Taylor Lautner is newest Bench endorser +Nora Aunor, Jericho Rosales win in Gawad Urian

CEBU, Philippines - Superstar Nora Aunor and Kapamilya actor Jericho Rosales won top acting honors at the 36th Gawad Urian of the Manunuri ng Pelikulang Pilipino (MPP) held on Tuesday night at the NBC Tent, Taguig City.

Nora won for her role as the barren midwife Shaleha in the Brillante Mendoza film Thy Womb for which she also won the best actress award at last year’s Metro Manila Film Festival. This is her seventh best actress trophy from the Manunuri, just a trophy short of Vilma Santos’ eight wins from the critics’ group. Nora’s first major acting trophy came from the Manunuri in 1976 where she won for Mario O’Hara’s “Tatlong Taong Walang Diyos.”

On the other hand, Jericho picked his first Urian award from the Manunuri for his role in as the father who lost his son to human trafficking in the Ian Lorenos’ film “Alagwa.” Echo beat an elite field of 12 others, including sentimental favorite Eddie Garcia who’s performance as the closet gay in “Bwakaw” won at the Asian Film Awards early this year.

 â€œNapakasarap po ng pakiramdam na ang ginagawa ninyong proyekto ay kinikilala sa ibang bansa. Pero mas masarap po ang pakiramdam na ang iyong mga kabayayan ay kinikilala ka,” said Ate Guy in her speech after accepting her trophy.

Jericho, for his part, shared his award with his co-nominees and expressed hope that the state of Philippine movies would improve. He said he would to be part of a revitalized film industry.

Alessandra de Rossi was named best supporting actress for her work in Emmanuel Palo film’s “Sta. Nina.” She said she was surprised to learn that she was competing against herself as she also had a best supporting actress nomination for “Mater Dolorosa.”

Winning the Urian best supporting actor trophy is talented actor Art Acuna for his role as the corrupt cop in “Posas,” an entry in Cinemalaya last year. He was the winner the previous year for “Nino.”

The Best Picture plum went to “Ang Paglalakbay ng mga Bituin sa Gabing Madilim,” directed by Arner Mardoquio which tells the story of a boy who lost his parents to war. It was an entry to the Cinema One Originals.

Adolf Alix, Jr. won the best director trophy for the searing family drama “Mater Dolorosa” that tackles the social and political ills of urban life in the Philippines. He dedicated his award to his mom who had always supported him and allowed him to nurture his love for cinema.

The Manunuri became generous because they spread out the awards among the nominees. Only “Thy Womb” got two trophies, with Brillante Mendoza picking up the award for Best Production Design.

The 36th Gawad Urian will be aired on Cinema One on June 22 at 3 and 11 p.m. It also airs on June 23 at 10 p.m.

The complete list of winners:

Best Picture: “Ang Paglalakbay ng mga Bituin Sa Gabing Madilim”

Best Director: Adolfo Alix, Jr., “Mater Dolorosa”

Best Actor: Jericho Rosales, “Alagwa”

Best Actress: Nora Aunor, “Thy Womb”

Best Supporting Actor: Art Acuña, “Posas”

Best Supporting Actress: Alessandra De Rossi, “Sta Niña”

Best Screenplay: Mes De Guzman, “Diablo”

Best Cinematographer: Whammy Alcazaren, “Colossal”

Best Production Design: Brillante Mendoza (credited as Dante Mendoza), “Thy Womb”

Best Editing: Alex Castañeda, “Kalayaan”

Best Musical Score: Diwa De Leon, “Baybayin”

Best Sound: Willy Fernandez, Bong Sungcang and Ferdinand Marcos Sabarongis, “Florentina Ubaldo, CTE”

Best Short Film: Remton Zuasola, “Ritmo”

Best Documentary: Benito Bautista, “Harana”

Natatanging Gawad Urian: Mila Del Sol

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Ben Chan, top honcho of Bench clothing, called a press conference the other day to announce that Taylor Lautner, the famed Jacob of the Twilight movie series, is the brand’s latest foreign endorser.

When asked by the entertainment writers why he picked Taylor over Robert Pattison (or Edward of Twilight Saga), he said that Taylor;’s fine physique is suited for the Bench line.

Taylor joins the list of foreign endorsers of the clothing brand which includes Adam Levine, Liam Hemsworth, Jerry Yan, Lee Min Ho, and Jessica Sanchez just to name a few.

The commercial and photo shoot was done in Hollywood last month. Mr. Chan said that Taylor was “mabait” and did not any special demands. He also added that Taylor was the choice of Bench to the new foreign endorser and he emerged as the number one choice based on a survey.

But he added that had they offered Taylor to be the endorser of their underwear line, his price would definitely be tripled although he declined to disclosed how much they paid the star of the Twilight Saga. He also did not reveal if Taylor was the highest paid among all their international endorsers.

The Pinoy fans of Taylor can look forward to seeing Taylor in the flesh since Bench is bringing him over this year as part the promo.