Tight battle
There will be a tight battle at the box office during this year’s Metro Manila Film Festival which unfolds on Christmas Day. Expected to fight it out is Vice Ganda’s Girl, Boy, Bakla, Tomboy, under Viva Entertainment and My Little Bossings, starring Vic Sotto with Kris Aquino, and featuring child star Ryza Mae Dizon. Both are comedy films and movies of this genre have done well at the box office in the festival’s recent history. This year’s dark horses are Robin Padilla’s action flick, 10,000 Hours, which is allegedly based on the life of well-known political personality Ping Lacson; and Rocco Nacino’s Pedro Calungsod, a bio-pic of the second Filipino saint.
Highly commended
Although no Philippine entry won at this year’s Asian TV awards, a couple of programmes and personalities received “Highly Commended” citations. Award-winning actress Lorna Tolentino was cited for her role in the Kapuso primetime series Pahiram ng Sandali; the best actress award eventually went to Taiwan’s Jade Chou (Falling). Bubble Gang star Michael V, on the other hand, was Highly Commended for Best Comedy Performance by an Actor; the trophy went to Chua En Lai of Singapore. Saksi, produced by GMA was Highly Commended in the Best News Programme category for its episode entitled Typhoon Pablo’s Trail of Death which lost to Hong Kong’s News Magazine, which covered the October 1 Maritime Tragedy.
Drastic changes
Julia Barretto, ABS CBN’s newest bet for stardom, will now be joined by heart throbs Sam Milby and Enrique in her launching soap Mira Bella. She was supposed to co-star with young actors KiKo Estrada and Diego Loyazaga, but after taping a few episodes, the management decided to change the casting because of a lack of chemistry between the original set of lead actors. Looks like the Kapamilya network is leaving no stone unturned to ensure the success of Barretto, who is being groomed to be the network’s biggest young star, to join the likes of Kathryn Bernardo and Julia Montes.
Settling down
After 10 years of being together, popular TV personalities Drew Arellano and Iya Villania have finally decided to get married next year, if sources are to be believed. The couple are planning to tie the knot in the early part of 2014. It will be a big question mark as to who will have the right to cover the wedding on TV as Arellano is a GMA contract artist, while Villania is an ABS CBN star.
