ALESSANDRA De Rossi left yesterday with Director Aureus Solito for the Cannes Filmfest in France where their movie, “Busong (Palawan Fate)” is an entry in the Directors Fortnight.

“I’m excited,” she told  us at the presscon held the day before their departure. “I’ve attended other international festivals before, like the Valladolid filmfest in Spain for  ‘Azucena’, the Toronto filmfest for ‘Hubog’ and ‘Munting Tinig’, but this is the biggest one so far. I’d like to thank L.A. designer Oliver Tolentino for making four gowns for me for free. One, a beautiful green pinya gown, is for the gala night at La Croisette on Monday, May 16, na rarampa ako sa red carpet. The other two are for the second screening on Tuesday at Cinema Les Arcade and the presscon Q&A also on Monday, and the fourth one is pang-reserba.”

“Busong” was filmed on location in Palawan, Solito’s home province, last January. “It’s divided into three segments: Forest, Sea, Mountain,” says Solito. “Alex’s character, Punay, is the common factor in all of them and she represents Palawan. She’s born with wounds from head to foot.”

“It takes four hours to apply the prosthetic makeup on me for the wounds,” says Alex. “I have wounds even on my feet so I can’t walk and they have to carry me on a hammock while we’re looking for a shaman who’d help cure me. In the course of the film, habang gumagaling ang mga sugat, paganda naman ako ng paganda. The film has minimal dialogue and the lines I deliver are in the original Palawanon dialect. Most of my co-stars are Palawan natives, except for Hollywood actor Clifford Banagale who was in Sacha Cohen’s ‘Bruno’. He plays a balikbayan who goes to Palawan looking for his roots and we meet at the end. I fell in love with Palawan while shooting there. Iba-ibang klase ang beaches nila, may white sand, may bato, may puro shells. I enjoyed working with Direk as he explains everything before a take, pati background ng eksena at kailan ang bagsak ng luha ko. Lahat, take one.”

“Alex is brilliant,” says Solito. “It’s uncanny because all her scenes, she did it exactly the way I envisioned it while writing the script. We have a psychic link. The film is really about karma and I hope it’ll serve as a warning for Palawenos. Our land is in great danger now and I hope we’ll protect it para hindi dumating sa amin ang busong or karma.”

How is Alex preparing for the Q&A with the international press? “Pina-practice ako ni Assunta ng possible questions sa’kin at tawa kami nang tawa. Sample: What are the highlights of the film? Sagot ko, every scene where you see my face, that is a highlight. When I taped ‘Green Rose’ in Korea, ginawa akong Diyosa ng mga lalaki roon. Siguro naman, ganun din ang magiging effect ko sa mga taga-Cannes,” laughs Alex who never takes things seriously.

NEW FACES, OLD SERIES

TV5 introduces five new heartthrobs in “Bagets, Just Got Lucky,”  a re-imagining of the hit 1984 youth flick that starred Aga Muhlach, William Martinez, JC Bonnin, Raymond Lauchengco, and now QC Mayor Herbert Bautista.

This time, the teen boys introduced in the show that’s now directed by Mark Reyes (of “TGIS”) are AJ Muhlach (Aga’s half brother) as Ace and Aki Torio as Hero (they’re both from the boy band XLR8), Josh Padilla (son of Gino Padilla who everyone thinks looks better than his dad) as Jules, Rico de la Paz (from Star Factor) as JC and Yohan Laurence (discovered in recent auditions) as Santi. Their leading ladies are Eula Caballero as Tara, Nadine Ilustre and Shey of Pop Girls as George and Gail, and Meg Imperial as Liezl.

The parents are played by Bernadette Allison, Biboy Ramirez, Almira Muhlach and Cheska Inigo (Cheska was in “Bagets 2”). The only member of the first “Bagets” flick who’s in the TV remake is Raymond Lauchengco playing his original role there, Arnel, who is now the teacher of the second generation Bagets boys. Three other teen boys will be introduced as the bullies who play villains to the Bagets boys and three other teen girls as Mean Girls.

GET SOME HAIR

WE’RE just wondering why the likes of Pres. Noynoy Aquino and Prince William of England allow themselves to go bald in this day and age when there are so many clinics to help them treat hair loss. Prince William was even kidded by his own dad, Prince Charles, during his wedding reception, making fun of the bald spot on his pate when he’s only 29 years old. We know of a movie reporter who  had  hair transplant and now he has a thriving head of hair. If the reporter can do it, we don’t see why such rich and moneyed people like Noynoy and Prince William can’t do it for themselves. They’re public figures who will certainly look much better if they’d have a full head of hair than when they’re shown with thinning mane.

CHRISTOPHER HAPPY TO BE BAD

CHRISTOPHER De Leon is having a grand time playing chief villain Nero in “Captain Barbell.” “Iba ang challenge ng role ko as the leader of the bad guys as I want to demolish the indestructible Liga ng Kalayaan  headed by Richard Gutierrez. I start to do this by targeting the weaker members of the Liga,” he says. “Our group abducts Hekki (Marky Lopez) and Janna (Solenn Heussaff) to serve as bait for Captain Barbell, while Anino (Mike Tan) agrees to help exterminate the ever-growing power of the Liga even if his own sister Blade Girl (Bea Binene) is a part of it.”

This week also introduces guest stars Jennylyn Mercado as Rose and Dino Guevarra as Dan, a wealthy couple who want to adopt Lelay (Jillian Ward) for their own evil motives. Captain Barbell thus faces a difficult situation: choosing to save the world or to keep Lelay, the only family he has.

HOW GLORIA FORGAVE LATE HUSBAND

GLORIA Romero was visibly touched by the tribute given to her by “Showbiz Central” when she guested last Sunday to promote her first show with GMA7, “Munting Heredera.”  She cried after watching the audio-visual presentation featuring former Sampaguita Pictures colleagues like Daisy Romualdez, Bella Flores, Liberty Ilagan, and Kuya Germs as well as other celebs like Boots Anson Roa, Pilita Corrales, Mother Ricky Reyes and Ricky Lo who all praised her  for maintaining a good and clean image in the 60 years that she’s been in showbiz.

But the best paeans came from her daughter Maritess Gutierrez and her grandson Christopher. Maritess recalled how her mom forgave her dad, the late Juancho Gutierrez, and took him back to their home to take care of him until he passed. When she got pregnant while in the U.S., her mom asked for a leave of absence from the TV show she was doing then just to be with her until she delivered her son. Christopher called her “the most awesome lola ever.” Truly, Gloria Romero is one of a kind! Bless her!

NEW KID TO WATCH

AFTER his role as Raymart Santiago’s son in the hit “Bantatay,” Renz Valerio now hosts a new children’s show, “My Chubby World,”  that starts airing tomorrow,  at 8:15 a.m. on GMA7. Born on Nov. 15,1998, Renz is the youngest of two kids. His elder sister is now in college while he’ll be a high school freshman this June at St. Claire Antipolo. He started his showbiz career as a TV commercial model then QTV11 got him to play the title role in the soap ‘Noel’ when he was 5. He became a GMA Artist Center talent and appeared in several soaps like “Sugo,” “Darna 1 and 2,”  “Joaquin Bordado,”  and “Muli” that was shot in Malaysia. His co-host in “My Chubby World” are Daniela Amable, Gianna Cutler, and the superkulit 7-year old Zyrael Jestre who now plays Maxene Magalona’s son in “My Lover, My Wife” and is the endorser of the show’s main sponsor Rebisco’s Chubby Candy. In “My Chubby World,” they list down seven things that kids would like to do for the topic they choose each Saturday, like their favorite sports, stor

ies, pets, games, etc. For the first episode tomorrow, they’ll present the top 7 activities that kids love to do during  summer break from school. Show director Don Michael Perez says this will help update kid viewers on the latest and coolest stuffs they can do and also guide their parents on the things or activities that will interest and help energize their kids.