ENCHONG Dee was the victim of gay rumors so he avoided accepting gay roles. But now, he plays a transgender role with so much glee and wild abandon in “Here Comes the Groom.” Did he have any qualms accepting the gay role?
“It was Quantum Film producer Atty. Joji Alonso who personally called me to offer the role at kapag si Atty. Joji po ang kausap nyo, parang wala kayong ibang masasagot kundi yes,” he says. “She said ako talaga ang naisip niya for the role at sabi ko naman, sige laban po.
About the rumors, siguradong alam nyo ‘yun. But I’ve realized na this year, I want to surprise my audience. I want to do something new for them to appreciate my craft. What happened then, tapos na ‘yun. I will just look forward into the future and I will not allow na masira because of something that happened in the past. My future is in my hands, nasa akin na ‘yun.”
And Enchong really did a superior job in “Here Comes the Groom.” He plays Junior, the son of Keempee de Leon and Gladys Reyes who is about to wed Miles Ocampo when an accident causes him to switch bodies with Kaladkaren, who plays a gay beauty pageant contestant named Wilhelmina.
“Direk Chris Martinez made it clear na hindi ako gay rito kundi a trangender woman.
Magkaiba. Babae ako, hindi bakla! At ang hirap pala maging babae! Ang character ni Wilhelmina, buong-buo na sa script as written by Direk Chris. But Kaladkaren also helped me a lot in portraying her on screen. I’ll always be thankful to her for being so generous.”
Enchong has so many hilarious scenes in the movie and in fairness to him, he was consistent in all of them. One of his best scenes is when his best friend, Tony Labrusca, who is also the best man in his wedding, confesses to him that he is gay and has feelings of love and lust for him. For his very persuasive performance, we believe Enchong deserves to get an acting nomination for “Here Comes the Groom” that opens in cinemas this Black Saturday.
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‘I’ve seen Gerald’s past movies with Kim Chiu and I’m a fan, so it’s really an honor for me to get to work with someone I admire – Kylie Padilla’
Gerald Anderson is Kapamilya and Kylie Padilla is Kapuso, but they are now paired together for the first time in “Unravel, A Swiss Side Story,” an official entry in the Summer Metro Manila Film Festival. So how is their experience working with each other?
“I’ve seen Gerald’s past movies with Kim Chiu and I’m a fan, so it’s really an honor for me to get to work with someone I admire,” says Kylie. “At first, I thought baka he has a big ego, mayabang, but I quickly appreciated his humility. He is a real gentleman who is just very quiet on the set, but I can feel he’s taking care of me.”
“I first met Kylie when we had a look test with our director, RC de los Reyes,” says Gerald.
“Mabilis ang proseso ng movie. Our next meeting was in Switzerland na, where we shot the movie on location. And I’m glad na sobrang gaan katrabaho si Kylie.”
The film tackles a very serious topic: assisted voluntary suicide. It is a legal practice allowed in some European countries. In the story, Kylie plays Lucy, a young woman with mental health problems like anxiety and depression after she separated from her wife-beating husband. She plans to end it all, but in Switzerland, she meets Gerald as Noah and their romance becomes a very unique love story.
Aside from the engaging story that tackles life and death, the film takes you around the pristine beauty of a country like Switzerland, famous not only for its snowy mountains and lovely lakes but also for its fabled Swiss chocolates.
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Tiffany Grey is a Vivamax nymphet who was just one of the girls introduced in the raunchy Vivamax six-part mini-series, “Lovely Ladies Dormitory,” where she plays Alma, a strong independent woman.
She also did supporting roles in the movies “Putahe,” “The Influencer” and “My Father, Myself,” for which she got a best supporting actress nomination in the last December MMFF.
But now, Viva gives her a big break as she plays the lead role no less in director Louie Ignacio’s new sex drama, “Paupahan.” The screenplay is written by Quinn Carillo and is about a a simple girl who is deceived by a two-timing lover, played by Jiad Arroyo, who is also given his first starring role in this movie.
“Nagpapasalamat po ako sa Viva sa pagtitiwala nila sa akin in giving me this break in ‘Paupahan’,” she says at the movie’s Zoom presscon. “Kaya naman ginawa ko po ang lahat ng ipinagawa sa akin ni Direk Louie and I really did my best so they won’t regret it.”
In “Paupahan,” Tiffany plays the role of Annalyn, an innocent woman who takes care of her grandmother, played by Odette Khan, and the apartments they rent out to various tenants.
One of their tenants is the hunky Nico (Jiad Arroyo), a model who knows how to easily win the confidence of the shy and gullible Annalyn. Nico is a manipulative man who’s takes advantage of Annalyn. The truth is he is bringing other women to sleep with him in his apartment.
Annalyn learns about Nico’s duplicity and she is transformed into a scheming woman, so different from the naive girl that used to fully trust Nico. What she has planned for him will surely shock you when the movie starts streaming on Vivamax this April 8.
