– Maxine a contrabida
MAXINE Medina, Bb. Pilipinas Universe 2016, is now a Kapuso actress. She will play the role of Lorraine, a contravida to Sanya Lopez who plays Melody, and they will be competing for the attention of Gabby Concepcion in GMA-7’s romantic-drama series, “First Yaya”, about the president of the Philippines who falls in love with the lowly governess of his children.
Maxine was part of the show’s lock in taping that just ended last week. After her stint as Miss Universe, Maxine first did some movies like “Beauty in a Bottle” and “Kusina Kings” for Star Cinema, and “Spirit of the Glass 2” for OctoArts Films.
On TV, she did a lot of shows for ABS-CBN, like “Hanggang Saan” with Arjo Atayde, “Ipaglaban Mo”, and “Los Bastardos” where she got into a spitting controversy with another beauty queen actress, Kylie Versoza, who got so carried away in a confrontation scene and really spat on her.
Her last project with ABS-CBN was “Beauty Queen”, which she did with Gloria Diaz and Winwyn Marquez for iWant streaming channel, shown last July yet.
“Wala naman akong contract sa ABS-CBN so I am free to do shows kahit saang channel,” she says.
About her lovelife, Maxine used to be on with actor-model Marx Topacio, but they broke up in 2018 after almost 7 years as they grew apart. “But we parted naman as friends,” she says.
She now has a non-showbiz boyfriend named Timmy Llana, a diving instructor. They’ve been on for more than a year. But Maxine says her career remains to be her priority. “Mas focused talaga ako sa career ko ngayon,” she adds.
Direk Lore snubs Robin: ‘Not him’
DIRECTOR Lore Reyes wants to emphasize that he and the late Peque Gallaga are not directors of the Metro Manila Filmfest entry, “Magikland”, but executive producers. They conceptualized everything but decided to get a younger director who will be fit for the material that is mainly for kids. Their choice is TV commercial director Christian Acuna, who used to be Peque’s student in filmmaking.
They’re very pleased with Direk Christian’s superlative work in the movie. “There were times when Peque and I, nalilimutan naming siya nga pala ang director at nakikialam kami. So we would check ourselves and say sorry to him. Ang P200 million budget nito, siguro, katumbas na ng anim na pelikula.”
He adds the CGI requirements of the film made it very expensive. “For the special effects, we got about 30 computer graphic artists to work on all the visual effects needed in the film. We’re proud to say it has the most CGI effects of all movies done locally. Bagay na bagay rin ito sa Kapaskuhan kasi the story starts on Christmas eve and the whole film happens in one day, on Christmas Day. Fantasy film for kids ito na apat na bata rin ang mga bida, kaya masisiyahan talaga ang mga bata sa panonood nito ngayong Pasko.”
At the movie’s presscon, Lore was asked what can he say about Robin Padilla’s rant against the current entries because his own entry, “Memoirs of a Rebel”, did not make it as an official entry. He said the screening committee’s way of choosing entries remain to be in the “old normal” when we’re now in the “new normal.”
And this is Direk Lore’s statement: “Ang reaction ko lang diyan, sana kung nanggagaling ‘yan sa bunganga ng isang taong nakagawa ng matinong pelikula, maniniwala ako. Not from Robin Padilla, excuse me!”
But what Robin said is not true. If the screening committee adopted the old way of choosing entries, then they would have chosen movies starring the usual top filmfest box office draws like Vice Ganda, Coco Martin and Vic Sotto. But those three stars are all noticeably missing this year. Maybe they really didn’t want to join a festival that is not being shown in theaters but only online.
Robin later relented when Pres. Duterte, who he supports fully as a DDS, expressed his own support for the MMFF this year. Robin later posted: “Kapag nagsalita na ang Pinakapinuno ng mga pinuno ibig sabihin, yun na ang mangyayari at magaganap. Katulad ng salmo ng Pangulo! Mabuhay ang Pelikulang Pilipino! Mabuhay ang talentong Pilipino.”
