A trilogy from Bossing Vic in MMFF 2014

Vic Sotto has been in showbiz for four decades now and he’s very much on top of the game. He is box-office star with his movies raking big money at the Metro Manila Film Festival each time he has an entry. And it is safe to say that his latest offering “My Big Bossing” will be a frontrunner in the box-office when the festival opens on Christmas day.

On TV, he is a much sought-after host. “Eat Bulaga” has been the number one show. Many are saying that it is more fun to watch “Eat Bulaga” if Bossing Vic is around. This is not to say that the rest of the hosts are not up to pa, but the fans say they miss Bossing if he is absent on the show. He is seldom absent though except when he is shooting a movie.

He is also a favorite product endorser – from paint to cough medicine to laundry detergent – Bossing Vic has lent his charm and made these products more sellable. But when asked the secret to his success, Bossing Vic says he has none.

“There is no secret. I love my work and when you love your work, it loves you back. It doesn’t seem work at all if you love what you are doing. If you look at it as just work, you won’t enjoy it. Don’t treat work like something that will stress you but treat it as a way to have fun. Look at ‘Eat Bulaga.’ We have been on air for more than 30 years but we still enjoy it so much. We don’t get tired of it. Every day there is something new and we really enjoy it.”

At the presscon for “My Big Bossing” held at Guilly’s Morato on Wednesday, Bossing Vic declined to answer questions about him and girlfriend Pauleen Luna, who was seated next to him. Rumors have it that they will get married next year. Since the presscon is for “My Big Bossing” which is his entry to the festival, he said we ought to talk about the movie. He said there will be another presscon when it comes to him and Pauleen.

For her part, Pauleen said that they haven’t talked about getting married but he admits that after doing the movie with Vic, he learned more things about him. “We are always together in ‘Eat Bulaga’ so I thought I knew him already. I got to know him even better while shooting the movie. I found out that he is very kind to everyone on set, whether it is a fellow star or a crew member,” she said.

Vic said he wants to always present something new to the filmfest that’s why he opted to do a trilogy. “I want to present something different from my ‘Enteng Kabisote’ series. The idea for this movie started with Ryzza. We have an episode in ‘Vampire ang Daddy Ko’ where she will play a mermaid. I told Bibeth Orteza, our scriptwriter, to reserve the material instead since I’d like to do it as a movie. So we thought of doing it for the filmfest. Since Ryzza also wants to play a princess, we added the ‘Prinsesa’ episode. And since I wanted a horror story for kids, we thought of making it a trilogy so I added the ‘Taktak’ episode where I have Marian Rivera as co-star.”

For the “Sirena” episode, Pauleen plays the witch who turns Ryzza into a mermaid. In the “Prinsesa” episode, Nikki Gil plays the queen. But all three episodes have Vic and Ryzza as lead stars.

“My Big Bossing” is handled by three directors: Tony Y. Reyes (“Sirena”), Marlon Rivera (“Taktak”) and Bb. Joyce Bernal (“Prinsesa”).

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Among the entries in the 40th Metro Manila Film Festival, one that piques our interest is “Bonifacio: Ang Unang Pangulo” which stars Robin Padilla, Vina Morales, Daniel Padilla and Jasmine Curtis Smith.

When we got to talk to Robin during the shoot of “Bonifacio” in Wawa Dam in Montalban, he said that they did extensive research on the life of founder of the Katipunan so that they will be able to present the true story of the man whom many believed should also be named as national hero.

“We have read so many history books in school about Bonifacio but when we did our research which even brought me to Spain, there are more things about the life of Bonifacio which we discovered and that is what we want to share to the audience,” said Robin who won the filmfest best actor award last year for “10,000 Hours” and could be a top contender again with this “Bonifacio” biopic.

Robin takes pride in saying that his producers did not scrimp on the budget for this film. While they recognize they might not be able to recoup their investment, they just want to make sure that they are doing a movie that they will be proud of and would be talked about years from now.

“We want to give the audience a good movie. We might not make much money because of our production cost but we consider this movie as our legacy for the people to cherish. We want to give them a high quality movie about Bonifacio in which they will learn about our history and what we are as a people,” said the action star.

He has nothing but praises for his director Enzo Williams, who studied filmmaking abroad and has won plaudits for his work. He saw in Williams his passion for the “Bonifacio” project and when he learned of the plan to make a movie on Bonifacio, Robin cut short his vacation in Spain. He went back to Manila to discuss the movie with his director.

Just like us, Robin and his director is excited to see “Bonifacio: Ang Unang Pangulo” in its entirety.

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Sheena Halili and Cherie Gil are the featured guests in “Bubble Gang” tonight. Among the segments to watch out for include Huling Habilin gags, spoof of Skyflakes (google map) commercial, Antonietta (featuring Betong) where she gets to meet Cherie Gil, Ikaw at ang Ina, Mr. Matapobre (with Michael V), Istambay, Lala Ytera and Panigurado Lang.

We’d like to congratulate “Bubble Gang” for getting the Hall of Fame Award in the PMPC Star Awards for TV for having won the Best Gag Show award for 15 times. Congratulations as well to Rufa Mae Quinto (who won Best Comedy Actress) and Sef Cadayona (who won Best Comedy Actor) for “Bubble Gang.”