Robin Padilla planning gay film with BB Gandanghari

ROBIN Padilla likes being his wife Mariel’s “baby.”ARNOLD ALMACEN

Actor Robin Padilla, whose contract with home network ABS-CBN expired in October, said he was renewing it soon, especially since the bosses agreed for him to coproduce his own projects.

“I want to keep making action movies, and be given the freedom to work on materials of my choice,” Robin told the Philippine Daily Inquirer during the press con for the movie “Sa Ngalan ng Ama, Ina at ng mga Anak.” He coproduced the film with his wife, actress-host Mariel Rodriguez.

“I’m not getting any younger,” said the 44-year-old actor. “I can no longer work for 28 hours straight. As for TV, I’d like to try father roles. I leave the rom-coms to the younger Padillas.” (Robin appeared in three Kapamilya shows—“Guns and Roses,” “Kailangan Ko’y Ikaw” and “TodaMax”—after signing up in 2011.)

He’d like Mariel to join him in ABS-CBN. She was last seen as host of the defunct game show, “Wil Time Big Time”  on TV5. “I want to see her hosting a show again,” he said. In “Sa Ngalan,” Mariel plays Indang, wife to Robin’s character, Kuratong Baleleng crime boss Ongkoy.

Wedding blues

Robin married Mariel in Muslim rites in 2010. He said she earlier wished for a church wedding so they flew to the Vatican. He recounted, “We were rejected; she was hurt. That shook her faith.”

He wouldn’t mind trying again. “I’m only waiting for Mariel to tell me she’s ready. A church wedding is every woman’s dream.”

Robin admitted, however, that he wasn’t prepared to have a child with Mariel. “I want to be her husband and her baby … I need her more than she needs me. Masyado akong radikal magisip at this point in my life; she keeps me on an even keel.”

Gay film

They are going on a month-long vacation in Stockholm in February. “It’s a religious pilgrimage. I’m planning to produce a film about gay marriage that will star BB (Gandanghari, his gay brother). The project has been stalled twice, so I plan to seek divine intervention. I am looking forward to the signs that I hope God will give us.”

Asked if he was ready to see BB marry another man, Robin replied, “The family thinks of BB as a child. He didn’t grow up as BB, but as Rustom. The progress in our family [dynamics] has to be gradual. ’Wag naman sana niya kami gulatin.”

Combat-ready

Robin said he’d like his son Ali, 12, to become a soldier. “I wanted to be one when I was young,” he explained. “That was why I trained all of my kids in combat (martial arts).”

When his daughter Kylie was hospitalized recently, Robin cancelled all his show biz commitments to spend time with her. “When I learned it was because of migraine, I worried … she bumped her head during  gymnastics [training] many times before. But she just needed rest.”

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