Bea Alonzo paid for own costume, her team’s accommodation during ‘1521’ filming—staff

Bea Alonzo. Image: screengrab from Facebook/1521 The Movie

A staff of Bea Alonzo disclosed to Ogie Diaz that the actress is apparently disinclined to promote her upcoming movie “1521” due allegedly to disappointing experiences she had—including providing her own costume and paying for her team’s hotel accommodation—while filming the project in Palawan.

Diaz pointed out in an earlier vlog how netizens were apparently asking why Alonzo has not been promoting her film despite its nearing release. Diaz further noted that there have been speculations of misunderstanding between the actress and the film producer, United States-based Francis B. Lara Ho of Inspire Studios.

A staff of the actress, whom Diaz opted not to name, then reached out to the comedian-talent manager to address the matter.

“Meron pong nag-react mula sa staff ni Bea Alonzo, sa team Bea. Ang sabi niya ay hinding-hindi raw makakalimutan ni Bea Alonzo ang ‘1521’ dahil dito siya sa pelikulang ito nakaranas ng kakaiba—ng parang hindi niya naranasan sa ibang production outfit,” Diaz said on his YouTube vlog on Wednesday, Sept. 27.

(Someone from Bea’s staff has spoken up. According to the staff member, “1521” is an unforgettable movie for the actress because this is where she experienced circumstances that she had never experienced before with other production outfits.)

“‘Yung hotel room ni Bea mismo ay sinagot ng producer pero ‘yung hotel room ng kanyang team ay hindi sinagot so ang sumagot ay si Bea,” Diaz said, adding that the bathrooms only had dippers and no showers. “Tapos tsaka lang daw nagkaroon ng [air-conditioned] tent nung ilang araw na lang bago matapos ang pelikula at nasa gubat pa sila.”

(The producer only paid for Bea’s hotel room during the filming, so she had to pay for the accommodation of her team. And the production team accordingly provided an air-conditioned tent only a few days before the filming wrapped up, when they were in the middle of the forest.)

The actress’ staff further revealed that the movie director, Michael Barder, suffered from an injury because of the “unsafe” path to the filming location; and that the talents—who were allegedly not given compensation—were also injured after using real bolos in their scenes.

The source claimed as well that there were no transportation services provided to the talents, so they had to walk from the filming location to the hotel they were staying in.

“‘Yung costume ni Bea siya pa ang nagpagawa,” Diaz continued. “Sinabi pa raw ng producer sa ibang talents na, ‘Uy, mag-talent kayo dyan ha. Walang bayad pero magkakaroon kayo ng chance magpapicture kay Bea.'”

(Bea provided her own costume… The producer even told some of the talents, “Be part of our film. You will not be paid, but you will have the chance to take a photo with Bea.”)

“‘Yung mga ilaw, cameras, etc. ay provided lang ng director at ‘yung mga ilaw na ginamit ay puchu-puchu, mahihinang klase daw at parang hindi pang-shooting,” he added. “Kahit daw tubig walang mainom ‘yung talents. Si Bea pa raw ang nagpameryenda at nagpatubig.”

(The lights, cameras, etc., were only provided by the director. The lights were cheap, low-quality and were not meant for filming. The talents did not even have water to drink. Bea was the one who provided them snacks and drinks.)

Diaz added that he had spoken to the producer of “1521” and was told that the actress was not obliged to promote the film as it is not stated on her contract. 

“Sabi ng staff ni Bea, hindi naramdaman ni Bea na bida siya [sa pelikulang ito] at pangalawa, naaawa si Bea sa mga tauhan. ‘Yung iba hindi pa bayad kaya ang laki rin daw ng iniluwal na pera ni Bea,” Diaz said. “Kaya raw nag-yes si Bea [sa project] ay dahil marami raw pangako ‘yung producer na hindi naman daw natupad.”

(According to Bea’s staff, she did not feel like a lead cast in this film. She also felt sorry for the talents. Some of them did not get paid, so Bea had to shell out a huge amount of money. Bea said yes to this project because of the producer’s promises, which were not kept.)

Alonzo has yet to publicly comment on the matter as of this writing.

“1521,” set to hit US theaters on Oct. 2, also stars Hollywood actor Danny Trejo, Michael Copon, Hector David Jr., Costas Mandylor and Maricel Laxa, among others. The film’s trailer also received backlash in June due to “historical inaccuracies.”  /ra