom he never ceased to defend during her darkest days. When so many were bashing Clau, direk Wenn kept saying publicly that Clau was a good woman and a loving mother. Such loyalty is truly very hard to find in showbiz today. This makes his death even sadder.”

A Hotel & Restaurant Management graduate from UST where he was a member of Teatro Tomasino, Wenn worked for a while as a waiter at Aristocrat Restaurant and was promoted as Food & Beverage coordinator after two years. In 1990, he worked as a production assistant in the TV show Tatak Pilipino, as a writer for Tessie’s show before he was promoted as executive producer of Calvento Files. He started directing TV shows before he ventured into directing movies.

Ronald Constantino and I last saw Wenn at the Viva office where Wenn checked the final proofs of his autobiography, Direk 2 Da Point, which will be launched anytime soon. Ronald and I noticed that Wenn lost so much weight but he looked fit.

“Sana matagal pa ang pagiging manager mo sa akin,” was Wenn’s text to June two days ago when Wenn greeted her on her birthday.

“How was I to know that two days later, he would be gone,” cried June.

Gone too soon.

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