"When I was shooting Hubog with Director Joel Lamangan, I had no inkling it would win me my first Best Actress awards," she says. "I was more concerned we wouldn’t end up as a tailender in the filmfest box office list. I really thought it’s only my sister, Alessandra, who’d bag an award because she has the more arresting role as a retardate. Actually, between the two of us, she was the first one to win an award, the FAMAS Best Supporting Actress trophy for her role as an incest victim in Azucena. I was so happy for Alex but I was secretly praying that I might soon get an award myself, para hindi naman ako mapag-iwanan. The Lord is so good because He answered my prayers right away, with two Best Actress awards at that! Now I can really say that my decision to go sexy and play more mature roles was worth it."
The eldest of four daughters, Assunta has a Filipina mother and an Italian father. She stays in Manila with Alex and her mom. Her dad and two younger sisters are in Lecce, a town in Italy near Sicily. She emphasizes that her parents have not separated.
"My dad tried to stay here with us for a couple of years, but he just couldn’t adapt that well so he decided to go back to his hometown," Assunta says. "My mom visits them every so often. We cannot follow them naman because Alex and I have already established our showbiz careers here at sayang naman if we would just leave it behind. Right now, my dad is having a new house constructed there and Alex and I send part of our earnings to him to help him build the house. He and my sisters kasi just live with my grandmother and he wants us to have our own home."
How did her dad accept her going bold? "He’s European and in Italy, doing sexy roles is very common, even on TV. When I sent him a copy nga of my sexy calendar, he showed it proudly to all our relatives and to all his friends in Lecce, saying repeatedly: ‘This is my daughter!’ Now that I’ve won Best Actress awards, he is even more proud of me. He knows going sexy is just part of my work as an actress."
She is glad, though, that on television, she still plays wholesome roles, as she does in the gag show, Bubble Gang, and in the forthcoming afternoon soap opera on GMA-7, Hawak Ko ang Langit, with Jomari Yllana and Jao Mapa. "I feel like I have a split personality," she laughs. "I’m wholesome on TV and sexy and daring on the big screen."
Her rivalry with Rica Peralejo seems to be getting hotter. Her supporters now gloat that Assunta is definitely way ahead of Rica with her two best actress awards tucked under her arm. It’s also rumored that she snatched her latest movie with Bong Revilla, Kilabot at Kembot, from rival Rica. Now, Rica got the Dyesebel movie that was earlier offered her.
"I think she’s supposed to do a totally different project with Bong for Viva," Assunta says. "Kilabot at Kembot is produced by the family of Bong’s company, Seven Star Productions. In the case of Dyesebel, Boss Vic really first offered it to me, but we had to say no when we learned it’s meant for the Metro Manila Filmfest. Earlier kasi, my manager, Manny Valera, and I had already given our nod to Mother Lily to do Mano Po, Itay as Regal’s filmfest entry, to be megged by my Hubog director, Joel Lamangan. This is an epic film that will start in the Japanese time and end today. Alangan namang I’ll have two entries. I already rejected a lot of offers, like one to do Lapu-Lapu with Lito Lapid, kasi hindi ko na talaga kaka-yanin. I’ve started shooting Jologs for Star Cinema with Dominic Ochoa and I’m also taping my new soap opera, Hawak Ko ang Langit, four times a week. My manager wants me to resign from Bubble Gang to lessen my load, pero nagmamakaawa akong I’d tape for the sitcom kahit twice a month lang because I really enjoy doing it."
Bong Revilla is the first big action star she got to work with.
"Nahihiya ako at first because he is also my producer, but he tried his best to reach out and we quickly became close," she says. "In no time at all, kuwentuhan at asaran na kami. I just got scared when Director Ogie Salvador asked me to do a dangerous chase scene on a motorcycle with me just in my panties and without a helmet. From the backseat behind Bong, who’s driving the motorcycle, I transfer to his front while the motorcycle is running with great speed. And then, I will get his gun and shoot the van chasing us. A stunt double was on hand, I lost nerve and wouldn’t have the guts to do it, but fortunately, nakaya ko naman and take one lang kami roon."
Assunta has three sexy dance sequences in Kilabot at Kembot in her role as a college student who work at night as a stripper.
"They got a choreographer from Pegasus for me and we shot the dance numbers at La Legende from 2 a.m. to 4 p.m. the next day or 14 hours straight," she says. "I was so tired but I still had to go to Casino Filipino in Angeles City to do a show. I had to muster enough strength to sing six songs and the audience reception was very warm."
She has three love scenes with Bong. "One is on top of a billiard table. Another on the street while it’s raining. The last is on a bed where we are both nude and he gets to devirginize me. Doon kami parehong hubad. I didn’t agree that I’d just be the one who has no clothes on. I told him that if I’d take off everything, dapat siya rin."
And what did she see? She laughs.
"Wala. I’m too embarrassed to look at his front. I just looked at his hairy chest and I told him, balbon ka pala. The truth is, it’s really nice working with their company because all his brothers and sisters are there to help us out. They’re all very caring and made me feel like a member of their family."