Kris: Yes, game pa rin siya!

Curtain-raisers:

• A TV host wants to find out if her TV-movie comedian friend is really gay even if he’s, yes, out and out gay. The proof of the pudding is in the eating, you know. So she makes it a point to strip naked every now and then when she changes her clothes in front of the gay friend. Anyway, she thinks, the guy-gay is harmless. She’s naked as in totally naked, with not a stitch on, as she moves very casually in her room. Guess who usually blinks – yes, the guy-gay who pretends not to notice his friend’s nakedness as he tries to resist the temptation to look at the "center" of attraction. Well, she’s "convinced" beyond reasonable doubt...

• If you listen to this comebacking boldie’s story, your heart will break into pieces. Yes, she was a battered wife, beaten black and blue by her husband who’s suspected to be drug dependent. And to think that she made everybody believe that she married well – in the US, no less – and was living happily ever after with the man who has sired her daughter. The poor girl is telling friends that it’s okay, she can take it, if she’s the only one battered like a punching bag by her husband who doubts if he really is the father of their child. The last straw came when the guy kicked their two-year-old daughter in the face during one of his fights with the actress. "That I couldn’t take," said the actress. So she left him. When last heard of, the guy had gone back to the US where their bittersweet romance started.

• I have to make this clear: The "J" mentioned recently in Funfare who was gifted with a yellow Porsche (second hand, he said) was not Joey Marquez but Jules Ledesma. It was Jules’ wife Assunta de Rossi who gave him the Porsche as wedding gift; Jules in turn gave Assunta a set of expensive jewelry. Many readers suspected that it was Kris Aquino who gave Joey a Porsche. No, she did not – yet? – even if, according to Kris, "I can afford it."

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A lot of people have been wondering/asking if Kris Aquino’s game show Game KNB? (on ABS-CBN) is fading out.

Yesterday at a lunch presscon, Kris herself set the record straight.

No, Game KNB? is not closing (even if it has been off the air for a few days now); it’s just reformatting and will resurface starting next Monday, Sept. 22, same time and same channel, under a new title: Next Level Na. Game Ka Na Ba?

The reformatted game show may not offer as many prizes as its predecessor but it promises to be more exciting. While in the previous show a contestant could hope to bring home as much as P300,000 if he/she quit after a few rounds and decided against trying his/her luck for the grand prize, now the most that a contestant can win is P100,000 – that if, if he/she chickens out and forfeits the chance to win the P1 -million jackpot. But more showcases are at stake.

The new game show will have three categories for the contestants to choose from, namely Tsamba, Talino and Tapang. In the pilot episode shown to the press, the contestants – four comedians who will remain unidentified so as not to preempt the show’s premier telecast – are made to guess certain facts about a guest star (Zsa Zsa Padilla in this episode); in the Talino portion, contestants have to use some brains to answer questions of general interest; and in the Tapang portion, contestants are made to do some derring-do, such as putting live frogs inside their shirts, grappling with a bayawak or some such things the US show Fear Factor has become popular for.

"When you join," said Kris, "you have to sign a waiver na kaya mong gawin lahat, especially the Tapang portion. Once you sign, you can’t back out."

Not to worry, added Kris. There’s an ambulance or a paramedic standing by if and when something untoward happens to a contestant.

"But we won’t do anything life-threatening naman," assured Kris.

The trick is for a contestant to go from one level to another, until he/she reaches the level where he/she can go for the jackpot.

Is the new Game Ka Na Ba? better and more exciting than the previous one?

See for yourselves on Monday, Sept. 22. If you’re daring enough, you may join.

O, game ka na ba?

Pinoy Films Well-Received In Toronto

So how did Prosti and Huling Birhen sa Lupa, both by Viva Films, fare at the just-concluded Toronto International Film Festival (non-competition)? Here’s a report from Funfare’s Toronto-based "international correspondent" Ferdinand Lapuz:

Toronto International Film Festival 2003 is finally over. My life is now back to normal, boredom again!

In my last e-mail I mentioned that Raquel Villavicencio was here as actress for Prosti and writer for The Last Virgin (Huling Birhen sa Lupa). Director Joel Lamangan, aside from being the director of The Last Virgin, is also one of the producers of Birhen (for Jaggs Entertainment) co-produced with Neo Vision Productions, sister company of Viva Films. Viva bigwig Carmencita "Baby" Gil and Ceasar Grepo, one of Jaggs producer, were here as well.

Ceasar is direk Joel's high school classmate who flew in from San Francisco.

The screenings of both films were so highly successful that for the second screening of Birhen and first screening of Prosti two cinemas at the Varsity complex were both used. This was a first for any Filipino movie in Toronto!

They used a special projector where you can beam one print in two theaters at the same time. No lagarista here! The same procedure was used for Burlesk King at the Chicago International Film Festival in 2000. Toronto cinephiles were intrigued with these Filipino titles: A Virgin, a Prosti and a Burlesk King!

It was too bad that director Erik Matti did not make it for his first film in Toronto. He was said to be busy doing Gagamboy and Mano Po 2 for the 2003 MMFF.

Direk Joel was very ecstatic because the press and industry screening for Birhen was almost full house. It is unusual for a press and industry screening to have that very many people. Even better is that Birhen had more audience in its second screening than its gala presentation which again is not common. It could have been because of the good word of mouth that went around after the first screening.

Having been a regular at TIFF, direk Joel was asked during his Q&A portion what would his next film be after The Flor Contemplacion Story (1995), Pusong Mamon (1999), Bulaklak ng Maynila (2000), Deathrow (2001), Hubog (2002) and Birhen (2003) for Toronto. He is pretty close to direk Carlitos Siguion-Reyna's record of nine consecutive films in Toronto from 1994 to 2000.

This seems like seven years but direk Carlitos had two films in 1994 and 1997.

Direk Joel said that he just finished his next film, Bugbog Sarado (Black & Blue) which he shot in 13 days.

He also said that he has this drama concept about a young boy and an old man. He wants to have either Dolphy or Eddie Garcia for the role of the old man and will audition for the role of the young boy, around seven or eight years old.

During my talk with him, direk Joel mentioned that he has this gay project. He told me the plot of the story and I must say that it is very interesting, funny and sexy. We played around for the casting. We came up with either Jay Manalo or Victor Neri for the first role and Jordan Herrera or Marky Lopez for the second role.

I asked him after directing Nora Aunor in four films if he is not interested in directing Vilma Santos. "Gusto ko nga eh!" He said that one of his dream films is to direct Ate Vi!

I also had a nice chat with Raquel, Kelly to her friends, because we are both from Angeles City. Kelly belongs to the Nepomuceno clan of Angeles. My alma mater, Holy Angel University, Pampanga's biggest university, is owned by the Nepomucenos.

That’s all for now. Take care.– Ferdy

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