Jennylyn: Kiss a girl? Why not!

Curtain-raisers:

•Could it be true that the current date (or boyfriend?) of Pops Fernandez is the scion of a very, very wealthy family that owns several establishments? The guy is a bachelor, a “prize catch” according to a Funfare DPA. He has the same surname as a controversial athlete. Don’t ask me why.

• Congratulations to Aiess Alonso, niece of lawyer/indie-producer Joji Alonso (latest project is the upcoming Vilma Santos-starrer Ekstra), whose short-film thesis Katapusang Labok (Last Strike) was accepted to participate in the Short Film Corner category of next month’s Cannes Filmfest. Also accepted for the same category is Oasis Redux by Carlo Manatad, the young editor of Babagwa which Joji is also producing.

•From Jinky Paquiao, this “nice story”:

In a street accident, a woman tried to help the victim but suddenly a nurse came and said, “Miss, excuse me! Please step back! I’m a nurse. I’ve had a course in first aid and I’m trained in giving CPR.” The woman stepped aside and watched the procedure and said, “If you need a doctor, I’m behind you.” Moral of the story: Knowledge is good but humility counts more.

•From Pinky Tobiano, another “nice story”:

An old farmer wrote to his son in prison, “This year, I won’t be able to plant camote because I can’t dig the ground. I know if you were here you would help me.”

 The son wrote back, “Dad, don’t think of digging the ground because that’s where I buried the guns.”

The police read the son’s letter.

On the very next day, the whole field was dug by the cops looking for guns but they found nothing.

The day after the cops had dug the field, the son wrote to his father again, “Now, plant your camote, dad. It’s the best thing I could do from here.”

*  *  *

If her boyfriend Luis Manzano can, why can’t Jennylyn Mercado?

In his Star Cinema movie All My Life, Luis has a lip-smack scene with John Lloyd Cruz (as his lover) shot in New York.

In an interview with Jennylyn before the presscon proper for her Regal starrer The Bride & The Lover (with Lovi Poe and Paulo Avelino) last Saturday, Funfare asked her if she could be as daring and do a love scene with another actress.

Without batting an eyelash, Jennylyn said, “Why not? Okey lang po, basta ang pagkakasulat ng story ay nasa tamang lugar at magaling ang director. I will give him all my trust.”

Directed by Joel Lamangan from a screenplay by Rody Vera, The Bride & The Lover (showing nationwide starting on May 1) also stars Joem Bascon, Hayden Kho, Tim Yap, Alex Castro, Ahron Villena, Carmi Martin, Buboy Garovillo, Timmy Cruz, Carlo Gonzales, Ton Rodriguez Kat Alano, Cai Cortez and Carla Dunareanu (Christian Bautista’s Singaporean girlfriend, in an introductory role).

Lovi plays an heiress set to marry her boyfriend (Paulo), only to discover on wedding day that he’s having an affair with her bridesmaid/best-friend (Jennylyn).

Beyond that, Jennylyn wouldn’t reveal anything more, simply saying, “Watch the movie and find out for yourself kung sino ang bride at kung sino ang lover?” (insinuating that her character and that of Lovi could be having something “illicit”).

According to Jennylyn, another scene to watch for is her catfight with Lovi after Lovi learns about Jennylyn’s affair with Paulo.

“It took direk Joel four hours to shoot the scene,” recalled Jennylyn (who has worked with Joel in some films including Blue Moon and Happy Together). Did Joel “terrorize” her and Lovi into staging a catfight-for-real? “Yes,” said Jennylyn, “he wanted it to be realistic, otherwise uulit-ulitin daw namin, so Lovi and I pulled each other’s hair, nagsampalan kami, gumugulong-gulong kami at nagsuntukan, and we ended up full of scratches. And we were in long gown ha! The whole sequence was 20-pages long and we shot it from after midnight to early morning. Paggising namin ni Lovi the next day, ang sakit-sakit ng katawan namin!”

Has she ever done it in real life?

“A, hindi po!,” Jennylyn begged our pardon. “Hindi ko po ugali ang makipag-away ng ganyan. What I do is just keep my sama ng loob to myself. Iniiyak ko na lang.”

Jennylyn showed up at the presscon in summer shorts, fit as a fiddle so to speak, thanks to regular exercises that include sports like biking, jujitsu, running and swimming. She was wearing a heart-shaped pendant given to her as a Christmas gift by Luis who is celebrating his 32nd birthday on Sunday, April 21 (Taurus, also the zodiac sign of Jennylyn whose birthday is May 15).

Asked what her gift to Luis is, Jennylyn frowned.

“I haven’t bought one yet,” she said. “Surprise!!!”