Adrian Alonso: The boy who wants to be Zorro

Curtain-raisers:

• Jenny C (as in Cuneta), a Filipino singer based in New York, is the only one allowed by Paul McCartney to use his song, Come Rain, Come Shine, for Jenny’s MTV. It’s the second most-played song in Europe. Jenny’s MTV is aired four times a day and was submitted for Grammy nominations in seven categories. It was Club Music, Ministry of Sound Australia, which paid for the licensing of Jenny’s song to be used by that company. Samsung Asia Celfones did the same so that it can use Jenny’s song as ringtone. Disney also paid the licensing of the song’s ballad version to be used in its daytime TV shows.

• The gorgeous quartet Il Divo was in Hong Kong over the weekend for the formal opening of the Four Seasons Hotel where Carlos (Spanish), Sebastien (French), David (American) and Urs (Swiss) did a showcase of five songs (from the group’s self-titled first album and the second, Ancora) Saturday night at the hotel’s grand ballroom. Spotted at the showcase were Baby Arenas, GMA execs Wilma Galvante and Darling de Jesus, Boy Martinez of SMART and Francis Lumen, who reportedly purposely flew from Manila for the event. Could it be true that Baby and Francis are competing for the rights to produce an Il Divo concert in Manila?

• At the screenings of Star Cinema’s Dubai at the Regency Theater in West Hollywood in Los Angeles, not a single eye was dry towards the end of the movie when Aga Muhlach is shown in the hospital watching over his unconscious brother (John Lloyd Cruz) fight for his life after getting involved in a car accident. The screenings were well-attended. The movie, directed by Rory B. Quintos from a story and screenplay by Ricky Lee (in collaboration with Shaira Mella-Salvador), surely touched the hearts of US-based Pinoys with that scene and many others, including the one showing Aga delivering a little speech at a friend’s wedding about being proud to be a Filipino and not forgetting how to look back where you come from.

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Opening this Wednesday (Oct. 26) in Metro Manila theaters are two movies featuring child actors among the main attractions. One is Regal Films’ fantasy-adventure Ispiritista where BJ Forbes (a.k.a. Tolits) plays Vic Sotto and Iza Calzado’s son and the other is Columbia Pictures’ The Legend of Zorro, where Adrian Alonso plays Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones’ son.

Like BJ (who was featured in this section last Friday), Adrian also did a popular commercial before venturing into the movies. BJ is the cute boy in the series of Tide commercials while Adrian did a McDonald’s commercial in Mexico where he came from. In Zorro, sequel to the 1998 hit The Mask of Zorro (which launched Zeta-Jones’ Hollywood career), Adrian, 10, idolizes Zorro (Banderas) not knowing that Zorro is his father who barely has time for him and his mom because he’s busy defending and fighting for the oppressed people of 19th-century California.

Before Zorro, Adrian has done two movies, Innocent Voices and The Other Side. He beat more than 3,000 other kiddie aspirants for the role that called for him not only to act but also to display his martial arts know-how and stunt skills. He can easily win hearts, too, with his toothsome smile.

Funfare also did a one-on-one with the boy during last week’s press junket for The Legend of Zorro (along with Banderas and Zeta-Jones) at the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, California. Adrian speaks very, very little English so he needed an interpreter. Here are some translated excerpts:

What did you do during the audition?

"They told me to say something in English. But I didn’t speak a single word of English, so I asked my brother to help me. They also asked me to show my karate skills. I’m a green-belter."

How did you prepare for the role?

"I did eight hours of English lessons everyday before the shooting. I also studied how to ride a horse."

Do you like to speak English now?

"English is hard to learn but I love to speak it."

Did you see the first Zorro?

"The Mask of Zorro? Yes, I did. But I like this one better."

Did you know that you were working with two superstars?

"Yes."

Weren’t you intimidated?

"No, I was not. I was proud to be working with them."

How was it working with Banderas?

"I loved it! It was awesome!"

What about Catherine?

"When I worked with Catherine, I felt butterflies in my stomach."

What was the fun part of the movie?

"When I fought with my teacher and I hit his buttocks with a slingshot."

Who were you closer to, Banderas or Catherine?

"Antonio. I wasn’t close to Catherine because she didn’t speak Spanish. Back then, I spoke very little English. With Antonio, he spoke to me in Spanish all the time. Sometimes, he would forget and speak to me in English and I would tell him, ‘No English. Spanish, Spanish!’"

What’s your favorite movie?

"The Exorcist."

The new one?

"No, the first one (with Linda Blair as the possessed child). I don’t like the new one; I don’t like David Hemmings."

What kind of actor do you want to be when you grow up?

"Like Antonio Banderas. Or Anthony Hopkins. Or Michael Douglas."

Have you always wanted to be an actor?

"Yes. When I was seven years old, I saw kids on TV. One of them was doing a play, Beauty and the Beast. I said, ‘I want to be like him, acting’."

Are you treated like a star in school and at home?

"No. They treat me the same way. I don’t feel like a star. At home, I play games. I also play tennis, football and soccer."

What did you do with the money you got from Zorro?

"I put it in the bank. When I’m older, I’ll buy a house and a car."

How much did you get?

"I don’t know."

How many brothers and sisters do you have?

"I have only one brother. He’s 14."

Do you like girls?

"Si, si!"

What type of girls do you like?

"Mexican girls because they speak Spanish."

If you were Zorro, what would you do?

"Help the country."

Which country, Mexico or America?

"Mexico and Italy. I love Mexico and I also love Italy."

Would you like to play Zorro?

"Yes. When I grow up, I will play Zorro."

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