Lorna tapped for Edith Burgos film; Susan is Ryzza’s first guest in talk show

It’s final: I’m glad that Lorna Tolentino was chosen by director Joel Lamangan to play the title role in The Edith Burgos Story (working title).

More than any actress, it’s Lorna who fits the role. According to reports, Lorna cried a river when she read the script which chronicles Edith’s relentless fight for justice for her son Jonas who disappeared a few years ago, said to have been abducted by still uniden tified suspects.

I’ve known Edith way back when she was the plain house- wife of the late award-winning journalist Joe Burgos. We call her Nene, which was how her sister, Malu TronquedMapa, also called her. When we were starting as mov ie writers, we were called The Seven Dwarfs (with now US based Malu as our Snow White; with only three of us “dwarfs” surviving — Raoul Tidalgo, Eddie Campaner and I).

We would hang around at Joe and Nene’s apartment off España Extension in Quezon City and played pekwa (now called tongits) before we hied off to cover movie shoots. Then, we would ransack Joe and Nene’s pantry for corned beef as our quick dinner. Back then, Nene was a quiet, almostretiring, soft spoken and happy wife to Joe and mom to their kids. That’s why I was pleasantly surprised and a bit shocked when I saw her years later, raging mad on the front pages and in newscasts after her son Jonas went missing. Suddenly, Nene has turned into a fighting lady. The transformation is one for the books and I hope direk Joel will faithfully capture it on film.

Playing Edith Burgos is a huge challenge to an actress and I’m sure Lorna will give justice to it. Once Lorna talks lengthily to Nene, she will discover that they have many things in

common.

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 It’s a fact: Ryzza will really have her own talk show which will premiere at 11:30 (before Eat, Bulaga!) onMonday, April 8, on GMA. Titled The Ryzza Mae Show, it will showcase Philippine Television’s current Wonder Kid noted for her fresh wit and humor, endearing spontaneity and winsome gift of gab (yes, she’s not “scripted” in her lines on Bulaga!).

Ryzza’s pilot episode is bongga, not to be missed, with no less than Susan Roces as her special guest. Ryzza easily won Susan’s heart when she appeared as a sampaguita vendor in Perpetua, the Black Saturday special produced for GMA by Tony Tuviera. I heard that Susan prepared a special buffet for Ryzza and her crew at the FPJ Studio where the taping was done. I wonder, what questions will Ryzza ask Susan that have never been asked before? Will she make Susan do the chacha? Stay tuned.

Incidentally, Susan and co star Boots Anson Roa were memorable in that Perpetua special, Boots as the legal wife (of Lito Legaspi) and Susan as the common law wife. The two women were confronted with the bitter truth when Lito lay in coma after a stroke.

Susan and Boots’ face- to-face scene, among oth- ers, was heart-tugging. It was one of local televi- sion’s unforgettable moments.

As far as I know, Susan and Boots have never done a movie together. Isn’t it a great idea (paging, GMA guys!) to put them together in a soap (much like Su- san and Helen Gamboa’s Kapamilya starrer Walang Hanggan)? It will be a cast- ing coup, I’m sure!

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