Leandro & Carlo Muñoz: My brother, my friend - CONVERSATIONS with Ricardo F. Lo

They’re two peas in a pod. Cliche? No, the truth. They treat each other like bosom buddies, a very rare relationship among brothers.

Leandro Muñoz is the refreshing face in the Close-Up commercial. He’s 22, 5’6" tall and forever smiling (even when he has a toothache).

Carlo Muñoz is the obedient son in the popular "Hello, Billy!" PLDT commercial. He’s 21, 5’7" tall and is the more serious one.

They are among the four children of Louie Muñoz, younger brother of Tita Muñoz, and Pat Garcia, a teacher. The two other Muñoz kids are Carissa (eldest) and Angelo (youngest, now also training as member of Star Circle Batch 9).

After his big breaks in the FPJ-Judy Ann Santos starrer Isusumbong Kita sa Tatay Ko (as Judy Ann’s suitor) and in the Vilma Santos-Claudine Barretto starrer Anak (as Claudine’s lover), Leandro is now starring in Star Cinema’s Kahit Isang Saglit, movie-directorial debut of Gilbert Perez, again with Judy Ann and Piolo Pascual.

Carlo will soon start the third episode of the PLDT commercial which will finally reveal who his girlfriend is. He’s having his movie debut in (also Star Cinema’s) Narinig Mo na Ba ang Latest?, topbilling Aga Muhlach and Joyce Jimenez. He’ll also star in a digital movie-for-TV version of The Walter Navarro Story, playing the same (title) role he played recently in the ABS-CBN drama Maalaala Mo Kaya.

When the brothers showed up at Annabel’s Restaurant (Tomas Morato) for this pictorial-Conversation, they ordered the same thing: Caesar’s Salad downed with iced tea. Leandro was wearing a shirt Carlo must have worn on TV; and vice-versa.

Just how close the brothers are can be gleaned from the following free-wheeling Conversation:

Let’s start with likes and dislikes. Food, for starter.

Carlo: He doesn’t eat canned food, not even canned drinks.

Leandro: They make me feel dizzy.

What about music?

Leandro: Magkasundo kami. We both like love songs, such as those by Christopher Cross, Angela Bofill. Mga ganoon.

Carlo: Old love songs, too.

Films.

Leandro: My big favorite is Jerry Maguire (Tom Cruise) and Braveheart. I like Tom Cruise’s character in Jerry Maguire. I wish I were like him.

Hobbies.

Carlo: We both love to play billiards.

Leandro: I play chess but Carlo doesn’t.

Carlo: I play basketball but he doesn’t.

Pets.

Leandro: Dogs. I have a pet rottweiler.

Carlo: And I have a Labrador.

As far as temper is concerned, sino ang mas may temper?

Leandro: Same. But when we get angry, we don’t let it out on people. ’Yung wall ang sinasapak namin (ouch!). Check out my room and you will find my personal computer broken. One time kasi, I got angry at nasuntok ko ’yung computer. I’m now saving money to have it fixed.

Carlo: Me? When I’m angry, I become verbal. Masakit ako magsalita. I do hit the wall with my fist but very seldom. Masakit, e! (Laughs)

How do you differ naman sa attitude toward life?

Leandro: When I deal with problems, for instance, parang I want to take it easy, one step at a time.

Carlo: I face the problems frontally and that’s where we differ. I confront the problem while Leandro sometimes pretends the problem isn’t there.

Who’s made of harder stuff?

Leandro: Si Carlo. Mas matibay ang dibdib niyan. I can be a softie; I cry easily.

Carlo: Pusong mamon siya. (Laughs at Leandro)

Sa degree of maturity, who’s more mature?

Leandro: Si Carlo. He’s far more mature than I am, even if I’m older. Siguro he’s five notches more mature than I am.

How and where does it show?

Leandro: In the way we handle money. He’s kuripot.

Carlo: No, I’m not. I just handle money wisely.

Lifestyle. Way of life.

Leandro: When we treat Mommy and Papa to a dinner in a restaurant, we don’t mind spending.

Carlo: I spend a lot on clothes; Leandro doesn’t.

How close are you?

Leandro: Super! It seems like we’re attached to each other by Mighty Bond. Ganoon ka-close.

What are the things that you share?

Carlo: We used to share a room, until Leandro had the room downstairs fixed. Now he has a room of his own and the room we used to share is all mine. The room downstairs used to be the one occupied by Mommy and Papa who now use one of the rooms upstairs.

Leandro: You should see my room. The walls are decorated with blown-up photos and posters of my idols – John Lennon, Jackie Chan (including a poster of his movie, Rush Hour) and many others. I also collect caps, hundreds of them, and they are all over the walls of my room.

What else do you share?

Carlo: Clothes. Luckily, we are of the same size. When I’m tired of wearing my clothes, I ransack Leandro’s cabinet and borrow his clothes. Ganoon din siya. Not only clothes; we also share shoes, pants and even underwear.

Leandro: What’s mine is his and what’s his is mine. If you notice in our TV shows, ’yung suot kong shirt ay naisuot na ni Carlo in another show. Or the pants Carlo is wearing ay suot ko the other day on A.S.A.P.

What about secrets and confidences?

Leandro: We’re supposed to be privy to each other’s activities. I’m open to Carlo about my love life but sometimes, he keeps things from me especially about his girlfriends.

Do you also share girlfriends?

Leandro: Always! No, I’m just kidding. ’Yung sa kanya, sa kanya; ’yung sa akin, sa akin.

What’s your type of girl?

Leandro: Gusto ko chinita. Mga Lucy Liu type.

Carlo: It doesn’t matter if the girl is not so pretty as long as she has a pleasing personality.

Has it ever happened that you developed a crush on the same girl?

Leandro: Never pa. Oh, wait. Carlo once had a girlfriend na napunta sa akin.

Carlo (surprised): Who?

(Leandro whispers the girl’s name to Carlo)

Carlo: A, siya ba? I didn’t know na naging girlfriend mo siya! You never told me!

Leandro: One time naman, ’yung crush ko napunta sa kanya.

Is it true that you have several girlfriends?

Leandro: I don’t even have one. My focus right now is on my career. Girlfriends only distract your concentration on your work. I still have to find the right girl.

And you, Carlo? Haven’t you had another girlfriend since you broke up with Carol (Banawa)?

Carlo: None. Like Leandro, I’m concentrating on my career. Carol and I broke up last year after the death of her brother in an accident (at the SM car park, with Carol’s father also badly hurt by monoxide poisoning). Carol is the breadwinner in the family; I’m also helping my family.

Do you share in the family expenses?

Leandro: I shoulder the electric and phone bills; Carlo pays for the weekly grocery. We also chip in in other household expenses.

What are your most memorable childhood experience(s)?

Leandro: When our little sister Katrina died. It was a very painful experience. When we were small, Carlo and I were not really fond of toys; si Katrina ang toy namin. She was born with a congenital heart defect. When Mommy and Papa came back from the hospital where they rushed Katrina, they told us, "Katrina is now in heaven!" I knew what they meant. I ran to my room and closed the door and started throwing things around. I couldn’t accept the fact that Katrina, our toy, was gone.

Carlo: That’s right. Katrina was our favorite toy. Leandro and I had match-boxes but we just destroyed them. We put gas all over them and burned them. Our big source of happiness was Katrina. We were in grade school when it happened. Katrina wasn’t even seven-years old then.

What games did you play as kids?

Leandro: Games that other kids played – patintero, cops and robbers.

Do you fight for each other?

Leandro: When we were in high school, Carlo came running to me crying. May nang-bully daw sa kanya sa school. A bigger boy. He was in first-year high school and I was in second year. ’Yung nang-bully sa kanya, fourth-year. So I sought out the guy and confronted him. Laban talaga! We were then studying at Lourdes School.

Are you that matapang?

Leandro: I used to be, especially when I was younger. You know when you’re younger, you’re impulsive. You don’t use your head; away kaagad! But as you grow older, you think 10 times before you get into a fight.

What did you want to be when you were kids?

Leandro: I wanted to be a doctor. Or lawyer. That’s why I enrolled in San Beda. But I ended up finishing Business Management.

Carlo: I wanted to be popular but I never thought I’d end up in showbiz.

Do you ever fight?

Leandro: Oh, yes, we do!

How do you fight?

Carlo: Nagsusuntukan kami. But that was before. After the suntukan, we’d separate. After a few minutes, friends na uli kami. Wala nang sorry-sorry. What did we fight about? Wala lang. Small matter. Parehong mainit ang ulo, nagkasigawan. Hayun, suntukan na!

Who got into showbiz first?

Leandro: Carlo was ahead. He was a member of (the ABS-CBN Talent Center’s) Star Circle Batch 6, launched in November, 1997. Ako naman, Star Circle 8, launched in May, 1999. We were supposed to be together in one batch, but according to Talent Center bawal daw ang magkapatid na magkasama. Besides, when Carlo joined the Star Circle, I was still in school.

And Carlo wans’t?

Leandro: We were a little hard-up then, so Carlo sacrificed himself so I could study. The plan was for him to go back to school as soon as I graduated. But then, hayun, pumasok na siya sa showbiz.

Carlo: Leandro used to just accompany me to auditions.

Leandro: Actually, ’yung Close-Up commercial ko, it was tsamba. I accompanied Carlo to the agency to get his check for a commercial. It so happened that there was a VTR going on, so nagpa-VTR na rin ako. At nag-audition. There were more than 300 of us. I thought I didn’t stand a chance. The guy with me in the commercial was much taller than I was so they made me walk on apple boxes joined together. Hindi halata in the commercial, di ba?

It was Leandro who first got the big breaks (as one of Claudine Barretto’s leading men in the long-running ABS-CBN soap Saan Ka Man Naroroon and now in Tabing-Ilog; as Judy Ann Santos’ love interest in the FPJ blockbuster Isusumbong Kita sa Tatay Ko; and then, before the soon-to-be-shown Kahit Isang Saglit, as Claudine’s suitor in the Vilma Santos record-breaker Anak, submitted as the country’s entry to next year’s Oscars’ Best Foreign-Language Film category). Didn’t it make you feel insecure?

Carlo: Not at all. I knew that my time would also come.

It has, now that you’re attracting attention with the PLDT commercial and, recently, after playing the title role in The Walter Navarro story on Maalaala Mo Kaya (TWNS will soon be made into a movie-for-TV, also with Carlo in the lead role). And you’re also in the cast of the new ABS-CBN soap, Pangako Sa’yo. When it rains, it pours. How do you feel about it, Leandro? Doesn’t it make you feel insecure?

Leandro: Hindi. Wala naman ganoon sa amin, e.

No professional jealousy between you?

Carlo: None. I’m happy for his good fortune and he’s happy for me.

Could you tell us more about your role in Kahit Isang Saglit?

Leandro: It’s a love-triangle drama. Piolo and I are both architects, and so is Judy Ann. We both develop a crush on Judy Ann, Piolo and I, but it was I whom Judy Ann chooses. Then something tragic happens to me. I become comatose after an accident, but I go on seeing Judy Ann. How? That’s the revelation in the movie. The story is about letting go and moving on. That’s what our director, Gilbert Perez, will tell you. And I agree with him. It’s heavy drama but it will make you feel light when you go out of the moviehouse."

In real life, didn’t you develop any crush on Judy Ann?

Leandro: No way. We’ve been good friends; matagal na kaming magkakilala. We were schoolmates back in high school. She knows my friends and I know her friends. We have mutual friends.

Do you have any movie, Carlo?

Carlo: Yeah. It’s called Narinig Mo na Ba ang Latest? I play an advertising executive.

Do you give each other tips/pointers?

Carlo: I tell Leandro when I see something wrong in his acting. Sometimes, he forgets to fix his hair and I have to call his attention to it.

Leandro: It’s also his hair. Sometimes it gets too long and too thick and I have to remind him to get a haircut.

If ever you do a movie together, what roles would you like to do?

Leandro: As brothers, of course!

Carlo: Brothers na magka-away but later nagkabati din.

How would you describe each other in a few words?

Carlo: Okay na okay siya.

Leandro: He should have been my kuya; he’s more mature than I am. Responsible. If he were our kuya, he would steer our lives better, me and our younger brother and older sister. He would be a perfect kuya.