Mr. T: No show for Kris, AlDub movie this year

No, there won’t be any TV show for Kris Aquino. And, yes, there’s going to be an AlDub movie within the year.

When Antonio “Mr. T” Tuviera invited some members of the movie press to a thanksgiving lunch recently, he didn’t expect to be talking, a less-talk-more-action man that he is. But how could he stop the (nosey, hehehe!!!) movie writers from “grilling” him about lingering issues that have been so far only speculated upon with no “official” word coming from him?

So over his soup that had grown cold, Mr. T was forced to oblige. Why wasn’t Kris included in GMA shows lined up for 2017?

“Because she is not a GMA talent,” was Mr. T’s direct-to-the-point reply. “She’s with APT, my company, but we don’t really have a formal contract; we didn’t sign anything. Everything is gentleman’s agreement.”

Middle of last year, after Kris’ negotiation for renewal of contract with ABS-CBN fell through, Mr. T said that he got a text message from Kris.

“She told me that she wanted to sit down with me,” related Mr. T. “I didn’t know what we were going to talk about. I went with my son Mike (the director). Kris said that she wanted to go into digital. ‘I think the future is digital,’ she said. ‘I want to be the first. It’s about time that I started to own what I’m doing. I can help you with some of the sponsors.’ So ganoon, walang permahan. I said okay without signing anything.”

Officially, it’s still Kris’ soulmate and bosom buddy Boy Abunda who manages her as far as TV/movie projects are concerned as well as commercial offers.

“So far,” confirmed Mr. T, “Kris’ digital posts are doing well, especially the earlier ones in which she had Maine (Mendoza) as guest. You can gauge the rating like what you do with TV shows; you can only count the views. Kris has lots of viewers, maybe because social-media followers are just getting used to seeing her again in another medium.”

Did somebody “powerful” really bar Kris’ entrance into GMA?

Mr. T: Officially, my agreement with Kris Aquino concerns only her digital projects; but we didn’t sign any contracts, we go only by gentleman’s agreement. (Boy Abunda is still officially Kris’ manager as far as TV/movie projects are involved as well as commercial offers.)

“Not true,” Mr. T insisted. “Tsismis lang ‘yon,” adding, “you know, Kris has done everything, nagawa na niya lahat, so it’s not easy  to bring her back to TV. You might gamble and make her do what she has been doing…so mahirap. I’ll be honest. Nakakatakot. If we do that and we fail, sa amin tatama. Ang bigat naman n’un.”

But Mr. T is definite about his plans for AlDub team Alden Richards and Maine Mendoza.

“There’s going to be a follow-up movie (to the loveteam’s first, Imagine You & Me) before the year is over. But it’s not going to be for the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) kasi ayaw namin sabayan si Vic (Sotto) who might have an entry. I don’t know yet what the title and what the story of the new AlDub movie will be.”

Meanwhile, Alden and Maine are preoccupied with their soap starrer Destined To Be Yours which is set for airing anytime now.

“They are taping three times a week,” Mr. T revealed, “so their appearance on Eat, Bulaga! has been reduced to once or twice a week. But their absence doesn’t affect the show’s rating. Even before AlDub came, Bulaga was doing great although nang dumating ang AlDub, iba talaga ang nangyari. People were saying that AlDub wouldn’t last longer than three or six months but look, AlDub is celebrating its second anniversary in July.” (Only Maine is under contract with APT; Alden is managed by GMA.) “No,” Mr. T hastened to clarify, “APT is not co-producing the AlDub soap with GMA. It’s produced solely by GMA.”

But it’s APT that is exclusively producing TROPS (airing 11:30 a.m. to 12 noon Friday to Saturday, as Bulaga’s pre-programming), starring the six Pambansang Bae cuties.

“The boys are doing okay, they are happy so far. Masaya pa, kaya wala pang masyadong problema,” adding, “their show is giving the competition something to worry about.”

Realizing that he had spilled more beans than he intended to, Mr. T looked at the movie writers and broke into a big smile.

“Okay, let’s eat!!!”

The “dessert,” much more juicy than the after-meal sweets passed around on a mobile tray, came before the main course.

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