Mikey in the eye of a storm

Like his mother, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Mikey is in the eye of a storm. And he knows it.

There are talks that his movie, E-Corp Films’ Hindi Kita Ma-Reach with LJ Moreno made it to the magic seven circle of official entries to the Metro Manila filmfest because of the Arroyos’ political power.

Mikey is quick to protest.

"These people are dividing the (movie) industry instead of helping it," he says.

"I didn’t know my movie will be an official entry until the final announcement was made."

The highly-visible Mikey explains the onslaught of movie assignments including (a team-up with Geneva Cruz and a co-starrer with Ace Vergel), not to anything political, but to the simple law of supply and demand.

"I can’t help it if producers get me after observing that my movies make money," Mikey relates.

The movies, he says, is a means of livelihood, something as vital to him as survival itself.

"If I don’t act, I don’t eat. I suffer," he explains.

So the Pampanga vice-governor makes it a point to give his best in any movie assignment, of which Di Kita Ma-Reach is the fifth to be released in the theaters.

"I had a workshop with director Willy Milan before doing this film," Mikey reveals. One of the highlights, he adds, posed a big acting challenge to him.

It was a dramatic scene with LJ, and Milan, the director, required Mikey to interpret (take note: not to memorize) one-and-a-half pages of script.

The result, he happily reports, was satisfactory, as far as his director is concerned. Mikey managed to do it in only one take.

The story revolves around the poor boy-rich girl plot, where Mikey plays an expert billiard player from the slums. He meets rich girl Xinia (LJ Moreno) when she researches for a thesis on human rights.

When Mikey’s character falls for Xinia, the economic gap between them raises a howl of protest from the girl’s fiscal-mom, played by Eula Valdez.

Mikey, the La Vista boy playing a poor guy who never even entered high school?

"When I was growing up, my circle of friends were boys from a nearby slum area," Mikey explains. It’s his way of saying that he knew, not only to associate, but to relate to the poor since he was that tall.

Besides, his grandfather, former president Diosdado Macapagal, was known during his time as the "Poor Boy from Lubao."

Mikey also draws a lot of inspiration from a powerhouse cast consisting of award-winning performers: Elizabeth Oropesa, Tommy Abuel, Raymond Bagatsing, Eula Valdez and Tonton Gutierrez.

"It’s like a game of badminton. It becomes more enjoyable when you’re pitted against a good player," Mikey muses.

Translated to work for Di Kita Ma-Reach, it means interacting with award-winning actors he can trade punchlines with until the cameras stop grinding.

Mikey’s showbiz plans go beyond facing the cameras. The presidential son has made it clear to his director that he wants to be at the helm a movie someday.

"Direk Willy is like a father to me. I feel at ease confiding in him," Mikey explains. Working behind the scenes as producer is something else, and Mikey crushed speculations that he has invested money on Di Kita Ma-Reach. He is a talent in the movie, nothing more, nothing less, he stresses.

Is he working twice harder these days because he plans to settle down with Angela Montenegro soon?

Mikey, the previously cooperative interviewee, turns taciturn.

"Wedding plans are not definite yet," is all he manages to say. But the 32-year-old Mikey is obviously in love.

"She is nice, simple and dignified. Our worlds are very different. She’s a private person. I’m public property. I deal with the masses. She graduated from Schiller University, and her friends come from the high end of society," says Mikey.

Because they move in different circles, Angela minds if Mikey as much as stares lovingly into LJ’s eyes. His nonshowbiz girlfriend has yet to understand that being sweet to a leading lady does not mean acting that way in real life.

Angela will understand in time. Mikey is that confident he has found a gem of a future wife at last.