Hello, Love, Goodbye saved Alden Richards

Curtain-raisers:

• A rejoinder to last Tuesday’s item about Ormoc Rep. Lucy Torres-Gomez and husband Ormoc City Mayor Richard Gomez: Yes, the couple’s daughter Juliana (who’s turning 19 on Sept. 8) is a member of the UP volleyball team. Richard said that Juliana is taking up Public Administration and wants to finish Law.

• According to Funfare sources, parting was not at all sweet sorrow between an actor and the company he was under contract with. It was more of a relief…a good riddance kind of split up.

Sarah Geronimo pins on her boyfriend Matteo Guidicelli the rank of Second Lieutenant of the Philippine Army during a ceremony at the Philippine Army headquarters at Fort Bonifacio. Matteo looks dapper and dignified in his military uniform, doesn’t he? — Photos from Matteo’s Facebook page

• Matteo Guidicelli is now officially a Second Lieutenant of the Philippine Army, with the papers signed by Pres. DU30. The ceremony was held at the Philippine Army headquarters at Fort Bonifacio. It was his girlfriend Sarah Geronimo who pinned the rank on Matteo who has inspired other actors to undergo the same training.

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Now it can be told: Alden Richards was “saved” by his blockbuster starrer, Star Cinema’s Hello, Love, Goodbye (HLG), with Kathryn Bernardo. As of Monday, Aug. 19, HLG’s gross from local screenings has hit P650M, only P10M short of the gross of Kathryn’s movie The Hows Of Us (THOU, with boyfriend Daniel Padilla) in the same period. So far, HLG’s gross in US screenings is more than $2.13M (roughly P107M), bringing the total to over P757M. Until it completes the run (both here and abroad, plus block screenings), the movie is predicted to hit the P1B mark, easing out THOU (2018’s highest-grossing movie with more than P900M) as the all-time local box-office hit.

Now, did you know that after Victor Magtanggol, the GMA action-adventure series pitted last year against the formidable FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano of the rival network, those behind Alden was reportedly at a loss how to bring Alden back in fighting form. It seemed that Magtanggol was really not the right vehicle for Alden who worked hard for it.

And then someone came up with the brilliant idea of casting Alden with Kathryn. The rest is, well, we all know what happened.

That’s why Alden was in full force with the movie’s promo, going to Dubai with Kathryn for it and to Singapore. They could have gone to Hong Kong to grace the movie’s screening but begged off due to the protests going on for weeks now in the former Crown Colony where the movie was largely shot.

Alden has won the hearts not only of the legions who have watched the movie but also, more so, the Star Cinema people led by Olivia Lamasan.

“He is naturally good-natured, talagang mabait,” said Olive. “It’s my first time to meet an actor who is eternally grateful. He texts me ‘thank you’ every day. One of a kind talaga.”

Election lawyer Romy Macalintal was among those raving for the movie.

“OFWs and their families should watch this movie for them to fully realize and feel the sacrifices and hardship experienced by our OFWs to earn, not just for themselves, but for their relatives — mommy, daddy, kuya, ate — with whom OFWs want to share their earnings,” Romy texted Funfare, adding, “The producer of HLG should better start writing and shooting HLG Part 2. My wife Mila and I watched the very entertaining sweet movie and overheard many movie fans, including some nuns in our place, that ‘ang lungkot naman ng ending dapat merong Part 2 agad.’ Then I heard somebody quipped, ‘Baka naman magkita si Joy (Kathryn) at Daniel Padilla sa Canada, tiyak purnada o loser na naman si Ethan (Alden).’ Ang lakas ng tawa namin ni Mila as we look forward to more wholesome movie like HLG.”

Paquito Diaz’s days as basketball player

Here’s a trivia from my good friend Robin Tong:

Did you know Paquito Diaz was once an Ateneo Blue Eagle?

He was a popular basketball star before he entered the movies. 

Yes, Paquito also made a name for himself in local hoopdom when he skippered the FEU High School basketball team to three consecutive championships in the UAAP basketball tournaments (1951 to 1954), and also when he played for the Ateneo Blue Eagles (senior team) in 1955 to 1956.

During his basketball days, Paquito and Cirio Santiago (producer and director of Premiere Productions) were teammates on the Ateneo Blue Eagles team where the two became friends. 

In 1958, during the filming of Mr. Basketball, Cirio offered Paquito a bit role in the film, together with other outstanding cagers of the country. 

Impressed by Paquito’s good looks in the movie, Cirio lost no time in casting him in other films in which Paquito emoted with much gusto. 

And that’s how Paquito started his career in acting.

(E-mail reactions at [email protected]. For more updates, photos and videos, visit www.philstar.com/funfare or follow me on Instagram @therealrickylo.)