During his barely 48 hours stay in the Philippines, the first ever country in Asia that he has visited, Ed Westwick took time out from his tight shoot schedule for Penshoppe (as its 25th-anniversary endorser) for a cruise around Manila Bay yesterday morning.
“I had a chance to see the sunrise and it was great!” the “bad boy” of the hit US teen drama Gossip Girl told Funfare Update in a one-on-one at a suite in the Manila Peninsula where he was billeted during his too brief sojourn. “The beautiful sight took my jetlag away. We had breakfast on the boat while watching Manila’s breathtaking skyline.”
Asked what he took for breakfast, Ed said, his light-blue eyes lighting up, “Poached eggs and wheat bread, and fruits.”
Ed, who’s turning 24 on June 27, expressed regrets that his stay in Manila was much too short. He flew in last Tuesday night and he was scheduled to fly back to New York last night to resume shooting for Gossip Girl in which he plays Chuck Bass, the “user” womanizer who is the exact opposite of the actor who was warm, friendly, accommodating and receptive even to mildly “personal” questions that Funfare Update was reminded beforehand not to ask him.
What’s the possibility of Gossip Girl shooting some episodes in Asia, specifically the Philippines?
“That would be great!” he said. “In fact, we’re considering that possibility. It would be nice to shoot here, in Tokyo and other parts of Asia.”
He’d be glad to be back “Soon,” he stressed perhaps not so much to work but just to visit and see more of the Philippines.
In closing, Ed said thank you to “all the nice people” who welcomed him at the airport on his arrival, even if some pieces of his luggage got entangled with the TV cameramen who scrambled over one another to shoot him from a good angle.
“I hope you’re all right now,” he smiled.
(Note: For more on Ed Westwick [who frowns on being “mistakenly” called by his Gossip Girl character Chuck Bass], check out Conversations with Ricky Lo on Sunday, June 5.)
(E-mail reactions at rickylo@philstar.net.ph or at entphilstar@yahoo.com. You may also send your questions to askrickylo@gmail.com. For more updates, photos and videos visit www.philstar.com/funfare.)