Mother Lily is first Power broker featured in 'Most Influential'

MOTHER LILY MONTEVERDE was the first guest in the new segment of “Showbiz Central” called Most Influential, which focuses on power brokers in local showbiz. After 50 years in the business, Mother Lily’s Regal Entertainment remains very active in producing films and now, she’s also back producing TV shows for TV5, starting with the revival of her hit “Regal Shockers”. Host John Lapus asked her if she has always wanted to be a producer? “Dream ko talaga, kasi I’m a movie fan,” she says. “At first, my dream was to be a movie star, but when I looked at the mirror, feeling ko, hindi naman ako maganda.”

She and her husband started their business in the 60s when they re-issued the Hollywood tearjerker, “All Mine to Give”, and it became a big hit. After that, she started producing local films. She introduced her first batch of Regal Babies in 1980 with Maricel Soriano, Snooky Serna and Dina Bonnevie in “Underage”, a blockbuster. Is it true she made her sexy stars wore her so-called Magic Kamison for good luck? “Yes, it’s the kamison I wore on my honeymoon night and it worked. The first one to wear it was Alma Moreno.”

Did she feel insecure when Viva Films became their foremost rival? “Yes, because they have Sharon Cuneta. When ‘Sister Stella L’ was shown, they had Sharon’s ‘Bituin Walang Ningning’ against us at natalo kami ni Ate Vi. We felt sad.”

Mother Lily made a mistake here because the Sharon movie that trounced “Sister Stella L” then was “Bukas Luluhod ang mga Tala” in 1984. “Sister Stella” was vindicated when it won several awards later, including best picture and best actress for Ate Vi.

Did she really buy Nora Aunor’s house in Valencia St.? She said yes. There was a wishing well inside the patio and she wished she’d acquire the house sometime. Nora did sell it to her later and it became the Regal office. But there’s another story behind it that she didn’t tell on TV. Actually, she went to Ate Guy then to request her to continue shooting the film she was then making for Regal. Ate Guy made her wait and wait for almost the whole day. She was so annoyed she told herself, “Bibilhin ko itong bahay na ito.” And she did.

Mother Lily has seen stars come and go. She’s now optimistic Lovi Poe will be a big star. Lovi’s films this year (“Valentine Girls”, “Temptation Island”, “My Neighbor’s Wife”, all with various co-stars) did well at the box office, so she’s ripe to be launch to solo stardom in the Halloween presentation, “Aswang”. “Magaling siya,” says Mother Lily. “She’s not only sexy but can also act well. At magaling din ang director nito, si Jerrold Tarrog, whose ‘Funeraria’ episode in last year’s ‘Shake, Rattle and Roll 12’ won awards. It’s so scary, pero may pagka-sexy rin. Viewers will surely be pleased.”