Cesar and his ‘Hollywood experience’

He’s leaving tonight on a PAL flight back to Brisbane, Australia, the way he breezed back home Saturday night last week – sans fanfare, that is.

Minus 20 pounds because of the rigid two-week jungle training he and 60 other members of The Great Raid cast underwent last June in the mountains of Brisbane, Cesar sat down for a one-on-one with Funfare yesterday noon at Annabel’s, accompanied by his wife, Sunshine Cruz, who’s leaving with Cesar with their daughter Angelina and a secretary.

"I came home purposely to fetch Shine and Angelina," said Cesar, clean-shaven for his role as Capt. Juan Pajota, the guerilla leader who helped American soldiers led by Benjamin Bratt (as Col. Henry Mucci) raid a POW camp in Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija. "It can be very lonely Down Under without your family around," added Cesar who was visited by Sunshine last month to celebrate her birthday on July 18.

The Great Raid, directed by John Dahl for Miramax, is based on two novels set in the Second World War, The Ghost Soldiers by Hampton Sides and The Great Raid on Cabanatuan by William Brewer. Besides Bratt, other Hollywood stars in the cast include James Franco, Joseph Fiennes and Connie Nielsen (who was in Gladiator). Producers Marty Katz and Lawrence Bender (Pulp Fiction, etc.) plan to hold a world premiere for the movie at the Cannes Film Festival in May next year before its international release, maybe with another premiere in the Philippines hopefully to be graced by Bratt and company.

Cesar left for Brisbane in early June for the two-week training, along with the Hollywood actors and the other Filipino talents (mostly hired in Australia) in the cast, also including US-based Filipino actor Paolo Montalban, and local-stage actor Richard Joson (grandson of a Filipino who actually participated in that great raid). Zoren Legaspi, Ryan Eigenmann and Jhong Hilario are also in the movie, playing minor roles.

During the pre-shooting combat-ranger training, Cesar had a first-hand view of how Hollywood does business.

"We stayed in tents. We didn’t talk about the movie at all, although we were asked to address and react to each other according to the characters we’re playing. Throughout the training, I was Capt. Juan Pajota."

Cesar and company would be roused from sleep at 5 a.m. for the warm-up exercises (calesthenics, sit-ups, etc.), followed by a four-mile jog. The camp was spartan in features, with a common restroom. The actors were each provided with water enough only for drinking, thus leaving Cesar without a bath for two weeks, brushing his teeth only twice. Very military.

"After the four-mile jog," related Cesar, "we would rest for only 30 minutes to change from our jogging suits to our military uniform. No breakfast. And then we would hike several miles toward a mountain where each of us would prepare our lunch, consisting of a ready pack (canned goods, etc.) which we cooked from a fire we ourselves would start on a hole we dug on the ground."

The batch was divided into different groups – Charlie 1, Charlie 2, Fox 2, Headquarters, Alamo Scouts and Filipino Guerilla which was headed by Cesar. The training involved dismantling a gun and putting it back together again, throwing a grenade, actual combat, etc. During that long walk to the mountain for lunch, according to Cesar, each of them carried a gun and a knapsack containing more war gadgets.

Shooting of the movie started on July 4 but it wasn’t until July 9 did Cesar’s schedule start – with Bratt no less, complete with speaking lines delivered, as per the script, in English with a Filipino accent.

"The company built a set on a 10-hectare lot that was made to look like a Philippine village, complete with coconut trees occupying two hectares, nipa huts and a school," said Cesar. "Very authentic ’yung set, so real that you wouldn’t think we were actually shooting in Australia."

Part of the movie might be shot in China and, perhaps, with some establishing shots to be done in the Philippines.

"They are very systematic with the shooting," added Cesar. "They follow the 12-hour-a-day work schedule. They pick you up at your apartment at 4 a.m. and as soon as you arrive on the set, shooting kaagad. Work winds up at 4 p.m. All in all, 12 hours talaga, from pick-up to pack-up."

Cesar found Bratt without any star complex at all. He was down-to-earth and was on equal footing with everybody else from the training to the actual shooting, very generously giving Cesar tips and even fixing his uniform before every "take." Said Cesar, "Napaka-sweet at napaka-bait niya."

Because "outsiders" (even close relatives of the cast) are off-limits on the set, Sunshine will be a plain housewife in Brisbane where she and Cesar plan to celebrate their second wedding anniversary on Sept. 25 and Angelina’s first birthday at about the same time.

"When I first went there," related Sunshine, "I even met Talisa Soto (wife of Bratt). She’s pregnant. The two of them had dinner with Cesar and me."

From Brisbane, Cesar and Sunshine will come home in early October when Cesar finishes his scenes and then they’ll fly to New York to attend the gala night of Flower Drum Song, topbilled by Lea Salonga.

"I signed up for three pictures with Miramax," revealed Cesar. "Pero wala pang plans doon sa dalwa pang movie."

Cesar credits his director Marilou Diaz-Abaya for the discipline which he cultivated during the pre-shoot training he did for his starrers with Marilou – Rizal, Muro-Ami and Bagong Buwan.

"I survived the rigorous jungle-ranger training because of that discipline," said Cesar, hardly able to contain his excitement over the possibility of a Hollywood career after the release of The Great Raid.

Encounter at the hospital

FLASH: So you think that the real-life love triangle involving (from left) Kris Aquino, Parañaque City Mayor Joey Marquez and Alma Moreno has reached its climax?

Think again.

A few weeks ago, the three protagonists had a "peaceful" encounter at Joey’s posh condo unit somewhere in Taguig. No, sparks didn’t fly then.

But yesterday morning at around 8:30, sparks almost, but not quite, seared an exclusive room at a suburban hospital where Joey was confined for an undisclosed ailment.

Somebody tipped off Alma who rushed to the hospital with her and Joey’s son VJ (Vittorio Joey) in tow. Imagine how surprised Alma was when she opened the door and saw Joey cozy in bed with, yeah, Kris! (But they were just talking, you know, shooting the breeze.)

After Alma asked Joey what was the matter with him, Kris tried to break the uneasy air by offering VJ candies, in case the boy hadn’t eaten yet. Snapped Alma, "Huwag mong pakialaman ang anak ko; ang anak mo ang alagaan mo!" Ouch!

Kris summoned her good friend and Morning Girls co-host Zsa Zsa Padilla who herself has had this kind of ugly romantic tug-of-war with Alma over Dolphy, who’s now exclusively Zsa Zsa’s personal "property."

Before Alma left, she let loose another mouthful to Kris: "Tandaan mo ito, forever ka na lang (bleep!) ni Joey dahil hindi ko pipirmahan ang annulment papers namin!" Ouch again!

You wonder… Is Alma getting any kind of "tip" from Sony Dabao, estranged wife of Kris’ ex home companion Phillip Salvador, who also refused to cooperate in the annulment case filed by Phillip, thereby thwarting Phillip and Kris’ dream to live happily ever after as legal husband and wife?

Oh, well, you know what they say about the frightening possibilities that a woman scorned is capable of raising.