RITA DANIELA got a lot of congratulatory greetings after the press screening of her Metro Manila filmfest entry, “Huling Ulan sa Tag-araw”.
She deserves the acclaim as she really gives a crackerjack performance in the lead role of Luisa, a dancer, singer and pokpok in a club.
By chance, she meets Ken Chan as Luis, a prospective priest who’s currently on leave from his seminary.
Luis makes it his mission to reform her, but falls in love with her in the process. The movie starts as a romcom with Rita giving a rollicking performance as a babaeng bakla who has no inhibitions whatsoever.
But towards the end, the movie takes a sharp turn and becomes an unabashed tearjerker.
“Thanks for all your good words,” she says during the presscon that followed the screening. “I myself, I forgot that I’m part of the movie while I’m watching it. Grabe rin ang iyak ko.
"I didn’t expect the movie to be that good. We shot this on location with Direk Louie Ignacio in Pagsanjan in August of last year. We’re the first local film to shoot during the pandemic.”
The movie is different from any teleserye they’ve made before. “Yung mga hindi namin nagagawa on TV, we did it in this movie. May passionate bed scene kami ni Ken na mahaba and I’m even shown kissing him from his chest, tummy, going down.”
Direk Louie Ignacio butts in at this point.
“Nakakatuwa si Rita kasi she’s very cooperative. Lahat ng pinagawa ko sa kanya, game na game siya. There’s one scene na nakalubog siya sa tubig at hindi makunan ng kamera yung cleavage niya.
"Sabi niya, no problem, direk, at biglang hinubad niya agad ang suot niyang blouse. Ganun siya ka-daring dito.”
So how did she feel while doing the sizzling love scene with Ken?
“How did I feel? E di masarap! Aarte pa ba naman ako? E Ken Chan yan, o, ang guwapo-guwapo. Actually, there was a time when I gave up showbiz at bumalik ako sa school.
"Nung kinukuha uli ako ng GMA, I prayed to God. Sabi ko, bigyan Nyo po sana ako ng tamang tao na makakasama ko. O, si Ken ang ibinigay.
"So kundi naman siya ang ka-love scene ko, huwag na lang. Kaya I really want to honor him. I don’t think magagampanan ko ito effectively kung hindi siya ang kapareha ko.
"Thank you for everything, kasi hindi naman magte-take off ang career ko without our love team na nagsimula sa ‘My Special Tatay’.”
The movie is produced by Harlene Bautista’s Heaven’s Best Productions.
“We kept on asking Ms. Harlene as to when it will be shown but movie houses are close so we’re not sure kung maipapalabas pa nga ang movie namin,” adds Rita.
“There was talk na ipapalabas na lang daw online, but sayang naman kasi it’s really meant for the big screen. Then dumating itong Metro-Manila Filmfest and they entered it. We were all rejoicing when we qualified as one of the official entries. Ito pala ang plan ni Lord para sa amin.”
Some folks are saying she has a good chance of winning the Metro filmfest best actress award.
“Naku, hindi ko iniisip yun. To begin with, we haven’t even seen the other entries. I’m sure magagaling din yung iba. The fact na nakagawa kami ng magandang movie na napasama sa filmfest, big blessing na yun for me.
"I just leave it all up to the Lord kung bibigyan pa Niya ako ng additional blessing. Pero ang mas gusto kong blessing, sana panoorin ng mga tao sa sinehan ang ‘Huling Ulan sa Tag-araw’ when it opens in theaters on Christmas Day.”
