Dondon trusts Pauline to be his next big star
VETERAN talent manager Dondon Monteverde has admittedly supported many of his talents from both the entertainment scene and sports. In the latter, he has big name cagers who are very popular.
Last year, Dondon enlisted his only female sports talent, Filipino-American Pauline Lopez, who is also a taekwondo champion both here and abroad.
“We at Virtual Playground, we want to support our talents and their advocacy,” says Dondon. “It’s the first time that we supported an event as big as this one. I’m happy with what we witnessed.”
Pauline’s recent Mapata taekwondo event enjoined students who registered from Makati, Pasay and Taguig.
“Sana magtuluy-tuloy because that Mapata was just Pauline’s first big event,” Dondon adds. “I think she’s envisioning more of this.”
Pauline is actually doing acting workshops now also for her showbiz career. She is slated to venture into the movies.
“She finished her training with a Filipino-American who came for the Buy Bust, 2 series,” Dondon discloses. “Anne Curtis stars in the nine-part series, with Gerald Anderson. Erik Matti will direct. We are targeting end of February to start filming.”
Pauline is also preparing for another movie with the working title, Battle Ready, with Brandon Vera and Monsour del Rosario. They all play new soldiers. The film will be produced by Reality Entertainment.
At the helm is young and promising director Joey de Guzman, who directed the “Rage” episode of the blockbuster horror flick, ‘Shake, Rattle and Roll Extreme.’
Dondon is optimistic about Pauline’s acting venture. “She is showing a lot of promise,” he noted. “When you report on the set, of course, you still have the jitters. She’s working hard on her Tagalog to be more fluent on the language.”
Christian on a roll as film director
AFTER doing more than half a dozen short films and a TV series, Fil-Canadian young director Christian Paolo Lat was spotted by Viva Films through his earlier works and he was offered a chance to direct for Vivamax.
Schooled at the International Academy of Film and Television (IATF) in Cebu, Christian ‘s first full-length film was Ginhawa, that was shown in Cinemalaya in 2022.
Then, Sugar Baby came out and he was readily given a cast for his latest film that makes it easy for the director to start work on his project. That is what Vivamax did for Christian’s newest outing, Dilig.
“They attached the cast already when they offered me the film project,” Christian said. “I’m grateful that they offered me another opportunity like this.
“I worked with these amazing characters. I didn’t have to ask for a better cast. It’s magical when you see a script. Each character suits who they play. That doesn’t happen all the time. That made my job a lot easier and exciting.”
Christian worked with his cast for Dilig before the New Year. “We finished shooting the film a day before New Year,” he says. “We had long hours on the set. When we shot it was even raining because it was December.
“From pre-production, it took about one month to finally finish the film. I appreciate the work ethic of the cast, their hard work and passion towards acting. That made my job as a director easier. I see the passion in their eyes. They’re so young.”
From the time his cast – Dyessa Garcia, Rica Gonzales, Chad Solano, JD Aguas and Archi Adamos – stepped into the set, everybody was ready.
“The magic happens when they start saying their dialogue,” Christian offers. “When they start acting in the way they want to execute the scene. As a director, I’m very flexible. You’re seeing what you wrote on the page but even better. That’s always the very exciting part.”
After Dilig, Christian will do another film for Vivamax. “I’m always writing, so the next one is something to look forward to,” he says. “There’s really more to come.”
