Marc Leviste (left) and Kris Aquino —CONTRIBUTED PHOTO
So nice of my friend Marc Leviste and his family to send me flowers for Valentine’s Day. When I messaged Marc to thank him, he replied, “May utang pa kaming Christmas gift because I had to keep extending my stay in LA to be with Kris [Aquino] last holiday season. I’m actually back in LA now for her birthday and latest medical condition.”
So, it seems that Kris Aquino and Marc are back together after their nth split-up. Last November, Kris wanted to focus on her health issues so she broke up with Marc. Prior to that, there was a time Kris said she cut off communication with Marc so he could concentrate on his constituents in Batangas where he is vice governor. Their status is quite confusing.
In Tito Boy Abunda’s live Zoom interview with Kris on “Fast Talk with Boy Abunda,” she revealed how precarious her autoimmune condition has become. Since Kris was very close to my late mom (Inday Badiday) and is the ninang of my son IC, I feel for her. Whether Marc is a significant other or just a friend to Kris, hopefully his presence would serve as her panacea.
Takeaway from celebrity breakups
There seems to be a love curse in the biz with all the breakups of celebrity couples lately. Pack up, change casting. As an insider, let me share my takeaway from the estrangement madness. That even if KathNiel, KimXi, Bea Alonzo and Dominic Roque didn’t have a happy ending, what they had was still a love story. (The alleged split of Richard Gutierrez and Sarah Lahbati or Enrique Gil and Liza Soberano remains a guessing game.)
Love is not love until there is money involved.
Fame could get in the way of the relationship of a couple, even if they insist that there is no professional rivalry.
Perhaps it’s more ideal for an actor to fall for someone who’s not in the biz so he/she can keep him/her grounded.
The love anthem “Maging Sino Ka Man” does not hold true all the time.
Full emotional investment and full financial investment do not always come in one package.
As my mom used to say, “Mag-ingat sa taong ‘di mo kilala, pero lalong mag-ingat sa taong kilala mo na.”
Since they are under public scrutiny, internal problems of celebrity couples are aggravated by external factors.
Staying faithful in the biz, where temptation lurks at every corner, is quite a tricky thing.
Azi Acosta —VIVAMAX
Cosplaying friends with benefits
We cannot change people. We can only unmask them. That could very well be the tagline of “Pantasya ni Tami” (now streaming on Vivamax). It’s about a love triangle in the intriguing world of cosplay. Topbilled by Azi Acosta, Jiad Arroyo and Ali Asistio, it’s directed by Topel Lee and Easy Ferrer.
Tami’s (Azi) antidote to her loneliness is cosplaying. To maintain her costly hobby, Tami heeds the advice of Ken (Jiad), a fellow cosplayer and photographer, to sell gravure photos of herself. Eventually, they become friends with benefits. Then, she meets one of her fans, Gelo (Ali), and they fall for each other. And Tami finds herself torn between lust and love. Will it be game over for the cosplayer?
Here are quotes from Azi (A) and Easy (E):
A: A “friends with benefits” setup is a no-no for me. Making love is not the same as just having sex.
E: I’ve always been attracted to the dynamic world of cosplayers. Our film humanizes them. It shows that behind their masks and costumes, they also have needs and struggles.
A: In real life, I will choose a guy like the character Gelo in our movie. That’s because he saw beneath Tami’s physical appearance and accepted her for who she really is beyond her cosplaying.
E: Azi is a child-woman. Beneath her innocence, there’s sultriness. That’s why she’s perfect for the role of a cosplayer. She looks like a Japanese doll.
A: Before I joined show biz, I tried cosplaying. I’m in awe of how passionate cosplayers are. They really invest in their costumes and keep reinventing themselves.
E: It was a challenge to continue what Topel started. I had to align with his vision and also incorporate my own. It was not easy shooting the love scenes of actors who were in heavy costumes. Not to mention the fight scenes à la anime.