What’s Willie really up to?

Curtain-raisers:

This is a true love story:

A pretty coed fell in love with a guy whose mother didn’t like her. He was her first boyfriend. Against their wishes, the young lovers broke up. The coed became a TV host and then an actress. She fell in love with her TV co-host, her second boyfriend. They got married, had children and lived happily ever after.

Forty years later during one of their trips abroad, the actress parked the wheelchair carrying her stroke-stricken husband in one corner of the airport. While retrieving their luggage from the carousel, the actress was greeted by a lady, telling her, “Do you see that woman on a wheelchair beside your husband’s? She’s my mother. She wants to talk to you.”

So the actress approached the woman who struggled to stand from her wheelchair and hugged her tightly, shedding tears. She turned out to be the mother of the actress’ first boyfriend. Between sobs, the woman apologized to the actress, saying, “I’m so sorry. If I did not object to your relationship with my son, he wouldn’t have died.”

The actress is a widow now, slowly but surely moving on with a widower who’s her constant friendly date.

Pang-MMK ang story niya, di ba? Moral of the story: Huwag hadlangan ang pag-iibigan ng dalawang nilalang.

Who’s the actress?

Itago na lang natin siya sa pangalang Boots Anson-Roa (who told that story on her and WillieNep’s dzMM show Music & Memories last Sunday).

This is also a love story…with a twist:

The daughter of a famous (if controversial) lady-doctor arrived at an A-list event with her foreign boyfriend. A sultry actress saw them and got interested in the guy, so she asked the help of a popular events organizer to introduce her to the guy. Wish granted. Well, to make a long story short(er), before the night was over the actress and the guy kinda developed a secret understanding. Before long, they became steadies, much to the chagrin of the lady-doctor’s daughter who sulked for days, nursing a broken heart behind closed doors. That was several months ago. The “jilted” girl has found a new love with whom she recently broke up. And the actress? She must be surveying the scene for new prospects.

From Norma Japitana, this text message from the US: The show of Rico J. Puno and Ormoc City Mayorable Richard Gomez was a full-house success. The new combination proved to be an exciting match. Rico and Richard dished out not only songs but also “naughtiness.” The first show (Nov. 16) was at the Pachanga Casino in San Diego and the second at Cache Creek in San Francisco.

So what’s Willie Revillame really up to? A few days ago on his TV5 show Wil Time Bigtime, he bade his followers goodbye and hinted that he would make “an important announcement” on Jan. 5 next year.

Questions: 1) Is he quitting TV5 and moving to another station?; 2) Is he, uhm, getting married (oh no, not again!)?; and 3) Will his show be reformatted (in which case heads will inevitably roll)?

Answers: 1) He can’t quit early next year because as far as Funfare Update knows, his contract with TV5 is good until October 2013 so, even if he plans to he cannot move just yet to another channel. Is he going back to ABS-CBN? (Asked if Willie has sent “feelers” and vice-versa, a Kapamilya executive said, “No such ‘feelers’ from him or from us.”); 2) Since he has been telling the world that he goes home to his mansion and sleeps alone (nga ba?), insinuating that he has no steady girlfriend, it may not be possible that he’s tying the knot; and 3) There are unconfirmed reports that the show’s dancers and staffers are scrambling for other “alternatives,” so does it mean that a reformat is pending?

Asked by Funfare Update what the real score is, Willie texted this message: “Wala pa; pinag-iisipan ko pa lahat. Basta, malalaman mo rin. Wala pa akong naiisip na mabuti kung ano ang tama at mabuti para sa lahat.”

(Side comment: What Funfare Update knows is that a TV5 executive has filed his resignation letter which was rejected by the management. Is it because of a rumored “power struggle” brewing among the decision-makers of one department? Interesting things are happening at the Kapatid Network, huh?)

Meet Regal’s

‘virgin shakers’

That’s how Ricky Lee calls himself and his co-scriptwriters Rody de Vera and Roy Iglesias for Shake, Rattle & Roll 14: The Invasion, Regal Films’ official entry in next month’s Metro Manila Filmfest.

The longest-running franchise’s director, Chito Roño, is in the same category.

“I’m also a ‘virgin shaker’,” Chito told Funfare Update. “SRR 14 is my first ‘shake’. Hindi pa ako nag-shake ever. When I was at Regal, the franchise wasn’t back yet.”

Ricky’s episode is Pamana, starring, among others, Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista, Janice de Belen and Arlene Muhlach; Rody’s is Lost Command, with Dennis Trillo, Paulo Avelino, Martin Escudero, AJ Dee and JC Tiuseco; and Roy’s is Unwanted, with Vhong Navarro, Lovi Poe, Albie Casino and Eula Caballero.

It’s the first time that all three episodes of SRR are handled by just one director.

“For a director mas nakakabaliw siya,” admitted Chito, “because you’re simultaneously directing three movies, not episode by episode kasi we have to adjust the shoot to the schedules of the stars na hindi magkatugma-tugma.”

If Lovi Poe is touted as the Horror Princess, is Chito happy being called the Emperor of Horror?

“Hmmmmm, not really,” said Chito. “There’s no such thing. I do dramas most of the time. I love genre movies and what I do every now and then are mostly suspense-thrillers, not really horror movies. As a movie fan, I love suspense-thrillers more than horror movies, actually.”

SRR 14 is Herbert’s

Balik-movies

Shake, Rattle & Roll 14: The Invasion is Quezon City Mayor Herbert Bautista’s comeback not only to the franchise but to the movies as well.

He was barely 17 when he starred (also with Janice) in the Manananggal episode (directed by Peque Gallaga) of the first SRR.

Happy to be “shaking” again, Herbert in the Pamana episode plays a guy who quits becoming a priest and gets married, deadset on getting back his son (Gerald Pesigan) taken away from him because he’s penniless, until a mana comes up.

“I’m glad to be working with Chito, one of our finest directors,” added Herbert. “I’ve actually worked with the best of them, also including Mario O’Hara and Maryo J. de los Reyes and Ishmael Bernal. I learned so much from them. Chito’s style is unorthodox. After a rehearsal, it’s up to you how to interpret your character.”

As a public official (said to be running unopposed in next year’s elections), Herbert said that he’d rather do movies that convey a good message.

“’Yung tipong puedeng mapanood ng mga anak ko,” he said.

(E-mail reactions at [email protected]. You may also send your questions to [email protected]. For more updates, photos and videos visit www.philstar.com/funfare or follow me on www.twitter/therealrickylo.)