Angelica pays the price of success

After the hit romance All About Love, Angelica Panganiban will now be seen as an avenging ghost in the horror flick, White Lady, where she plays the title role. Angelica is also in the Metro filmfest horror trilogy, Karma. She’s really one of our busiest young actresses today as she’s also in the new ABS-CBN action TV series, Rounin. But with success comes all the intrigues alleging she is seen smoking like a chimney, gambling and drinking on the set of White Lady, which was shot on location in UP Los Baños, as if there’s no tomorrow.

"About the drinking, I admit it, it’s true," she says. "But we only did it on the last day of shooting. Our director, Jeff Tan, said we should celebrate, so we had some wine. But I wasn’t the only one who drank the wine but the entire cast. And I didn’t drink that much to be too intoxicated. As for the smoking, it’s not true. I tried it, but I have a heart condition and it’s a no-no for me to smoke. My doctor even prohibited me from drinking coffee. About the gambling, we do play the card game called tong-its to pass the time when they fix the set or the lights, but there’s no money involved. Katuwaan lang with my co-stars and our director allows it. If he’d tell us not to play tong-its on the set, then we’d obey him."

In White Lady, she appears with GMA 7 talents like Pauleen Luna, Iwa Moto, Katarina Perez, JC de Vera and Gian Carlos. "Nakakatuwa nga as we belong to rival networks, so it’s impossible for us to work on TV. But I’m glad we’re given the chance to work together on the big screen and I had a nice time working with them. The stars from ABS-CBN who work with me here are Jason Abalos, Ketchup Eusebio, Glaiza de Castro and Franzen Fajardo. It’s really nice na mga kapamilya at mga kapuso, nagkatrabaho for the first time and it’s fun."

Will she be effective in scaring the audience as White Lady? "Definitely, and it’s no joke to play the role of a ghost as I have a disfigured face in the film. They apply prosthetics on my face and it’s attached on my skin for 24 hours kaya I developed allergic reaction to the material at lumobo ang mga mata ko. Taking it off is also painful as it’s almost like pasted on my skin."

The film opens with the school janitor, played by CCP executive Nanding Josef no less, hearing a lady singing an Ilonggo lullaby inside a dark classroom. When he investigates, he sees a strange lady in a flowing white outfit writing something on the blackboard. He touches the White Lady on the shoulder and when she faces him, he is shocked to death when he sees her hideous face.

"I was burned to death kasi in the story, so I have to sport that ugly monstrous face," adds Angelica. "I play Cristina, a naive provinciana who is the butt of jokes in our campus. I fall in love with the campus heartthrob, JC de Vera, but Iwa Moto, a rich spoiled girl, is also in love with him, so she bullies me and does something with her barkada that causes my death. I then return as a ghost to haunt them all."

Does she believe in ghosts? "Oh yes. When we were shooting Mano Po 3 in an old house, I was resting inside a bedroom when I saw a shadowy figure floating in front of me. But I was so sleepy then I just said, ‘Puede ba, pagod na pagod ako.’ But after some moments, what I saw finally sunk on me and so I screamed and ran downstairs. I think ghosts are restless spirits with an unfinished business. I think they died prematurely and they want to communicate with someone. In the movie, I communicate with Pauleen Luna, the new girl in the campus who happens to be my kababayan. I seek her help in my quest for justice so that my soul can be laid to rest."

Those who still regard Angelica as the innocent child actress who melted their hearts in her crying scenes in films like Ama, Ina, Anak and Sarah, Munting Prinsesa will be shocked by her daring photos in the first issue of Maxim Magazine. We know she’s been offered by other men’s magazines to pose but she rejected them all. What made her give her nod to Maxim?

"Mr. Johnny Manahan is my adviser and when he turned down the previous offers, I trusted him completely," she says. "Now, he gave his approval for me to do the cover of Maxim and I did it as it’s the No. 1 men’s lifestyle magazine in the world today. Also, it’s ABS-CBN that got the franchise to do its local version. It has maintained its classy image ever since it started in the UK in 1995, so I’m glad to be its first cover girl."

Does this mean she will now go all out in doing sexy films? "I’ve done what they consider a sexy film before, Santa-Santita, but actually, I only did a love scene there with Jericho Rosales. I didn’t show any flesh. Here, I’m shown in my bra and panties and it’s my most revealing pictorial ever. But no, it doesn’t mean I’ll go all the way in the movies now. It will still depend on the project and the director."

She’s definitely the most seductive ghost to grace the local screen ever. "Initially nga, Direk Jeff Tan wanted me to wear a flimsier outfit in White Lady for a sexier look, but my character is a provinciana from Iloilo who is quite conservative, so hindi puede gawing sexy. Also, Mother Lily says this is for general patronage, so I’m not supposed to be seducing anyone here."

But she does look sexy. During the Bench fashion show, she got raves for her revealing costume that shows a bit of skin. "But it’s still conservative compared to the other models because I was wearing denim pants. Even my billboards are not for their undies but for their outer apparel. And for this, I really had to slim down so I won’t look unsightly in my pictorials. I’m also undergoing martial arts training for Rounin, where I figure in several action scenes, and it’s very good exercise that helps keep my weight down."

What about her lovelife? Is she still on with childhood sweetheart Carlo Aquino? "No, we’ve split up again. Remember we broke up before when I found out he was courting other girls even if we were on? I gave him a second chance and we reconciled, but my mom is really against him because of his playboy image. Before, my mom was so nice to him and when we’d go out, she’d even accompany us. But after my mom heard stories about his being a chickboy, ayaw na talaga sa kanya ng mommy ko and she convinced me to break up with him. And besides, I’m a dutiful daughter. I followed my mom because mother knows best, di ba? I realized that she’s right. I’m so busy with several projects now it’s better to just focus on my career and not make my life complicated by having a boyfriend."