Atom Araullo (left) takes up Cherie Gil’s Lavinia challenge.
Cherie Gil said she would like her “Onanay” costar Nora Aunor to be her twelfth “victim” for her Lavinia Arguelles Instagram page.
For her Lavinia challenge, Cherie uploads videos of herself reenacting her iconic scene with Sharon Cuneta from the film “Bituing Walang Ningning.”
This time, Cherie throws water on the faces of “willing” celebrity victims.
“I want to do it to Ate Guy, but I don’t think I have the courage! She had agreed to do it, but it has to be properly planned or there has to be a moment. And we have yet to find time,” she told reporters at a press conference for the GMA 7 soap “Onanay.”
It all started at a friend’s party, she said. And it wasn’t anything serious until she posted a video with Atom Araullo, which turned viral. Before she knew it, other celebs like Bea Alonzo, Ricky Davao, Agot Isidro and Paulo Avelino are volunteering to be the Dorina to her Lavinia.
Paulo Avelino
The goal is to splash water or wine on 100 people, with the last one being Sharon, of course, just to put things into full circle. “But I don’t actively seek them out or force them. Only if they want to,” Cherie said.
Meanwhile, Cherie said it would be a dream come true if the three of them (she, her mother Rosemarie Gil and her daughter, Bianca Rogoff) could star in a movie or a theater production.
Edward Albee’s acclaimed 1991 drama, “Three Tall Women,” which was revived on Broadway this year, seems to be the perfect vehicle, Cherie said, because the play features three female protagonists from three different generations.
“One of the characters is in her 90s, the second one is in her 50s and the youngest is in her 20s. So, I thought, we could do this. I was able to see it and I loved it. We were hoping to do it here this year, but getting the rights was difficult. Casting it will be just as tough,” she said.
Agot Isidro
“It has always been our dream to work together. And we continue to dream about it,” the seasoned thespian added. “But perhaps one day.”
Rosemarie, who was last seen in the 2004 television show “Hiram,” won best actress at the 2018 CineFilipino film fest for her performance in “Delia & Sammy.” And Cherie, who encouraged her mother to take the plunge once more, couldn’t be prouder.
“She was initially quite nervous because she hadn’t been in that place for a while,” she said of Rosemarie, who’s doing an upcoming soap on ABS-CBN. “I was very happy when she won because I felt like I did the right thing. I wanted her to be reminded [of that feeling].”
Her 23-year-old daughter, on the other hand, studied acting at the New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, and is now working on her audition reels.
Is Bianca also planning on taking acting jobs here in the Philippines? “There was a film being shot here—produced by an American—and Bianca was asked to be part of the cast,” said Cherie, whose two boys, Jay 31, and Raphael, 21, are likewise based in New York. “I’m not really encouraging her, but if it happens, it happens. I’m letting my kids spread their wings. And it doesn’t matter where.”
Asked what acting advice she gives her daughter, Cherie quipped that it was actually the other way around.
Ricky Davao
“She teaches me—I’m not joking! After all, she was the one who got into school and learned acting in the most technical and theoretical way. Her style is classical; she studied Shakespeare, Chekhov and the likes,” she pointed out. “She has the jargon, a systematic approach.”
“Sometimes, I would show Bianca my scripts and she would write down notes, and help me zero in on it,” she said of her 23-year-old daughter, with whom she did the 2006 local adaptation of “The Sound of Music.”
“My acting is instinctive so I think we have a nice blend.”