Zanjoe's 'shaking' experience

MANILA, Philippines - Zanjoe Marudo has come a long way since he gained fame as one of the Big Four in Pinoy Big Brother Celebrity Edition in 2006, along with John Prats, Bianca Gonzales and the winner, Keanna Reeves.

Born on July 23, 1982 in Tanauan, Batangas, he’s the third in a brood of five. His dad and siblings now live in the States, but he has opted to stay in Manila with his mom.

In college, he was a member of the San Sebastian College’s basketball team to the NCAA and did modeling on the side. After PBB, he went into acting doing comedy in Aalog-Alog with Keanna and later, Pare Koy and Banana Split. He also did drama in several Maalaala Mo Kaya episodes like Jacket, Barko, Bus, Bag, Kuliglig and Kuwintas.

He also starred in soaps like Florinda, The Wedding, Kokey, Dyosa and Precious Hearts Romances. In the movies, he was introduced in the Toni Gonzaga-Sam Milby rom-com, You Got Me in 2007. Other movies he did were Altar, Kimmy Dora, Cinco, Sa’Yo Lamang and Wedding Tayo, Wedding Hindi.

He and Maricar Reyes are now paired together for the first time in the Tamawo episode of Shake, Rattle & Roll 13, written and directed by Richard Somes, who megged the award-winning Yanggaw horror film about aswangs for Cinema One.

“Maricar and I have worked before in Lovers in Paris where we played support to Piolo Pascual and KC Concepcion,” says Zanjoe. “This time, kami na ang magkapareha in Tamawo.”

It’s good he was allowed by ABS-CBN to work with Regal. “The truth is, when this was offered to me, Star Cinema won’t allow me to do it. But I talked to Tita Malou Santos. I said I want to be part of the Shake series as I grew up watching these movies, beginning with the Manananggal episode starring Herbert Bautista in the first Shake movie,” he says. “Also, Mother Lily says this will be the last in the franchise, so it’ll be history and I want to be part of the cast of the last Shake movie. I’m also excited as it’s the first time that I’ll have an entry in the annual Metro Manila Film Festival. It’ll also be the first time for me to join the parade of stars on Christmas eve. I’m glad and thankful that Tita Malou finally gave me the permission to do the movie.”

So what is his role in Tamawo? “I’m so happy that the role assigned to me is quite challenging. I play the second husband of Maricar, who is blind here. She has a son with her first husband, played by child actor Bugoy Cariño. I’m cruel to the boy as I favor more yung sarili naming anak ni Maricar. I’m mean even to Maricar,” he says. “But you’ll sympathize with the character I play. He’s behaving that way as he’s angry with himself since he is some kind of a loser. All the businesses I invest in, laging nalulugi. Then I get this offer from a friend, played by Ervic Vijandre, to manage a ranch in a distant province. I accept it and our whole family relocates there without us knowing it’s inhabited by creatures called Tamawo.”

He continues, “According to direk Richard Somes, Tamawo is the Visayan word for maligno. They keep on coming to our house because the previous owner, Ronnie Lazaro, got a precious item from them that he buried under the house before he died. The Tamawos now want to get it back. The story is actually told from the point of view of Bugoy and it will remind you of the Oscar-winning movie, Pan’s Labyrinth.

“The climax is a chase scene with the Tamawos running after us in Daranak Falls in Tanay. It was difficult to do as it was raining, the stones we stepped on were so slippery and we had to be extra careful. It’s one of the scariest sequences in the movie.”

Zanjoe is very open about his lovelife. It’s common knowledge he’s now playing beautiful music with Bea Alonzo. Their romance bloomed when they were paired in Sa ‘Yo Lamang last year. Zanjoe was linked before with Mariel Rodriguez and Bea, with Gerald Anderson.

“It’s lovely,” he describes his lovelife. “We’re happy together and our relationship is very smooth. Hindi malamig ang Pasko namin, we even have a plan to spend the holidays sa isang lugar na malamig.”

He says that after Shake, Rattle & Roll 13 opens in the Metro Manila Film Fest, he and Bea plan to go to the States to visit his dad and siblings who live in New Jersey City. “Para naman maka-experience kami ng White Christmas,” he adds. “For sure, like other showbiz couples who go abroad, matsitsismis na nagpakasal na kami doon, but I’ll just introduce her to my family there.”

On TV, he’s all set to start taping a new soap, Alta, with Angelica Panganiban, KC Concepcion, Luis Manzano and Gretchen Barretto. “Sam Milby was originally in the cast, but he’ll try showbiz daw sa US so he was replaced by Diether Ocampo.”