Keanu: Did he or didn’t he?

Did Keanu Reeves and Alan Cumming "get married" last March at the Auburn City Hall in Massachusetts with the mayor (Gavin McCleod) officiating?

It was Johnny Revilla who called Funfare’s attention to this interesting story filed, according to Johnny, in the Internet (Google, then to go JoBlo.com). Being computer-illiterate, I requested Johnny to print the story and send it to me.

According to the story, titled Keanu Reeves and Alan Cumming Get Married, the duo, who had been secretly dating on-and-off for over four years, wrote their own vows and recited them while Melissa Etheridge "softly hummed Come Through My Window in the background."

Reeves, star of the three Matrix films and the recent hit Something’s Got to Give, has always insisted that he’s heterosexual while Cumming (Spy Kids, X-Men 2, etc.) is said to be openly bisexual.

The Internet account added that after the ceremony, Keanu had a few beers with local gay men at a tavern called The Black Door.

In his next film, Constantine, Reeves plays an irreverent supernatural detective. It’s interesting to note that in his movie, My Own Private Idaho, done when he was new in showbiz, Reeves had a "bed scene" with the late River Phoenix.

I called Johnny after reading the story and told him, "Is it true or a hoax?"

Said Johnny, "I don’t know."

There. If you happen to surf in the Internet, read that story with a grain of salt.

The wonder of it is that, how come a story as "explosive" as that escaped the attention of wire services (the story mentioned that there was a small press conference after the "wedding ceremony")?

Yes, Alec Mapa Is A Filipino

Funfare’s recent item on Alec (not Alex) Mapa, who plays a dancer in drag in the Hollywood movie Connie and Carla (starring Nia Vardalos of The Big Fat Greek Wedding fame and David Duchovny) drew a lot of reactions.

Reader Miguel Andre Achacoso said that Alec is the first cousin of Jao Mapa. Their fathers are first cousins.

Oliver Carnay, a journalist based in L.A., furnished Funfare more information about Alec. Here it is:

Alec Mapa is an award-winning full-blooded Filipino who was raised in New York and San Francisco, California. He is the very first Filipino artist who (lead) starred in the (now defunct) ABC television series Some of My Best Friends.

He is an award-winning stand-up comic who has written comic pieces about being a Filipino (L.A. Critic Award for I Remember Mapa, etc.) and has starred on Broadway for three years for M Butterfly. To this date, he is the only Filipino stage, television and movie actor in Hollywood who has insisted on playing "only Filipino character roles."

Recently, he hosted the 2004 Lunar Parade (together with 1997 Miss Universe Brook Lee) and he also received an award from "Search to Involve Pilipino Americans" at yesterday’s annual awards ceremony.

He is one of the two featured Filipino artists in the "first ever award-show held at the Kodak Theatre"– the Ovation Awards, which was hosted by Lea Salonga and Bruce Villanch.

Babae Screenings At Cannes Filmfest

Meanwhile, here’s an update on Mario O’Hara’s Babae sa Breakwater, included at the Cannes 2004’s Directors’ Fortnight, from Funfare’s Toronto-based "international correspondent" Ferdinand Lapuz:

Hi Ricky.  Here’s more details on Babae sa Breakwater (Woman of Breakwater) in Cannes this May.

Babae will have four screenings during the Cannes Film Festival, May 12 to 23. On May 19 at 11a.m., there will be a press screening at the Salle Jacques Doniol-Valcroze. The press screening will be followed by a press conference.  Then at 7:30 p.m. will be the official screening at the Theatre Noga Croisette. Both theaters are at the Hotel Noga Hilton. 

On May 22, there will be two more screenings, one at 1:30 p.m. at Studio 13 and at 10:30 p.m. at Cinema Les Arcades.

After the screenings in Cannes, all films presented at the 57th Cannes Film Festival will have two to three more screenings each in Rome and Milan, Italy.  The program in Rome is the Le Vie del Cinema da Cannes a Rome and in Milan is the Cannes e dintorni. Both programs are presented by the Italian General Association of Performing Arts and Cinemas.

 According to Daily Variety, a total of more than 1000 feature films were submitted to the Directors’ Fortnight and only 20 were selected. This is down from 35  feature films last year. There are nine films from France (including co-productions), four from the US, two from Japan, two from Iran and one each from Italy, Argentina and the Philippines In the main competition programme, six out 18 films are from Asia. Two from South Korea, two from Japan, one each from Hong Kong and Thailand. Who knows, maybe in a year or two, there will be a Filipino film in the main competition.

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