John gets a taste of the Oscars

“I won! I won!”

Yes, John Arcilla did “win” not just one but two Oscars and he  proudly flaunted them.

“It’s free to dream, isn’t it?” said John, still fondly clutching the trophies. “Libre mangarap, sabi nga nila.”

In his report, Funfare’s Big Apple correspondent Edmund Silvestre said that John saw several trophies (Oscar, Emmy, Grammy, etc., won over the years) at the office of his college buddy Rey Rolle, an executive at Warner Bros. Studios whom he visited while John was in the US. 

Then, John playfully delivered an impromptu acceptance speech, “I would like to thank the Academy for this recognition. I dedicate this award to all Filipinos all over the world and to all the Filipino artists,” and he broke into laughter.

Well, that rehearsal might cease being “just a dream” if and when John got a real Oscar. You see, he stars (with Jake Macapagal) in Metro Manila, megged by British director Sean Ellis, which has been chosen by UK as its entry in the Best Foreign Language Film category of next year’s Oscars. If it makes it to the Top Five (winnowed down from more than 60 submitted for consideration then to Top 10 until the five finalists are announced) and if Dame Luck permits, Metro Manila will be competing with two other Filipino-inspired entries — the Philippines’ Transit and Singapore’s Ilo Ilo (which is the story of a Singaporean boy and his Filipino nanny). Let’s keep our collective fingers crossed.

“John has been having Oscar fever since it was announced that the internationally-acclaimed Metro Manila was selected as United Kingdom’s official entry to the 2014 Oscar Best Foreign Language Film,” said Edmund, quoting John as saying, â€œThis is a big deal. This is a first in Philippine cinema and a first in British film history.” John plays the pivotal character Ong, an ordinary guy who just wants a comfortable life but the complexity of the circumstances that happened to him made his life complicated that also put to the test the film’s other lead characters.

John cut short his US stay (he’s a green card-holder) and flew home last Sept. 29 to attend the Metro Manila premiere on Oct. 1 and 3 prior to its theater run starting on Wednesday, Oct. 9. Shot in Manila and Banaue in full Tagalog dialogue (freely translated by the actors from English), the movie won Audience Award for Best World Dramatic Film at this year’s Sundance Film Festival in Utah. It also got a 100 percent positive rating from Rotten Tomatoes, an influential website of movie reviews by noted US critics.

Added John (who appeared in The Bourne Legacy, the Jeremy Renner starrer partly shot in Manila), “Whether or not  UK’s entry makes it to the Top 5 of the 86th Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film, we already made history, especially our phenomenal director and writer Sean Ellis who was an Academy Award nominee for the Live Action Short Film Category (in 2006) for his movie Cashback.”

Rights to Metro Manila have reportedly been bought by Fox International. The Oscar nomination voting starts on Dec. 27 and the nominees will be known on Jan. 16, 2014.  

John is staying only for a few days in Manila. Back in New York, he will start filming Pamanhikan, a movie based on the screenplay of filmmaker Angelo Santos that won the Vail Film Screenplay Competition. It’s about an interracial, same-sex couple engaged to be married in New York to be highlighted by a Filipino pre-marriage tradition called pamanhikan.

“I perform on stage to pay my bills, but I also do shows for my soul,” John told Edmund, referring to his benefit concerts. Just this month, he took center stage for Chicago and Texas’ Fil-Am communities to raise funds for the Carmelite nuns of the Holy Trinity in Ligao City in Bicol (headed by Rev. Mother Superior Ma. Trinidad Bunac and Sister Nanette Mendones). John said he always gets support in his charitable endeavors from Good Samaritans like the Fil-Am couple Rea and Alex Tapia, who organized his Houston concert at Westchase Marriott Hotel last Sept. 21.

Briefly noted

Congratulations to Ronnie Liang whose sophomore album May Minamahal (on Viva Records) has turned gold. Said Ronnie, “I would like to thank my Viva Family, especially Ma’am Veronique (del Rosario-Corpus) and Boss Vic (del Rosario Jr.) for the many opportunities they have opened for me. And also to my sponsors like Joel Cruz Signatures, Calayan and Gold’s Gym.” Ronnie is now shooting his launching film, Object Of Desire, directed by Elwood Perez, in which he will go semi-sexy. He’s also having shows in the US: Oct. 11 (with Cristine Reyes) at the Pacific Beach Hotel in Honolulu, Hawaii; Oct. 12 at Baldwin Theater in Maui, Hawaii; and Oct. 13 at the Kauai Community Center, also in Hawaii.

The Gerardo de Leon classic Sanda Wong, starring Danilo Montes and Lilia Dizon, will have a special screening on Saturday, Oct. 12, 4 p.m. at the CCP’s Tanghalang Manuel Conde. The public is invited.

(E-mail reactions at [email protected]. You may also send your questions to [email protected]. For more updates, photos and videos visit www.philstar.com/funfare or follow me on www.twitter/therealrickylo.)