For Christopher, home is where the heart is

Talk about perfect timing. When Who Wants to be a Millionaire, the IBC-13 game show his name has become synonymous with the past year, went on a short break, Christopher "Boyet" de Leon found his hands full with another type of work, something he is most familiar with.

The call to promote American Adobo, a made-in-the-US film about Filipinos living in the Land of Milk and Honey, came from Star Cinema. And Boyet found himself shifting gears from TV host to seasoned actor.

It’s no sweat for Boyet, who plays US-based writer Mike Manalastas, a guy refusing to admit he’s not happy with his life in America. First, Boyet has seen both worlds – East and West, as a dual citizen of the Philippines and the US (his middle name is Strauss, remember?).

In fact, Boyet can live anytime in the US, where his parents and close relatives reside. Ditto with wife Sandy Andolong, who lived in New Jersey while she was filming American Adobo (she’s part of the cast).

Second, Boyet has shot a film in New York during the ’70s (in the pre-Rudy Guilliani days when people feared the mob-infested streets), a co-starrer with Vilma Santos entitled Pinoy, American Style.

Boyet knew not only the New York lifestyle, but its work ethic as well. A lot of things have changed since then, though. Gone are the thugs at notorious 42nd street. Boyet’s co-workers are also different. Laurice Guillen is making her first film after she swept the Metro Filmfest awards for Tanging Yaman.

Dina Bonnevie plays socialite Marissa Tuazon. Ricky Davao is repressed Gerry Payawal; Cherry Pie Picache, a lonely old maid; and Paolo Montalban, a charming womanizer.

Having no one but each other for company during the two months they stayed in a hotel to film American Adobo in New York (before the infamous Sept. 11 attack) Boyet got more than a glimpse of his co-star’s real characters.

Dina has her tantrums; Ricky is shopaholic. But that didn’t strain the bond they so strongly forged among themselves.

They had a good laugh when New Yorkers, seeing Ricky Davao behind the wheel along Queensborough Bridge, called him Jackie Chan.

When New Yorkers noticed how the Filipino crew literally stopped traffic at the Bridge, limiting vehicle flow to just one lane, they exclaimed, "You guys must be popular back home!"

"Sort of," Boyet and company replied, grinning sheepishly.

It turned out that the whole shooting session became a virtual fans’ day, with New York-based Filipinos stopping in their tracks to watch the work in progress (they will see the whole movie when it opens in Metro Manila on Jan. 16).

Direk Laurice was tickled pink when they elicited oohs and ahhs from the American crew, who observed that scenes were shot in just one take.

"How were they to know we’re used to saving on rolls of film?" she wondered aloud at the presscon.

If he and the rest of the actors impressed the Americans so, it was because Boyet and company came well-prepared.

They dutifully had a medical check-up and went to a lawyer who prepared their papers as members of the Screen Actors Guild in the US, a requisite for any performer wanting to work there.

This meant Boyet and the other Filipino actors paid taxes like any other employee in the US.

"By the time our plane landed in New York, I already memorized my lines, just like a student who comes to class with the books he’ll need," relates Boyet.

He admits memorizing scripts is his waterloo.

"If I don’t memorize my lines, I become a problem on the set," he admits.

So he lays down the rules for anyone who wants to get him for say, a telesine guesting: the script must be in his hands two weeks before the episode is aired.

Now that Lipa Mayor Vilma Santos has become more visible again (after she lay low due to a death threat last year), Boyet hopes to resume shooting Dekada this month. The film, set in the turbulent ‘70s, when the first quarter storm raged like mad, casts Boyet as the father of an activist, played by Piolo Pascual.

Next month, Boyet wears his Millionaire host hat once more, as the game show returns on primetime TV come Feb. 8.

As for long-range plans, the self-effacing Boyet wants to work in the US for a while, just "to be in touch with reality."

Knowing that one of the pitfalls of success is letting adulation get into one’s head, he wants to go where he is treated like any Tom, Dick and Harry.

This is why Boyet makes sure that "when I hear praises, I don’t entertain thoughts about them."

Boyet figures working in the US, where he is not the big star that he is here, will go a long way in keeping his feet firmly planted on the ground.

"Maybe, I can have business deals there," he muses.

But relocating in the US is far from his mind.

"The young ones (like eldest son Raphael, who wants to work as an animator in the US) can adjust easily. But I’m so used to life here. It will be too late for me," Boyet relates.

His sons, however, have Boyet’s blessings to try their luck in the US. No way will Boyet trade Sandy’s yummy adobo (served with liver spread, just like the way his mom does it) and the smell of home-cooked Filipino dishes, for anything else in the world.