AS IF CELEBRITY hasn’t threatened to snatch the focus of international champion Manny Pacquiao completely from boxing, his movie producer, Rose Flaminiano, announced last week Pacquiao is starring in two more movies after the release of his ambitious bio-pic.
Pacquiao, thankfully, isn’t playing himself in the big-budget, all-star cast production entitled ‘Pacquiao The Movie’. Playing the role is screen idol Jericho Rosales, who’s better known as a romantic lead in light, romantic dramas.
Flaminiano, producing under the banner of her own FLT Productions in cooperation with Star Cinema, said she has signed up the boxing champ to two motion pictures. The first will be called Super Pacman, an action-fantasy, while another will be a team-up with Vic Sotto in another edition of the successful franchise, Enteng Kabisote.
Pacquiao’s last film, Lisensyadong Kamao, where he played the title role, was a flop. Unlike in boxing, he has not had a lucky streak in the movies. It is much different in the arena of advertising where Pacquiao is currently considered a hot draw.
The boxer, who has grown handsomer with good make-up (makeover?) and the right lighting, is starring in one commercial after another, from hamburger to beer. The spotlight has panned even to his wife and two sons.
Pacquiao The Movie reveals otherwise unheard of details in the life of Manny, who in his youth sold donuts on the streets of his hometown, Gen. Santos City. Joel Lamangan, who directed the picture, says he’s presenting all the sides there is to the man.
‘ I’m not doing a film about a statue,’ he said.
Pacquiao The Movie opens June 21 on the eve of his fight with Oscar Larios in the United States. It boasts a formidable cast composed of Bea Alonzo, Jay Manalo, Polo Ravales, Tirso Cruz III, Jaclyn Jose, Zoren Legaspi, Bayani Agbayani, Jiro Manio.
