The Divine Miss D.

Curtain-raisers:

• Home for Christmas is Cher Calvin who left ABS-CBN for The Fox News (based in Las Vegas) nine months ago. Will she connect with ex-boyfriend Troy Montero (now Aubrey Miles’ boyfriend) – that is, if Troy hasn’t left yet with brother KC to spend Christmas with their family.

• Also back from a seven-week travel around the world are Cherie Gil and husband Rony Rogoff and their kids.

• The launch of Token Lizares’ album, Ikaw Lamang, Sinta, last month at the Hyatt’s Calesa Bar was a success. Although she started singing when she was barely 19 (performing in such Asian countries as Japan, Malaysia and Thailand), it’s only now that Token is concentrating on her homegrown career. It’s never too late; better late than never. Listen to Token sing (especially her version of Endless Love) and you’ll agree that she has her own place in the local music scene.

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This year, Dina Bonnevie gave movie writers copies of Rick Warren’s best-selling book The Purpose Driven Life (What on Earth Am I Here For?) as Christmas gifts. In the dedication, she wrote: ...This book has done amazing thing to me; I hope it will do the same to you.

Besides the book, it’s her being a Christian that gives Dina inner peace and happiness, thanks to Coney Reyes who sponsored Dina’s membership in the Victory Christian Fellowship.

Talk to Dina these days and you will notice the calm tone of her voice and the easy smile on her face – the taray element is gone! There’s even an invisible halo over her head. She punctuates every sentence with "in God’s good time."

So what if she didn’t get the third-wife role in Regal Films’ 2003 Metro Filmfest entry, Mano Po 2, and lose it to Lorna Tolentino?

"It was providential," said the divine Miss D. "Maybe it wasn’t meant for me."

She would have been in the cast of another filmfest entry, Viva Films’ Filipinas, but that, too, was "providential" and she lost the role to Dawn Zulueta.

But she’s in a virtual filmfest entry, Seiko Films’ Bridal Shower (opening on Jan. 1 next year), and she’s getting good reviews for her comedic role reminiscent of the one played by Kim Cattrall in Sex and the City. Miss D. is basking in her "vindication."

"Will I watch Mano Po 2 and Filipinas? Of course, I will. I always see to it that I watch all enrties in the Metro Filmfest whether I have an entry or not."

When Seiko boss Robbie Tan contacted Dina for the role, her initial reaction was to tease Robbie, "I don’t like! People might think I’m going bold. Di ba, ‘If it’s Seiko, it must be bold’? Robbie assured me that the role was good. Besides, I’d been hearing so much about Jeffrey (Jeturian, the movie’s director) and he was a big factor in my acceptance of the Seiko offer."

And when she learned that her leading man would be newcomer hunk Christian Vasquez, whom she hadn’t met in person at that time, Dina checked out the huge billboard of Belano (underwear of which Christian is an image model) at an intersection in Caloocan City and she smiled, "Hmmmmm. Yummy!"

That must have started the rumor that Dina was... lusting?... for the Ilonggo hunk, a rumor which she dismissed by admitting that she has a steady date, a foreigner. "No, not just one," Dina hastened to add, "but two. The other is a Filipino."

Will she marry again even after two failed marriages (first to Vic Sotto by whom she has two children, Oyo Boy and Danica, and then to Dick Penson, no child)? Hasn’t she developed a phobia for marriage just yet?

"In God’s good time, I will marry again," she said.

It’s a blessing in disguise, according to Dina, that Bridal Shower (also starring Cherry Pie Picache and Francine Prieto as Dina’s gangmates) didn’t make it as official entry to the Metro Filmfest. Otherwise, the movie would have run right smack into Vic’s starrer, Octoarts/M-Zet Films’ Fantastikman, and Dina wouldn’t like it.

"Never kaming nagsabay ni Vic sa festival or even during ordinary playdates," explained Dina. "Even on TV, we don’t compete with each other. ABS-CBN wanted me star in a sitcom na katapat ng sitcom ni Vic (on GMA) but I turned it down."

Dina got helpful pointers from Vic in attacking her role in Bridal Shower: "Huwag kang magpatawa. Don’t consciously make people laugh, just be serious with your (comedic) acting.’ It’s just like doing drama. Nakakaiyak na nga ‘yung eksena, dra-dramahin mo pa. After doing Bridal Shower, I realized that it’s really easier to make people cry than to make them laugh."

Does she think she’ll run away with the filmfest’s Best Actress trophy (against formidable competitors)?

"Does any actor/actress in this country ever win for a comedy role?"

Well, there could be, uh, an exception?

Smiled the divine Miss D., "In God’s good time."

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