Hotter than the stifling 40-degree summer heat
First, a disclaimer: The forthcoming teleserye Init sa Magdamag has nothing to do with the 1983 Viva movie directed by Laurice Guillen which is about a woman (played by Lorna Tolentino) “who changes her personality to please the man (Joel Torre) she is with and about her lover (Dindo Fernando) who brings her sexuality to full bloom.” Set to premiere Monday next week (April 19) on the Kapamilya Channel, TV5 and A2Z (the pilot episode will be streamed on April 17, Saturday), already the series is raising the temperature to as high as the stifling 40-degree summer heat, with its trailer drawing more than 12 million views barely two weeks after it was first released on YouTube, becoming a trending topic on social media.
Co-directed by Ian Lorenos and Raymond Ocampo under the management of Henry Quitain for Star Creatives, the series stars Gerald Anderson, Yam Concepcion and JM de Guzman.
The story is about Rita (Yam) and Peterson (JM), a prominent political couple whose marriage is on the brink of collapse as they struggle to have a child. Years earlier, Peterson met an accident that rendered him incapable of fathering a child. Rita believes that they can save their marriage by having a child through in vitro fertilization, against the wishes of Peterson’s parents. The solution is to hire the barrio doctor Christopher/Tupe (Gerald) as sperm donor. There’s the rub: Tupe and Rita were once lovers.
Since Gerald is the hottest among the three stars (and we all know why), Funfare picked him for the first “hot” question during the three-on-one Zoom interview.
What was the hottest thing he has done in recent times?
“Ang pinaglaban ko ang sarili kong happiness,” said Gerald who finally admitted in an interview with Boy Abunda that, yes, he and Julia Barretto are, indeed, going steady. “At the end of the day, if you are generally happy at wala kang tinatapakang tao, kung ano ang tama dapat lang na ipaglaban mo talaga.”
Now that the truth has set him free, what is Gerald’s state of being?
“Very happy!” he claimed, comparing his long-overdue “confession” to having a thorn extracted from his body (nabunutan ng tinik).
As a nod to the movie’s title, the next question was whether the series is as hot as if not hotter than the Viva movie.
“Yes,” assured Yam who joked, “mas mainit talaga! Gusto mong maligo dahil sa init. Hahaha!!!”
Seconded JM, “Sobrang init. Nakakapaso, hahaha!!!”
Gerald added, “Ang alam ko, talagang mainit na mainit ang pagtanggap ng trailer, that’s for sure.”
According to them, the “heat” comes not so much from the sexy scenes as from the story.
“The material is malalim,” noted JM. “Doon nanggagaling ang init and not from the love scenes.”
“More than the love scenes,” explained Gerald, “what’s more sexy to me is the flow of the story, ‘yung takbo ng estorya. May ‘init’ na sinasabi, may malalim na sinasabi.”
Since she has worked briefly with Gerald (in the 2011 movie Catch Me, I’m In Love with Sarah Geronimo) and JM (in an episode of ABS-CBN’s Ipaglaban Mo), Yam said that she was comfortable during the “intimate” scenes.
“We were together for six months during the lock-in shoot,” recalled Yam, “and that was more than enough time for us to bond and know each other better.”
Still in “init” mode, Funfare asked what usually made their heads boil (nagpapa-init ng ulo).
JM: “When I am hungry, kapag gutom ako.” (Happily, before the free-wheeling chit-chat, JM gobbled up a big McDo cheeseburger made hotter by hot sauce.) “I love lots of ketchup on my cheeseburger.”
Yam: “When it is the, well, ‘time of the month,’ when we women are having a ‘visitor,’ like I’m having now, hahaha!!!”
Gerald: “Unprofessionalism, especially when it comes to work. I am thankful that during our lock-in shoot, everybody was very professional and very dedicated. All of us...those in front of the camera and those behind the camera.”
Added JM, “Gerald saw to it that meals came on time. Otherwise, umiinit ang ulo niya.”
Incidentally, who between Gerald and JM was the hotter kisser?
Yam played safe.
“They are both good. Magka-iba nga lang ang style nila.”
(E-mail reactions at [email protected]. For more updates, photos and videos, visit www.philstar.com/funfare or follow me on Instagram @therealrickylo.)
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