BIANCA King’s new show, “Broken Vow,” will start airing this Monday, February 6, and she’ll have her graduation from her college course majoring in filmmaking at St. Benilde on February 11. “So this coming week will be big and exciting for me,” she says.

How does she feel about it? “It’s so nice to work na hindi mo na pinoproblema going to school. Now I can focus 100% on my acting, lalo na ngayon, sobrang hirap ng role ko in ‘Broken Vow’ as a provincial lass about to marry a councilor, Gabby Eigenmann, from a rich family. His mom, Carmi Martin, is against me kasi poor lang ako. Before our wedding, I was abducted and raped. Ni hindi ko nakita kung sino nang-rape sa ’kin. I get pregnant and on the day of our wedding, iniwanan ako ni Gabby sa harap ng altar.”

How was the rape scene? “Very emotional. Iyak ako nang iyak. After that, hindi ko matanggap that my fiancé rejected me so I tried committing suicide by jumping off the bridge sa Apalit River. Pagbagsak ko sa ilog, ang dumi-dumi ng tubig, may mga basura. Nakainom pa yata ako ng tubig. But before I drown, a man sees me and rescues me, si Luis Alandy. We fall in love and he marries me, kaso bumalik naman sa akin si Gabby. The story has many twists and turns and I’m sure afternoon viewers will follow it.”

Abduction, rape, suicide in an afternoon soap? Isn’t this adult stuff more fit for evening viewing? “We’ve been having edgy afternoon dramas now in ‘Sinner or Saint’, ‘My Lover My Wife’ and ‘Kung Aagawin Mo ang Langit’ and viewers like them so they rate very well,” says program manager Hazel Abonita. “We go for tasteful treatment naman of the material so even if the story is quite dark, wala kaming nagiging problema.”

CARMI ADMITS BEING CHOOSY

CARMI Martin plays Gabby Eigenmann’s authoritarian mom in “Broken Vow,” with Juan Rodrigo as her husband. “Love team kami kasi mag-asawa rin kami before in ‘Beauty Queen’ and now, also in ‘Pepito Manaloto’,” she says.

She’s happy she can do soaps with GMA7 and movies with ABS-CBN. “Last year, I played Jake Cuenca’s mom in ‘In the Name of Love’ sa Star Cinema, also Cristine Reyes’ mom in ‘No Other Woman.’ Now, I play Kim Chiu’s mom naman in ‘The Healing,’ which stars Gov. Vilma Santos.”

She never thought her lines about Quiapo, Lucy Torres and Gretchen Barretto in “No Other Woman” will be such a hit. “When we were shooting it, parang wala lang. Sabi ko, baklang-bakla naman ang lines ko. But when they showed it na, super grabe ang feedback and ginagaya ako ng mga tao. Even Lucy Torres herself texted me and said people were applauding my scenes when she saw it sa moviehouse.”

So how is it working with Gov. Vi? “I was so tense bago kami nagkaharap sa shooting. We worked na together about 30 years ago in ‘Ayaw Kong Maging Kerida’ with Romeo Vasquez, shot in the U.S. Ngayon lang kami uli nagkaharap and I wasn’t sure if she knew me. Pero napakabait niya. Suportahan kami sa aming eksena.”

How come she remains single? “I don’t know. Sabi nila, pihikan siguro ako. Eh, dapat lang naman, di ba? You’re choosing a partner for life, so dapat lang, ka-vibes ko, have a deep faith in God like me, at dapat, mas mayaman naman sa akin.”

RICO PERFORMS ON BIRTHDAY

RICO Puno was born on February 14, 1953 (just like Heart Evangelista born on Feb. 14, 1985, John Prats on Feb. 14, 1984 and Kris Aquino on Feb. 14, 1971), so he’d be celebrating his birthday right during his Valentine concert at the Newport Performing Arts Theatre at Resorts World. He started as a folk singer in small joints before gaining fame in 1974 singing the “namamasyal pa sa Luneta” version of “The Way We Were.” He pioneered in promoting OPM with such original hits as “Lupa,” “May Bukas Pa” and “Kapalaran” and is also a former Makati councilor.  He starred in movies like “Bawal na Pag-ibig” with Alma Moreno and “Silang mga Mukhang Pera” with Nora Aunor.

Known as the Total Entertainer, his concerts are a mixture of great singing and bawdy jokes, so if you want romance and laughter on the day of hearts, don’t miss his ‘The Best of Rico J. Puno: A Valentine Concert,”  produced by Viva Concerts and Events with ABS-CBN, Manila Bulletin, Business World, People’s Journal and Philippine Star as media partners. His guests are Vernie Varga and the sexy Katya Santos. Tickets ranging from P3,000 to P4,000 are now available at Ticketworld 891-9999 and Resorts World.

IMEE CALLS FOR INDIES

ILOCOS Norte Gov. Imee Marcos is very proud that the indie film she produced, “PintaKasi,” won as best picture in the recent Metro-Manila Filmfest’s new wave category, with its lead, JM de Guzman, bagging the best actor award. It will now have its theatrical run on Feb.  8 in SM Cinemas at Megamall, Mall of Asia, Fairview, Marikina, North EDSA, Cebu and Iloilo and on Feb. 29 in SM Baguio, SM Davao and SM Batangas. We’ve seen the film and  certainly offers something very different from the usual local movie fare. A mixture of live action and animation, the original hiphop music and dances will surely appeal to the young crowd, with John Wayne Sace and Erich Gonzales playing the lead roles, along with JM.

Once very active with the Experimental Cinema of the Philippines that produced classics like “Himala” and “Oro Plata Mata,” Imee now wants to help the local independent film industry. “I think we have to have alternate venues like digital theatres for indie films kasi di sila basta ma-distribute sa regular cinemas. It’d also help kung merong festival for all indie films, like yung Sundance sa America. I’m willing to offer Ilocos Norte na may exotic sand dunes so puwede nating tawaging Sun-Dunes Filmfest naman.”

She’s financing two new movies, one is “Lam-ang,”  based on the Ilokano epic “Biag ni Lam-ang,” and a road trip film showing the beautiful scenic spots of Ilocos directed by Cannes filmfest best director Dante Mendoza. She also set up a location management group that will help film and TV companies that want to shoot in Ilocos. “We’ll give them incentives, like discounts sa hotel accommodations, transportation, catering and use of locations. Gusto ko makatulong not only sa film companies but also sa mga kababayan ko na mabibigyan ng trabaho roon and also give exposure to Ilocos to attract more foreign and domestic tourists.”

AN ANIMAL LOVER INSIDE A SLAUGHTERHOUSE

CHERIE Mercado goes inside Manila’s biggest “matadero” or slaughterhouse on TV5 and Aksyon TV. It’s a big challenge for her to investigate where our steaks and chops come from. “I knew what to expect from this assignment but it still did not come up to what it was actually like. In the slaughterhouse, you hear hundreds of pigs wailing all at the same time,” she says. “I'm an animal lover and I feel guilty of not doing more to protect animals.  But I have to view it from the perspective of the butchers—the blood in their hands translates to earnings to feed their families. It’s all a day's work for the matanseros we met.”  

Don’t miss Cherie’s “Insider” take on the life inside the slaughterhouse this Thursday (February 2) 10:15 p.m. after “P.S. I Love You” on TV5. There is also a one-hour Producer’s Cut at  an earlier timeslot, 7:30 p.m. on Aksyon TV (Channel 41 in Mega Manila, Channel 29 in Metro Cebu and Davao, Channel 1 on Cignal Digital TV and Channel 59 on Sky Cable).

CONTRABAND: TOO LONG TO KICK ASS

A REMAKE of “Reykjavik-Rotterdam,” a film from Iceland starring Baltasar Kormakur who now directs the U.S. version, “Contraband” stars Mark Wahlberg as Chris Farraday, a former New Orleans smuggler who reformed his life for the sake of his wife Kate (Kate Beckinsdale, in a non-action star mode here) and their two children. There are some opportunities for him to make more money by going back to a life of crime, but he remains steadfast in his decision to go straight and has his own home security business.

His brother in law, Andy (Caleb Landry Jones), remains to be a smuggler. While in danger of being arrested by the U.S. Customs, he dumped the cargo of illegal drugs on his ship into the sea. The drug dealer, Briggs (Giovanni Ribisi), who has a speech problem, then insists on getting the money intended for the loot. If Andy won’t pay him, then he’ll take revenge on Chris and Kate.

To help Andy, Chris and his friend, Sebastian (Ben Foster), travel to Panama from their home in New Orleans on board a ship that his convict dad used to be connected with. His aim is to get some counterfeit dollars to pay for the lost drug money and he’s forced to deal with a loony Panamanian gangster, Gonzalo (Diego Luna). Meanwhile, Briggs and his men start to terrorize his family.

The movie is a fairly decent action vehicle (the gunfight in Panama is the best sequence) with plenty of violence and some touches of humor but very few surprises. It’s quite too long, though, and often lacks energy. As the hero, Wahlberg gives his usual low-key performance with his own charisma. The scene-stealing Foster and Ribisi chew the scenery but Kate is wasted in a deglamourized role after her ass-kicking Selene in “Underworld Awakening.” Truth to tell, you’ve seen this material before in “Gone in 60 Seconds.”