Vhong in perpetual motion

There’s no sitting still for Vhong Navarro. The afternoon after he didn’t sleep the whole night long and got home at 7:30  the morning after for the taping of Lastikman, he was up and about. And dancing.

He showed up bright and early at ABS-CBN, way before the press arrived for the media launch of his new endorsement as Enervon Multivitamins poster boy. The future Lastikman (of ABS-CBN’s upcoming fantaserye) didn’t just stride into 9501’s restaurant. He entered twitching his arms and feet in those kinetic moves that brought fans swarming all over dance venues near and far.

And when the lights dimmed and the projector switched on, we saw Vhong moving as if a spring uncoiled inside him. He was flipping pancakes, navigating his mountain bike through hilly terrain, dancing while disc jockeying, tumbling and  breakdancing all in a span of the 30-seconder Enervon Multivitamins commercial.

The pancake part and the jumping-on-table stunt were his ideas. And if you know that Vhong dreams of becoming a director someday, you’ll know why in an instant. You’ll even have an inkling of how his future movies — if ever — willl look like.

Vhong’s nervous producers didn’t want to take any chances.  They offered a double to avoid the kind of accident Vhong’s fellow Enervon endorser Toni Gonzaga had while shooting a commercial in a swimming pool. That sequence showing Vhong driving his mountain bike to the edge of the cliff was literally and figuratively a cliff-hanger. But it was a risk Vhong felt was worth taking.

He just jumped on the bike himself and drove away while everyone, including his supposed double, watched with bated breath.

A nurse and an ambulance were also on stand-by,  the better to protect the star of the commercial, just in case. But they didn’t have to worry. Everything proceeded like clockwork.

“Vhong fit in the commercial because he’s full of energy, He’s also a happy guy,” says Alex Panlilio, executive of Enervon manufacturers Unilab.

Eyes sparkling, Vhong says he is bent on expending more of that boundless energy in other projects, Mr. Suave 2 (with director Joyce Bernal) among them. That’s on top of his current load: Wazzup, Wazzup, ASAP ’07 and Lastikman.

“Watch out for my daring stunt in Leyte’s San Juanico Bridge as Lastikman. And my two lovely leading ladies: Iya Villania and Roxanne Guinoo,” Vhong crows.

 If the Fates allow, he dreams of doing a Transformers kind of movie, something which will serve as a proud addition to his filmography of super heroes like Gagamboy, Mr. Suave and Agent X44.

Where does the guy get all that energy? “My sons Frederick Bruno and Isaiah,” Vhong’s reply is as fast as his dancing feet.

But that’s all he’s willing to say about his personal life for now. He will remain tight-lipped while the annulment case he filed (regarding his marriage to Bianca Lapus) is resolved.

Meanwhile, Vhong would rather look at the bright side. Why sulk when you have many big projects in the bag? Besides, to borrow from a phrase from his new endorsement, it’s better to have “more energy” and therefore be “mas happy.”