What keeps GB & Candy from getting married?

Both their civil marriages have been annulled in 2008, so what’s keeping director GB Sampedro and Candy Pangilinan from getting married?

The church annulment, that’s what.

GB has three kids from his first marriage (to a talent manager) and Candy one kid from her own failed marriage.

“We are engaged,” confirmed GB, “but we are not (yet) living together.”

They can get married in civil rites anytime but they’d rather do so also in church.

That can wait.

Meanwhile, GB is busy with his projects just as Candy is with her own.

Now a Kapatid (as what TV5 talents are called, vis-a-vis the GMA’s Kapuso and the ABS-CBN’s Kapamilya), GB is directing the network’s new showbiz talkshow Paparazzi, hosted by Ruffa Gutierrez, Dolly Anne Carvajal and Cristy Fermin, every Sunday afternoon right smack into the timeslot of Ruffa’s former show, The Buzz, on ABS-CBN with GB’s manager Boy Abunda as co-host (with Kris Aquino and KC Concepcion, Ruffa’s replacement).

No, hmmmm, conflict of interest? Doesn’t GB exchange and/or compare notes with his Kuya Boy? 

“It’s just work,” said GB. “When we talk, it’s all about other business and not the content of his show or our show. Hindi namin pinag-uusapan ‘yan.”

In the issue between Cristy and Boy, isn’t GB tempted to take sides (presumably with Boy) if it comes up on Paparazzi?

“Ayokong maipit, so I’m very careful.”

GB cut his directorial teeth doing commercials. He then directed Kapamilya shows like Ruffa & Ai (with Ruffa and Ai-Ai delas Alas), Real Pinoy Fighter, Homeboy and Boy & Kris. His first movie directorial job, the indie titled Astig, won for GB Best Director in the 2009 Cinemalaya, nominated for Best Digital Film and Best Digital Movie Director in the 2010 PMPC Star Awards for Movies, and will be shown at the Barcelona Asian Film Festival (April 30 to May 10).

Ironically, GB and Candy have never worked together.

“I think she guested only once on Boy & Kris, and that’s where we met.”

Are they sure that they are ready for a, you know, second time around?

“I can feel it,” said GB, “and, I think, so does she.” 

What Alan Poul finds ‘amazing’ about J.Lo

It was “something interesting” in the voice of screenwriter Kate Angelo that, according to director Alan Poul, got him interested in doing The Back-Up Plan, the comedy that “explores dating, love, marriage and family in reverse” starring Jennifer Lopez as the mom of twins conceived by artificial insemination and Australian beefcake (newcomer) Alex O’Loughlin as the twins’ surrogate though not the biological father.

“I wanted to go back to directing,” Poul told Funfare during a one-on-one at the Four Seasons Beverly Hills. He has made a mark as TV director and producer, and has received an Emmy, a Golden Globe, Peabody and other awards, with Six Feet Under, Swingtown and Big Love among his notable works. “I’d been looking for a good material. The last thing I ever thought was doing a romantic-comedy. Kate Angelo, who worked extensively for television, writing and producing such shows as The Bernie Mac Show and Will & Grace, has three young kids and felt that no writer has ever written a script about childbirth from a female point of view. That’s when I recognized something really interesting in her voice, so...”

The Back-Up Plan is Kate Angelo’s first script for a movie.

Jennifer was the first and only choice for the Zoe character while Alex was picked from a list of 20 actors for the Stan character.

“We wanted a guy who could hold his own against Jennifer. She has such a strong screen presence that we had to find a guy who could match her, somebody who is effortless but with a strong sense of masculinity. As soon as I met Alex, I said, ‘Okay, this is my Stan.’ Jennifer agreed at once completely. Alex has appeared in CBS shows and the network was banking on him to become a star.”

Asked what was the amazing thing he found about Jennifer, Poul said, “Jennifer had been away for three years after giving birth to twins, so there’s always the question of, you know, how it is with movies that the moment you get off the merry-go-round it’s so hard to get back on. I watched a lot of Jennifer movies and studies about everything about her — how she walked, how she talked, how she moved, everything! She has this wonderful charisma that anytime she’s in a scene, it’s hard to look at anybody else. She has that amazing connection with the camera and with her audience. She’s probably the most charismatic star you will ever meet. The moment she walks into a room full of movie stars, all heads will turn to her direction.”

And she’s quite a workhorse, too.

“She’s an indefatigable workaholic. She can work from morning till night; she has an unbelievable energy and commitment. She’s a dancer, so she has this complete control of her body and her voice. She never gets tired, she never gets annoyed. Her fulfillment in life is working and doing the job well.”

For a male director to have come up with an “amazing” film about childbirth, mothering and all that feminine jazz, Poul deserves more than just a pat on the back but a standing ovation.

“Jennifer was a big help with her inputs derived from her own experience of having twins,” Poul admitted. “We worked for 53 days and Jennifer worked 51 of those 53 days, and most of those days were from morning till night. What drew her to the Zoe character is how much it related to her own life.”

What’s up?

•  Some clarifications: Nicolette “Nikette” Henson is the second runner-up to 2010 Bb. Pilipinas-Universe Maria Venus Raj, not the first runner-up who is Diane Necio but is, at 17 during the Bb. Pilipinas pageant last March 6, not qualified to replace Venus in the Miss Universe contest that requires contestants to be 18 by Feb. 1. Diane turned 18 first week of March. But she would qualify for the Miss International contest had she won Bb. Pilipinas-International (which Krista Mae Arrieta Kleiner did).

•  Anne Curtis is endorsing the perfume line of Folded & Hung but not its female clothing line.

•  Freddie M. Garcia should change the way he puts his hand, especially his fingers, over his face when he and his co-hosts Kris Aquino and Ai-Ai delas Alas, are assessing the chances of the contestants on ABS-CBN’s Pilipinas Got Talent. Some televiewers both here and abroad (on The Filipino Channel) think that he’s making a “dirty finger” when actually he is not. FMG can review the PGT tapes and see for himself.

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