‘Unfortunately, she arrived so late in the US for her meeting with Spielberg, so she was dropped.’
SHARON CUNETA left for the US ostensibly for a much needed vacation just by herself and some writers quickly concluded that she is retiring in the States and she will no longer live in the huge mansion that she’s now having constructed.
But in a radio interview with Cristy Fermin, she revealed that she’s supposed to meet with iconic filmmaker Steven Spielberg who is allegedly doing a movie with the Fil-Am standup comedian better known as Jokoy.
Unfortunately, she arrived so late in the US for her meeting with Spielberg, so she was dropped.
“It means hindi po para sa akin ang project dahil nagkaroon ng aberya,” Sharon said philosophically in her phone conversation with Cristy. “Nagkaroon ng delay sa pagre-release ng papers ko sa Manila. But who knows, maybe there’s another opportunity waiting for me in the future.”
Sharon cannot just leave the country as her movie with Viva, “Revirginized,” will be released soon and she said in her YouTube vlog that she’s excited with this project as she has a new leading man who’s much younger than her, Marco Gumabao.
“The story happens only in one weekend,” she says. “It is about the transformation of this sad woman’s life who become a mom at 15. It’s also a coming-of-age movie in many different contexts. I’m excited kasi, after four decades, I think I’ve earned the right to experiment and do movies that are not really the kind of movies that my audiences are used to seeing me in.”
She’s amused that her leading man Marco is only 26 and she’s 29 years older than him.
“Yes, I have a new and younger leading man. Marco is my honey in this movie. To all my former leading men, ang tatanda n’yo na,” she joked.
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Martin Nievera is having a digital concert with Lani Misalucha entitled “New Day” and he says the title came from him. “All of us involved in the show suggested titles and they chose mine.”
The virtual concert will be held at The Theatre at Solaire and streamed worldwide on KTX.ph, IWantTFC, TFC IPTV on June 5, 8 p.m. (PST/US) and on June 6, 8 p.m. (Manila time), with tickets priced at P2,500 for VIP and P1,200 for regular. So why did they choose “New Day” as the title?
“’Di ba, ‘yan ang hinahanap ng lahat ngayon?” says Martin. “We’re all waiting for a new day na wala ng lockdown, wala ng mask, wala ng maraming bawal. We can hug each other without fear that we would get sick. It’s a perfect title, especially for Lani after lahat ng pinagdaanan niya lately.”
How will it be different from the other concerts he had during this pandemic?
“This is supposed to be an inspiring show, so we need to go back to doing a show with a live band, with Louie Ocampo and real musicians, directed by Paolo Valenciano. Also, the whole world will be watching via TFC. We will have Nonoy Zuniga, Rey Valera and Marco Sison among our guests so we, as performers, ganado lahat kasi we haven’t done a show like this since the pandemic.”
Their show will be taped as live, so that means they will be performing without a live audience but in front of empty chairs in Solaire. “What’s nice with the setup now is that when you watch us, it’d feel like we’re singing just for you. You can watch on your big screen TV, your i-pad or even your cellphone and it’s like you’re just being on the stage with us. You can watch us with your whole family and you don’t even have to dress up, or wear shoes, you can just sit back and relax.”
Lani admits she is now in better shape after she got sick. How will he help Lani in their concert? “Are you kidding. Even with one eye, one ear, one hand, Lani can still out sing all of us. I love performing with her because she makes you sound so good. I learn her breathing, her tone, her notes. Iniisip mo na, sana, mahawa ka sa magic niya, para tumaas din ang boses ko and lumawak ang range ko so i will be a better singer.”
What songs will they do for the concert?
“We will do everything but we’ll make sure we’ll do songs that can inspire and uplift the spirits of the audience, specially now that anxiety is rampant because of the pandemic. We want to make the whole show very positive.”
And what does he miss the most during this time?
“Oh I miss going out, traveling, touring and doing live shows in different parts of the world.
I miss being with the audience when they go backstage after the show for meet and greet.
I love hearing what they have to say about the show, how much they enjoy the concert. But now, we cannot do that, so let’s all pray this crisis really ends soon so we can go back to the normal lives we used to have.”
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Rabiya Mateo announced, right after losing in the recent Miss Universe pageant, that she will join showbiz. She said: “I’m planning to go into showbiz. Acting probably.”
She sounds like it’s so easy to get into acting today. She should be told that being a beauty title holder now is no longer a guarantee of making it as an artista. So many beauty queens have joined showbiz after their reign but failed to hit it big in showbiz
Let’s face it, not even the two younger Miss Universes from our country succeeded in cultivating a showbiz career. Pia Wurtzbach did a movie with Gerald Anderson, and that’s about it. Catriona Gray tried hosting a noontime show, which quickly folded up.
Beauty queens in the ‘70s and ‘80s were luckier, like Gloria Diaz and Pilar Pilapil who joined tinseltown and became big stars, even winning acting awards. Other beauty queens who made a name for themselves are Charlene Gonzales, Maribel Lopez, Alice Dixson, Melanie Marquez, Anjanette Abayari,
They got to play lead roles in a number of movies. But so many recent beauty queens also tried to foray into acting or hosting but failed to really make their presence felt, like Miriam Quiambao, Aileen Damiles, Bianca Manalo, Laura Lehman, Venus Raj and Maxine Medina who now plays a contravida in “First Yaya.” Some of them made it as a runner-up in Miss Universe, and Rabiya didn’t make it to the top 10.
It’s really a tough time to join showbiz as even the film industry is down. Even winners of talent searches like Kisses Delavin and Myrtle Sarossa are not so lucky. They even left ABS-CBN and moved to GMA-7, but still, their careers didn’t soar like they expected to.
One international title holder who’s getting good projects is Kylie Versoza. One thing with her is she really knows how to act, as seen in the movie “Kasal” and in the TV series “Los Bastardos” where she played a contravida. She now stars in a new Viva movie, “Parang Kayo, Pero Hindi,” with Marco Gumabao.
Miss International 2005 winner Precious Lara Quigaman, who’s now married to actor Marco Alcaraz, did not make it big as a lead star but is now one of our most reliable character actresses as she also acts well. So in the end, Rabiya should bear in mind that what counts are good talent and competence, not just being a beauty queen.
