He now gives another standout performance as a lawyer who handles annulment cases in Jay Altarejos’ Cinemalaya entry, “Kasal”. He is in a relationship with Oliver Aquino (the former child actor Mhyco Aquino of Anime, now 23 years old), but he is in the closet and Oliver is annoyed because he hides their relationship.
“Things come to a head when we attend the wedding of my younger sister, Chloe Carpio, in the province to Ron Cieno (real life brother of Coco Martin),” says Arnold. “Doon na lumabas yung personal issues namin kasi nagagalit siya dahil hindi ko maamin sa friends and relatives ko na he’s my lover, not just my bro or katropa. Ako naman nagseselos kasi he has become unfaithful once.”
Didn’t he hesitate in accepting the role considering he’s the third choice? The first was Polo Ravales, then Mike Liwag, both of whom have already shot for the movie then backed out due to the nude love scene.
“When they sent me the script, under pressure na sila kasi malapit na ang deadline ng movie. After reading it, nagustuhan ko agad ang role ng Sherwin, the lawyer, and I said yes agad. Okay lang sa’kin to do the love scene where we’re both in the nude. I haven’t met Oliver at all but saludo ako sa kanya because he stayed with the project kahit umalis na yung two previous actors. He has to reshoot with me all the scenes that they’ve done before. Also, all the scenes na nag-aaway kami, it’s improvisation lang, very organic, called found scenes, kasi bahala kami kunsaan pupunta ang eksena. In one scene, nagkapisikalan kami talaga, nauwi sa suntukan. In another scene sa public na nag-aaway kami, some people really thought totoo yun at may security guard pa who intervened.”
Last year, aside from “Twinkle”, Arnold did several indie films: “Kuwento ni Mabuti” with Ate Guy, “The Liars” with Alex de Rossi and “Sitio” with John Prats. He also does mainstream movies (he’s currently in “She’s Dating the Gangster” as Kathryn Bernardo’s dad) and teleseryes (“Guns and Roses”, “Reputasyon”). He won the Cinemalaya 2009 best supporting actor award for “Astig”. Who knows? He might just bag another trophy this year. Our best wishes.
