Gil Portes: I have a dream

Curtain-raisers:

• Backroom is no more. The talent-management company put up by Boy Abunda, so to speak, slipped quietly into the night, making people wonder whatever happened. Backroom was behind the successful careers of, among the many, Ai-Ai delas Alas, Drew Arellano and Gelli de Belen, who have remained under Boy’s new company, Asian Artists Agency (AAA), which has moved its office from Kamias Road in Quezon City to Kamuning Road, same city. Was there any “mystery” in the “killing” of Backroom? Boy and his staff are not talking.

• Speaking of Boy Abunda, our group wants to thank him for donating Puregold gift certificates to buy goods (biscuits, soaps, milk and other food stuff) to be distributed among the residents of a home for the aged in Marikina City. Boy has always been supportive of charitable projects of his fellow Warays.

• The 2016 Miss World Philippines coronation night has been moved from this Sunday, Sept. 25, to Oct. 9 (Sunday) upon the request of the Miss World Organization (MWO, London headquarters) to accommodate the schedule of 2015 Miss World Mereia Lalaguna (of Spain) and 2016 Mr. World Rohit Khandelwal (of India) who are joining the panel of judges. Venue is the Manila Hotel. The MWP gala night has also been reset from Sept. 20 (tonight) to Oct. 5, 6 p.m. at Enderun College Tent, McKinley Hill, Fort Bonifacio. The MWP grand finals will be aired by GMA 7. — Flash report by Celso de Guzman Caparas  from MWP head Cory Quirino

* * *

I have a dream.

Of course, it was Martin Luther King who uttered that famous four-word sentence, but that might as well be director Gil M. Portes’ “mantra” where the Oscars is concerned.

You see, the Kodak Theater in Hollywood where the annual Academy Awards is usually held is quite familiar to Gil (“The New Yorker from Pagbilao” whose wife Telly and their sons Carlo and Justin are based in The Big Apple).

“Every time I passed by the Kodak Theater,” said Gil, “I can’t stop dreaming of walking on the kilometric red carpet where Hollywood bigwigs display themselves before retreating inside. In my dream, I have already walked that red carpet several times.”

Gil got close to realizing his dream when one of his three films “submitted for consideration” to the Oscar Best Foreign Language Film finished No. 7 among the hundred hopefuls from around the world to get into the Magic 5 Finalists. If memory serves, I think that film was Mga Munting Tinig which stars Alessandra de Rossi as a dedicated small-town teacher, the same film acquired for world distribution by Warner Bros. Gil’s two other Oscar-submitted films were Saranggola and Gatas: Sa Dibdib ng Kaaway.

Ang Hinagpis at Himagsik ni Hermano Puli, Gil’s latest film opening nationwide tomorrow, Sept. 21 (which happens to be the 44th anniversary of Martial Law), was among the eight shortlisted for submission to the Best Foreign Language Film category in next year’s Oscars but, sob and sigh, it lost to Brillante Mendoza’s Ma’Rosa for which Jaclyn Jose won for the Philippines its first Cannes Best Actress Award.

Like when Lav Diaz won Best Film in the recent Venice International Film Festival (VIFF) for Ang Babaeng Humayo (The Woman Who Left, with Charo Santos-Concio in the title role, opening nationwide on Sept. 26), Gil is happy for Brillante, even if some friends (including Tempo’s Ronald Constantino) teased him for being inggit (envious).

“I’m already 71 (last Sept. 13),” Gil told Ronald, “and at this point in my life, envy is no longer in my vocabulary. Hanga at hindi ako inggit. I’m proud of and happy for Lav,” and for Brillante for that matter, “because, not many people know, Lav was my assistant director in a movie I did in New York, Minsan May Pangarap (which starred Ariel Rivera and Dina Bonnevie) a few years back. Lav was sharing an apartment with other starving artists. At my age, I’m extremely thankful that I can still direct movies which I used to dream of doing.”

Written by Enrique “Eric” Ramos and produced by T-Rex Productions, Hermano Puli marks the biggest break of Aljur Abrenica as an actor. It has been getting good reviews since it was shown as closing film of the 2016 Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival. Clips of the film have been presented at school tours tagged “Hermano Puli Bayani Ba ’To” that has visited Baguio, Cabanatuan, Baliwag, Malolos, Metro Manila, Laguna, Quezon, Batangas, Naga, Cebu, Iloilo, Bacolod and Davao.

It was also Eric who wrote Gil’s other movie, Moonlight Over Baler (also filmed in Gil’s native Quezon like most of his films he comes from Pagbilao town, and also produced by T-Rex, submitted for consideration at the Metro Manila Film festival (MMFF) this December (more than 60 finished films are competing for the Magic 8 slots).

“Hermano Puli is part of my bucket list,” said Gil. “Also included is The Bells of Balangiga.”

And, of course, his dream of actually walking the Oscar red carpet is alive.

* * *

How Rico Hizon got into the Pierce Brosnan film

BBC News anchor Rico Hizon

BREAKING NEWS: Rico Hizon’s Voice of Business in new Pierce Brosnan tech-thriller film.

Yes, the BBC News anchor is featured in the latest Pierce Brosnan film I.T. to premiere in Hollywood on Saturday, Sept. 24.

The technology-thriller is directed by John Moore who is best known for Behind Enemy Lines starring Owen Wilson and Gene Hackman, and the 2013 action film A Good Day to Die Hard with Bruce Willis.

Brosnan plays the role of private jet maverick Michael Regan. Rico’s voice comes out within the first three minutes of the film reporting that Mr. Regan is set to meet officials from the US Securities and Exchange Commission seeking approval for his private aviation company to be listed on the stock exchange.

The award-winning main anchor of Newsday and Asia Business Report was handpicked by director John.

Here’s John’s personal note to Rico inviting him to be part of the film:

Dear Rico,

I hope that by the time my note reaches you, that you are broadly aware of my hopes to include your unique voice in my little movie, ‘I.T.’ starring Pierce Brosnan.

I can’t tell you how grateful we would be if you would indeed lend your unmistakable signature to the sequence: it would simply catapult the idea into a realm of credibility that we alone cannot manage with any attempt to replicate the real world fact that you are THE voice of BBC News business reporting in America and around the world.

I was recently in a hotel room in Tokyo...turned on the TV and there you were!

I am a great fan of BBC News, specifically your inimitable style and timbre, and did indeed base the idea of the scene around the notion of a World Business Report type report, so, please, I do hope you will consider my humble attempt to, in one way, further immortalize your unique voice. — John Moore

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