Zsa Zsa Padilla is one proud mama

PLUS: Newcomer Martin Del Rosario lands lead role in his first film

Zsa Zsa Padilla is one proud mama! For two years now, her daughter Zia is a Dean's Lister in De La Salle University, where she's taking up a course in English Literature. We also learned from the Divine Diva's Twitter account that Zia is set to sign a recording contract with Polyeast EMI this year. That makes three of them, since Zsa Zsa and her love Dolphy are also contract stars of Polyeast EMI. In fact, the comedy king, who was recently honred the Grand Collar of the Order of the Golden Heart by President Noynoy Aquino, launched his album titled "Hindi Naman Ako Umalis" yesterday in an intimate presscon held at the Discovery Suites in Ortigas Center, Pasig City. Florante's Handog is the carrier single.

Even if Zia is busy with her studies, Zsa Zsa said her daughter will work on her demo for her forthcoming album.

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Showbiz newbie Martin del Rosario is happy to have been chosen to play the lead role in "Dagim," an entry to the ongoing Cinema One Originals Festival being held at the Shangri-La Mall in Mandaluyong City. We had the chance to interview Martin at the launching of Cinema One Originals last Wednesday.

Directed by Joaquin Valdez, "Dagim" casts Martin as the older of two brothers who have set out to look for their missing father in a nearby mountain. He's in denial that his father is already dead. While on their trek, they met a young woman with whom Martin has taken a fancy. She took them to a tribe in the innards of the mountain. Unknown to Martin and younger brother, it was with that tribe where they would meet the real horror of their life.

Martin appeared in the Kim Chiu-Gerald Anderson starrer "Till My Heartaches End", but the young actor considers "Dagim" as his acting assignment on the big screen. "I am very thankful that I became a part of Cinema One Originals. This is a new experience for me. Acting in a film is different from TV acting. Doing this film was a learning experience for me and I consider it as a big break," said Martin who is being managed by Jun Reyes (who also manages Gerald Anderson).

How did he feel when Joaquin Valdes offered him the lead role in "Dagim"? "I was so happy. Although it was my first time to work with, alam mo 'yung gaganahan ka talagang magtrabaho kasi makikita mo 'yung passion niya for his work. At saka 'yung mga kasama niya sa production magagaling talaga. And for me as an actor, I was inspired to do my best, even better, because I can see that they are exerting effort to make the film good," related Martin.

Was he surprised that he was chosen to play the lead role? "Yes, because wala pa naman akong nagawang movie before 'Dagim'. When I read the script, I thought ibang klase ito compared to the roles that I did on TV (he has done a gay role in an episode of MMK). It's one of the most challenging roles I did."

In the movie, Martin portrays a character who is loud and has a lot of fears. The role also calls for varying emotions, including anger. "The role is completely the opposite of my real self but I am happy to have been given a chance to play it. I was kind of nervous before our shoot. I need to study my character pero habang nagso-shoot, lalo na sa mahihirap na scenes, ginagawa kong memories iyon para may paghuhugutan ako sa mga eksena. And napi-feel ko naman ang istorya. After the shoot, parang ang dami ko pang nadadalang emotions sa katawan ko."

The newcomer looks forward to doing more film roles in the future. Although he has been getting positive feedback regarding his acting, Martin said he is going to step up efforts in enhancing his skills. "I am craving to learn more about acting. I didn't enter showbiz for the fame but I'd like to be known as a competent performer. Masaya ako sa ginagawa ko," said Martin who got his first TV break in the drama series "Natutulog Ba Ang Diyos".

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To be held tonight at the PICC Plenary Hall is the concert of Richard Poon titled "The Crooner," where the ASAP mainstay will be accompanied by a 25-piece orchestra. This is probably Richard's biggest concert to date, comparable to his show held at the Meralco Theater a few months ago A lot of people, both young and old, have taken a liking to Richard's type of music which is a fusion of pop and standards, thus enabling the singer to make a crossover through different age levels.

"I'm doing this as part of my desire to introduce the young audience to the music of Frank Sinatra, the music of our parents. I am happy to say that a lot of young people are coming up to me and saying that before they didn't like to listen to standards but they started doing so after they heard me sing," Richard related.

And since his music fuses pop and standards, the young crowd is able to relate to it. Besides, he gives the standards a different twist, making them appealing to the young crowd.

Richard also dreams of hearing his songs being played on the radio more often. True, he has released several albums (in fact, another one is forthcoming) but he rues that he seldom hears his songs on the airwaves.

Joining him in "The Crooner" as special guests are Lea Salonga, Sam Milby and Pokwang. Musical director is Mel Villena while Mr. Johnny Manahan is stage and TV director.

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The MTRCB has finally approved the indie film "Lilay," latest movie of Kenji Garcia, who starred in "Ang Lihim ni Antonio". We heard that "Lilay" was disapproved on its first review that was why the planned premiere night did not push through.

After the go-signal from the MTRCB, "Lilay" makes its run in several theaters on Nov. 17. Kenji is playing a gay character in the film and to make him uglier, he was even asked to wear prosthetics.

It's only now that Kenji is making movies again. He opted to finish his studies (he graduated last March). Now he's making up for lost time as he's quite busy doing one indie film after another.

After "Lilay," he will be next seen in "Brod" where he plays a fraternity neophyte undergoing initiation.

Kenji shared that he felt sad when he learned that some people are maligning him on Facebook because he has been doing sexy films. "This is a job. Hindi naman nila ako lubos na kilala para bastusin at maliitin," he said.