For Phillip, one is more than enough

His last film, Pag Oras Mo Oras Mo Na, was shown exactly a year ago. Now, he is about to release his first film for 2001, Kaaway Hanggang Hukay. How come he makes only one movie a year?

"Honestly, I’d really like to do more," says Phillip Salvador. "But the problem is getting good materials for a film. Our audiences today have become so choosy. You cannot fool them anymore with recycled stories and mediocre production values. Also, last year, I became busy with my first regular TV show on GMA-7, Verano, which ran for a year."

He is very proud of Kaaway Hanggang Hukay, the title of which was supplied by no less than Da King himself, Fernando Poe, Jr.

"We were having problems with the title, so I told the story to Kuya Ronnie and he was the one who came up with the title, Kaaway Hanggang Hukay," Ipe reveals. "Okay nga because it is really very apt for the film’s main conflict. This is my most expensive film to date. It took a while before Direk Joey del Rosario was able to complete this dahil pinaganda niya talaga nang husto. The action scenes here are all spectacular and took several weeks to finish, sure to please even the most discriminating lover of action films. This is our second movie together with Direk Joey after Kahit Pader, Gigibain Ko for Regal about three years ago."

The story revolves on two good friends who become mortal enemies. Edu Manzano is Ipe’s classmate at PMA who graduated magna cum laude, while Ipe graduated summa. This started their bitter rivalry, for Edu is being pressured by his family to finish summa, particularly by his dad, Bob Soler, a summa cum laude graduate of PMA himself.

Later, Edu, who loses his sanity, cold-bloodedly murders his own father without any feelings of remorse. He then becomes a terrorist out to kill a visiting prime minister and Ipe is given the task to apprehend him.

"This is my second movie with Edu after Joe Pring 2," says Ipe. "Edu is an intelligent actor and I enjoy working with him. We have excellent communication as friends and as co-actors. We have plenty of confrontation scenes in the film and we make sure we discuss these difficult scenes at length before shooting them because they’re all so intense. We are really comfortable with each other so we work well together."

Did it ever become a problem that he supported the deposed president while Edu was fiercely anti-Erap who made himself very visible at EDSA during the protest rallies? "No, that was never a problem. I, along with Rudy Fernandez, are good friends of Mayor Jinggoy Estrada. I don’t think it is a sin to support a friend when he is in need. Our political differences ni Edu never got on the way of our friendship. In the same way that Rudy and I still consider Bong Revilla a good friend of ours even if he was also at EDSA. Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, his own stand, and we should all just respect each other."

Ipe is paired with Ina Raymundo in Kaaway Hanggang Hukay.

"Just like in the case of Direk Joey and Edu, this is our second film together. The first one was, Berdugo, which we did for Seiko Films two years ago. I also worked with Ina in Verano and I believe she is an underrated actress. She definitely is not just another sexpot, because even when it comes to the most taxing dramatic scenes, she can deliver. Here, she also does some daring action scenes herself, like in the climax where she was made to run on top of a plane during a chase scene while firing her guns against some assassins. It’s good she was not pregnant yet when we did that scene or her boyfriend would surely be angry if something bad happened to their baby."

Ipe refuses to comment on anything that his former live-in partner, Kris Aquino, has said against him.

"Let’s not just make mention of her at all, please," he begs us, ever the gentleman.

He would rather talk about their son, Joshua. He is so pleased every time he sees Josh in his hotdog TV commercial and he even imitates the boy’s last act in the ad, with him holding up both his cheeks.

"It really warms my heart," he beams.

What a pity that he and Kris are not on speaking terms now. A few months ago, Kris even asked the permission of ABS-CBN just to be Ipe’s special guest in his GMA-7 show, Verano. We could feel that Ipe is optimistic that they could be friends again someday and this is the reason why he won’t talk against her.

For his next project, Ipe goes back to drama in a movie with Judy Ann Santos. To be directed by Joyce Bernal.

"A lot of my fans are requesting that I do a dramatic film naman, for a change, kaya pagbibigyan ko naman sila," he says. "The last time I did a straight drama was when my mentor, Lino Brocka, was still alive, Orapronobis, which was never shown here in commercial theaters. I also miss doing dramas so I think it’s the right time for me to do one."