She will be seen in “Shake, Rattle & Roll Extreme” which she hopes will be part of this year’s Metro Manila Film Festival.
IZA Calzado returns to acting after giving birth to her daughter Amihan on January 26. The actress stars in the episode “Glitch” of the Regal horror trilogy, “Shake, Rattle & Roll Extreme.” She has previously appeared in SRR8 in the episode about a killer babysitter, “Yaya.”
In “SRR: Extreme,” she plays a fashion designer and single mom with two kids, Migz Cuaderno and Jewel Milag. She has lost her faith in God, then a terrifying thing happens to their household. During the movie’s press conference last week, the actress expressed her joy at reuniting with showbiz writers.
“This is the first press con I attended since the pandemic and it’s so nice to see you all again,” she said. “It feels great to be working again and I really enjoyed making this film.
Sana, makapasok siya as official entry sa MMFF (Metro Manila Film Festival).”
She was asked about the extremes she has experienced in her life. “Naku, ang dami kong extremes sa buhay ko as I have lived a full life. Once, I almost left my career because of love, buti hindi nangyari. Some of the extremes are extremely shocking so it’s better to leave it at that and hindi puedeng i-share.”
The last SRR movie was shown in 2014. Regal producer Roselle Monteverde was asked why she decided to revive it this year. “Kasi uso ang horror ngayon,” she said. “Malakas ang horror films, like ‘Insidious’ and ‘The Nun.’ People love getting a good scare. Itong ‘Extreme,’ we chose terrifying stories with a twist, ‘yung magugustuhan ng lahat ng viewers, from millennials to Gen Z.”
The three stories of “Extreme” are “Mukbang” (a Korean term for eat-all-you-can) directed by Jerrold Tarog, “Rage” by Joey de Guzman and “Glitch” by Richard Somes.
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Cinemalaya best actress Ruby Ruiz is on the threshold of a Hollywood career with the TV series “Expats” that she just completed shooting in Hong Kong with Nicole Kidman. In it, Ruby plays an overseas Filipino worker who gets to work for Nicole’s character. It will be shown on Prime Video in January of 2024. It is said that Nicole Kidman usually doesn’t allow her co-stars to have a picture taken with her, but in the case of Ruby, she was the one who requested that they have a photo together. This means that Ruby’s acting must have really impressed her a lot.
Ruby stars in the Vivamax movie that streams this Friday, “Langitngit,” a psycho-sex thriller. Vivamax movies have a lot of psychotic heroines, but Ruby in “Langitngit” really tops all of them as the meanest, baddest bitch of all. She plays a religious fanatic who lives in a decaying old house. Since this is Vivamax, they have the obligatory sex scenes provided by Manang Medina (first seen in “Lagaslas”) and Itan Rosales (first seen in “Kamadora”).
But the true central character in the film is Manay Flor, Itan’s grandma who turns out to be a not-so-distant relative of Norman Bates from “Psycho.” It’s an acting piece and Ruby Ruiz really delivered and made it a personal showcase of her formidable acting talent.
We tell her she’s truly a very bad girl and she’ll give “a very good girl” a run for her money as she really dominates the movie and gives an authoritative, finely nuanced performance as a murderous crone. The title refers to the noisy creaking of the old bed that makes lots of scandalous noises while Manang and Itan are making out on top of it, which sends Ruby to the infernal regions of lunacy.
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Will Ashley is elated to be part of the Kapuso stars who guest regularly in “Regal Studio Presents.” At the show’s second anniversary press con, he’s introduced with Althea Ablan as they are paired in the coming episode, “Poster Boy,” where he plays the title role no less.
“I’m really thankful po to Regal for their trust in me,” he says. “I was also in their ‘Mano Po 3: The Flower Sisters’ na maganda rin ang role ko.”
In the hit series, “Prima Donnas 1 and 2,” Will was paired with Jillian Ward. It’s said that Sparkle wanted to launch them as a love team, but Jillian begged off as she prefers to go solo. Did he feel bad about Jillian’s decision?
“Not really. Ang management po ang nagde-decide what is best for us and, as of now, okay naman po sa akin na nagsosolo rin ako kasi there’s more opportunity to explore the possibilities for myself as an actor who can work with anyone and play different kinds of roles. I think blessing din namang hindi kami ang magka-permanent love team kasi we can have our own individual careers. Ako po, nagkasunod-sunod ang projects ko. I’m in ‘Unbreak My Heart’ and also in a new movie, ‘X & Y,’ directed by Adolf Alix. It’s about a May-December affair and I’m paired with Miss Ina Raymundo.”
He’s 21 and Ina is 47 so there’s a great disparity in their ages. How does he feel about it?
“Okay naman po. I always welcome new experiences and si Miss Ina, mas matagal na siya sa industry kaysa sa akin and I am sure na marami po akong matutuhan in working with her. We have a love scene daw so I’m preparing myself for that.”
