NEWSFLASH

GABBY CONCEPCION RETURNING FOR ‘LARAWAN’ FLICK?

Manila, May 3, 2000 The Philippine Star’s Ricky Lo writes today that expat actor Gabby Concepcion could be back in the Philippines to do a movie soon.

Lo says ReynaFilms is eyeing him to play Tony Javier in Larawan, another filmization of Nick Joaquin's classic play Portrait of the Artist as Filipino which has been done and redone in theater. The ReynaFilms project, to be released by Millennium Cinema, will be directed by Carlitos Siguion-Reyna, with Maricel Soriano and Lorna Tolentino initially being cast for the roles of Paula and Candida.

As Ricky Lo notes, Gabby still has a space in local movies which is in dire need of versatile actors like him who can play bida and/or kontrabida with ease.

Gabby, whose exited from Philippine movies after the 1994 Filmfest Scam and his break-up with wife Jenny Syquia, has been on self-imposed "exile" in California where he enjoys a private life as a student (taking up a business course).

But he has not turned his back on showbiz completely, and has accepted offers to sing in concerts starring visiting artists from his homeland, like the recent one in Los Angeles which starred Rosanna Roces and others.

There have been reports that his asking price for a movie role is five million pesos, an amount which very few producers would be willing to shell out for his talent.