Nora Aunor at another crossroad

THEN: Flashback on Nora Aunor. Written March 23, 1988, twenty-two years ago.

Nora Aunor sits there calmly, listening to all the questions and answering slowly almost with a sigh. But she is very patient. This is the presscon for The Asian American Film Institute (TAAFI), producer of her new film venture Alila. Nora is very slim and she is in a prim white blouse and pants and three-carat diamonds glistening on her ears, classic trappings of superstardom.

Is she again at the crossroad? A lady reporter asks. Crossroads here is meant to suggest romantic and financial difficulties. She does not mention Richard Merck, neither do the others, but most of them want to ask. But Nora is at her most distant and up close she interplays this mood so masterfully, a technique she has undoubtedly mastered.

Nora and Frank Vreschek? The whispers continue. Actually, this particular night they are both hosting the presscon at the Mandarin suite of Frank. He says: “Miss Nora Aunor is joining our board of directors as a partner, and as full-time producer. Our board already includes actress Jacklyn Jose, Robert Reed Altman (son of Robert Altman who made MASH, Nashville, etc.)

“Mabait ’yan,” Nora says of Frank. “And I want to do production work now, perhaps direction later on. The offer is just along my own personal plans. I’ve seen Olongapo and I have read the script of Alila and I learned that TAAFI has auditioned and almost talked to all the actresses in Asia about playing in Alila. The next step is for me to find out for myself about Frank who will write, direct and produce the film. So I went to Hong Kong and talked with him. I will play one of the lead roles and co-produce the film which will be shot in Boracay, Hong Kong and China.”

“Will you finish your other commitments first?” Another reporter asks, referring to her tiff with Mother Lily of Regal Films. Nora smiled wanly, the muscles in her face tightening slightly. But the question has to be answered. She smiles again.

“We are okay now,” she refers to Lily Monteverde indirectly. “We have talked, and yes, I will finish my commitments.”

“Then why Alila?” someone questions the role. “Isn’t it degrading for Filipinos to be identified with that role?”

“You have to read the script. Besides, there are hundreds of thousands of Filipino women working around Asia in sordid conditions.”

Nora Aunor sips her drink slowly while listening to Frank answering questions. Frank is direct, like most Americans with no nuances of Filipino PR-ing.

“Frank has asked me to play an important role in casting and I’m taking that seriously. I haven’t yet decided what role I will play. As we get into the characters and the script together, we will come up with the combination that will make this film one that will be remembered in a long time.”

Frank admits that the search for Teresa and Nguyen, two of the major characters in the film has taken a long time and he has been working on this for almost two years now.

“We have a lot of wonderful actors already interested in the project in addition to Jacklyn. Like Susan Africa, Amy Austria, Kuh Ledesma, Chat Silayan and Gina Alajar. Good actors can make any role real good. What we want is to make the best film ever made in this country.

Nora is shifting gears and going full speed ahead. On March and April she will be preparing for her big concert which will be in May. Then in June she has her shooting schedule with TAAFI. Of course her weekly Superstar show is constant and getting better through the years. We heard that Nora is looking for a new home. Her 18th? We have lost count.

While Nora is winding up her schedule for a new movie, Frank Vreschek left for the US to meet some potential male leads to star opposite Nora. Then he goes to Vietnam for additional research for the movie. The movie will be made for American distribution and Frank, still hurting from the Olongapo episode, doesn’t want to release the movie in the Philippines at all.

Will this move help the finances of Nora? That's the major preoccupation now a days of her friends and foes alike. Her lifestyle is still that of a superstar and there is still the weekly amount she gets for her TV show which can make any family comfortable. But Nora is strongest, as proven in the past, when people say she is down. She is resilient and a survivor and the only superstar worthy of that title.

For the meantime, Nora says: “I’ll try to convince Frank to show the movie Alila in the Philippines.”

NOW: May 22, 2010

The movie was not made and Frank Vreschek vanished into the sunset after that grand presscon. There were more years for Nora as a TV and movie superstars. But controversies seemed to hound her. The biggest one was the drug arrest in Los Angeles and the trial afterwards. Nora has to stay in the US for sometime now. But with the kindness of friends and some avid Noranians she managed to do shows while in the US. I wrote this a day after her 57th birthday. She has been in the US for more than five years now. Talking with Aster Amoyo, a friend who has been trying to bring her back to Manila, it seems that Nora may yet come back to Manila after her concert in Canada. There are more controversial aspects of her present stature that has to be ironed out. But this is not new for Nora. We are just praying that she will hurdle this once again.