In person, Hall is impeccably handsome, undeniably good-natured despite his rough and tough appearance. He possesses an almost divine, not-too-outlandish physique. He has a progressive modeling career, and looks forward to a sky-rocketing career as a screen stud.
If his jaw-dropping Bench commercials and those huge cock-teasing billboards served to launch Hall’s rocket, then Xerex is definitely the second, which we feel will propel him into the ranks.
He considers this Mel Chionglo film a giant step which he hopes will open bigger doors for him. "I am certainly not choosy with work. Xerex was a five-day work assignment for me and paid good money. What more can I ask for at this stage?" he reckons.
This early, people who have previewed the movie are talking about Hall’s seeming innocence and the effortless manner he plays mean, which is definitely a most wonderful combination that can only stem from a natural earthy sensuality. Not to mention the oozing sensuality that reverberates throughout his sequences, regardless of whether he is inside the elevator pounding on Aubrey Miles or making Miles’s sensory organs pound while she waits on his next moves.
Hall, up close, is like an unfinished sculpture. He definitely can make shyness and reluctance seem compelling, even piercing at times. Because he can make expressionless stares look sexy and proves that not all screen studs need to spend half a day in the gym, Hall almost always sweeps his photographers and directors off their feet, especially the gender-bending ones, and leave them in a quandary over whether to shoot him close-up, because he’s such a beautiful, masculine creature or whether they should capture him with his longest shot possible, because their subject effortlessly acts with his whole body, soul and libido to boot.
Hall has an uncanny ability to open up when he starts to feel safe and secure. When you have his attention, you get this feeling you’re the only person in the world who is around. He starts answering questions with short-phrased whispers, then once he feels you are truly interested in what he is saying, the answers get longer and the explanations more profound.
Jon Hall may be the prototype of many a woman’s – and a gay’s – fantasy, but from how our conversation progressed, he can definitely be more than that. And moving towards the second half of this interview, there was no denying I felt why many had fallen into his spell.
Born Jonathan Richard Ramos Hall in a small town called Crewe in England, Jon cherishes memories of his happy childhood years in Cebu before his family relocated to Bradenton in Florida when his life as a teenager started. Although he conveys the artless and forthright-ness that we always seem to associate with small-town boys, Hall, in real life, is all-man, openly vulnerable yet absolutely fearless at the same time.
He is also a keen believer in trusting his instincts. In 2000, when he was barely 20 and while on vacation in Cebu, someone sent his photos for possible casting in a Bench commercial. After he bagged the lead role, all talks spread about how gifted Hall was in terms of natural assets, not to mention the testimonials of many about his no-holds-barred-no-qualms-about-anything attitude in his start-up modeling career.
At 24, Hall says what he feels and answers questions as straight-forwardly as he can. He matter-of-factly admits that he considers it therapeutic to cry if he feels he has to – like when he missed his brother who passed away all so suddenly a few months back.
When our topic shifts to love and intimacy, Hall pauses, looks me straight in the eye then takes a deep breath, as if afraid to let me into his private universe. But he quickly settles and focuses on the interesting questions that would be asked next.
Hall says he’s romantically unattached and is proud to say that he can happily function alone – well, at least for the time being, when work schedules start to fill up most of his waking hours. He reveals, " I’m okay, really, although it would be nice to have someone, but I don’t, and that’s the truth. I don’t really mind, though, I just pretty much sit at home," he says.
Whenever he can, Hall hies off to the beach where he says he is most relaxed. "I love the beach. I like the feeling that I’m sort of part of its vastness and that it’s a kinda free-flowing thing."
So, what does it take to become a beautiful man like Hall? "Nothing too healthy," he quickly retorts, adding "I guess I’m just lucky to have very good genes." Perhaps the growing up teens who want to look like Hall shouldn’t finish reading this paragraph. Diet is not part of Hall’s vocabulary. He gorges on pizza and frequents the fastfood outlets. And Hall doesn’t eat fruits and vegetables, saying, "I just don’t like them, they can make me puke if I force myself to eat fruits and vegetables."
On his newfound job as an actor, he doesn’t care a bit if he has the upbringing needed for a certain role or the looks required of a particular character. "I’ve never really chosen assignments for any reason other than I felt I’ll be paid good money and I wouldn’t be forced to do things I do not like. I guess the challenge to myself now as a new actor is to keep myself and other people guessing about how my character will evolve. I find that really interesting. In real life, I never liked being predictable anyway."
What you see is what you get. But Jon Hall also knows how to keep himself to himself, and maybe we will never get to see the finished sculpture of himself on the big screen. Perhaps that’s why he’s such a hot property and why he continues to create such a stir in the entertainment front.
And whether we see him with or without clothes on in his next projects, I’m quite sure we will all give Jon Hall a second, lingering look.