Allen takes a step in the right direction
Curtain-raisers:
• Oops! It turns out that the Richard Carpenter song Something in Your Eyes was first recorded by Dusty Springfield some years back. This was pointed out by reader Alain Panlilio who said that the song was track No. 3 in Richard’s first solo album Time in which some of the other songs were sung by Dionne Warwick. “Dusty’s song was not a hit,” said music expert Ernie Pecho. Richard was just too happy to give Claire dela Fuente the go-signal to re-record the song for her new album scheduled to be released here on Feb. 18 with no less than Richard as special guest.
• The concert of Lea Salonga (photo) at the St. La Salle University Coliseum in
• The friendship of a popular actor and a comedian was dented by an accident that nearly ruined the actor’s marriage. The comedian was pinpointed to have “spilled the beans” (regarding the actor’s philandering) to the actor’s actress-wife who threatened to squeal the comedian’s own affairs to his overly-jealous non-showbiz wife if he didn’t “tell all.” The comedian saved his own neck at the expense of the actor’s. Oh well, with a friend like him, who needs a “hero”?
* * *
It was just a matter of right timing.
In an effort to shake off his “bold” image and take a new direction as a serious actor, Allen Dizon is taking the road no other actor of his kind has dared to tread — producing a movie, that is.
Next month, Allen’s first “baby,” Crossroads (under his own ATD Entertainment Productions), is scheduled to be released late this month or early next month, featuring a considerably powerhouse cast composed of Gloria Romero, Jay Manalo, Snooky Serna, Angelu de Leon, Krista Ranillo, Joseph Bitangcol, German Moreno, Kirby de Jesus and Allen himself, with Joven Tan as director.
“I’ve been waiting for the right time,” said Allen. “I’ve been keeping this plan a secret for quite a while.”
Written by Allen’s bud Dennis Evangelista, Crossroads is set in a slum area next to a cemetery, made up of three unrelated but intertwining stories about the seemingly “living dead,” marginal characters whose lives have hit a deadend.
“The characters are prostitutes in more ways than one,” explained Dennis. “Jay is a hired killer. Angelu is a teacher who puts her profession in a compromising situation. Gloria is guilt-ridden for not having fought for her husband. Snooky is a broker for kidneys for sale. Kirby is a gay. Krista, as the daughter of Snooky, is a trying-hard starlet who offers herself to legmen and caterers in exchange for bit roles. And Allen is a member of an all-male group who moonlights as a pimp.”
I saw portions of the movie and I must say that it was impressive, with every scene framed like a beautiful painting. No wonder, the cinematographer is the Romy Vitug.
Noted for sexy performances in more than 30 movies, Allen in Crossroads does something he has never done before — you know, being at the receiving end in a love scene with a male customer after he graduated from pimping to selling his own body.
“The scene was nicely done,” assured Allen, “like the first love scene of Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal in Brokeback Mountain,” adding with a laugh, “No, I wasn’t ‘violated’ during the scene; it was just implied.”
This step in a new (right) direction came about in 2006 after Allen came back from the Toronto International Film Festival where his film, Twilight Dancers (written by Ricky Lee and directed by Mel Chionglo as follow-up to Lino Brocka’s Macho Dancer and Chionglo’s Sibak: Midnight Dancer), the same movie which won for Allen (as an ill-fated has-been dancer) two awards last year, Best Supporting Actor from the Philippine Movie Press Club’s Star Awards and the FAMAS.
“I was exposed to so many beautiful films in
But even before Toronto, Allen had already taken an initial step in that direction by producing two plays at the Music Museum, Hipo in 2004 directed by Soxy Topacio and Private Parts in 2005 directed by Elwood Perez.
The two awards strengthened Allen’s determination to be recognized as an actor and not, as he put it, “merely for my face and body.”
He has just renewed his management contract with Viva Artists Agency (VAA), with Dennis as co-manager. He’s also in the cast of Kung Fu Kids, the new ABS-CBN adventure series slated to air anytime soon. He’s set to start shooting Anito (God of Fertility), directed by Edgardo “Boy” Vinarao.
“I can’t thank God enough for all this,” said Allen who, even when busy with movie work, finds time to manage his lucrative car-trading business with only one outlet now in his native Pampanga (he quit being a partner of a branch in Sta. Maria, Bulacan).
Away from showbiz, Allen spends time with his family in Pampanga.
“I’ve always been a country boy at heart,” said Allen. “I’m more at peace living in the province.”
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