Janno on professionalism, being 2nd choice & giving back to fans

Unlike his Instagram handle @jannolategibbs, Janno Gibbs is quite the opposite nowadays. He was on the dot for our 6 p.m. interview via Zoom for his new movie 69+1 and was more than generous to share his two cents on his career, experiences and recent musings.

Having been brought up in the limelight with many successful projects under his belt, plus being part of a showbiz clan, the public is well-aware of the singer/actor’s dabble with controversies regarding his alleged tardiness and unprofessionalism in the past. What people did not know about was Janno’s ordeal with insomnia.

In another interview with me alongside Jove Francisco and Chiqui Vergel for Sa Totoo Lang, Janno opened up how he switched doctors and is now recovering from it. “Total sinabi na ni Jove iyong insomnia, that’s my main problem. I’m lucky because I have a new doctor, I have new medicines that work better for me.”

Janno was so touched by the testimonial of direk Darryl Yap regarding him never being late on set. That really left him so emotional because “it came at the right time.” To naturally return the favor, Janno sincerely expressed his praises for Darryl, and talked about working with him in 69+1 and saying yes to the scenes and movie concepts that were relatively new to him.

“When I read the script, ninerbyos ako kasi ang dami ko gagawin dito. I mean I’ve done naughty stuff with sila Andrew (E) and Dennis (Padilla) but not this (kind) kasi medyo level up sa naughtiness, bordering on sexy. Isa lang ang sinasagot ko lagi, you can’t argue with success. Lahat ng movies niya (direk Darryl) patok at hindi lang patok, super enjoy iyong mga tao. Critically acclaimed.”

To put more context, the Darryl Yap-directed 69+1 is about lesbian couple Ivy (Maui Taylor) and Patricia (Rose Van Ginkel) who are on their way to their seventh anniversary. To manage the so-called seven-year-itch, they agreed to allow a man into their relationship for a throuple — three for a couple — just for a year, thinking they just missed the physical aspects of a man.

Janno plays Apol, a photographer who, although checks the qualifications that they want for a man, is someone whom they think they can’t be in love or attached with. Together, they will discover if a polyamorous relationship will actually work for them or not. Throuple is a relatively new concept in Filipino film, wherein the members in a relationship openly share affection in a three-way manner and have equal preference for all parties involved.

Janno admitted that he found the idea to be shocking in a way, but he’s thankful of how open his family is to his accepting such a role in his 50s.

“My family, my daughters, my wife. I even got it from my parents… we are quite liberal we are not the traditional stuck up family. We are an open(-minded) family so madali maintindihan for them. Of course, na sa-shock pa rin ako! Alam ko uso ito, prevalent in the States, sa mga puti pero dito shocking pa rin. Conservative pa rin majority ng Pinoys.”

He was not even hurt when Darryl told him that he was not his first choice for the film. He’s just thankful it ended up on his lap thanks to the push of Viva boss Vic del Rosario. “Sa tagal ko sa industry, lolo na ako sa industry, I understand the business. But aside from that, when you hear na hindi ikaw iyong first choice, challenge iyon sa iyo na kailangan galingan ko dito kasi linagay ako ng boss ko rito.”

69+1 is showing this Sept. 3 on the VivaMax platform and Janno is finally granting his fans’ request after so long. “People have been asking for a love song from me so on the day of the showing of this movie, may love song din ako na ilalabas.”