Maricel Soriano returns to broad comedy in reunion project with Eugene Domingo

Maricel Soriano and Eugene Domingo.

One of the original queens of comedy is back, and no one could be happier than one of the reigning royalties in the genre.

Maricel Soriano returns to the big screen next Wednesday with Viva Films and Star Cinema’s warring mothers laughfest “Momzillas.” It’s the veteran actress’ first film in two years, after the 2011 melodrama “Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow”.

More importantly it’s her first comedy in almost a decade. But even her last ribtickler, 2004′s light “I Will Survive,” doesn’t come close to the hilarity (and insanity) in the new movie from blockbuster comedy director Wenn Deramas.

One would have to go back to Maricel’s classics with the late director Chaning Carlos in the 1980s to find anything similar to the slapstick fare of “Momzillas.”

“Ang tagal-tagal niyang nag-stay sa drama sa TV at pelikula,” notes

“Momzilla” co-star Eugene Domingo. “Kaya napaka-refreshing na makita siya ulit sa comedy.”

Maricel says that she was excited and nervous at the same time going into production for the movie. She was looking forward to working again with Eugene whom she worked with for the first time in 2007. In the Metro Manila Film Festival dramedy “Bahay Kubo”, Eugene provided the laughs in a supporting role to Maricel’s dramatic embattled wife and mother lead role. But she was also anxious to be working for the first time with everybody else, especially Direk Wenn.

“Nandun ‘yung worries and concerns nung una,” the multi-awarded actress admits. “Siyempre hindi ko pa sila nakakatrabaho. Tapos first comedy ko pa in a long, long time.”

To her surprise, she found out almost instantly upon the start of the movie shoot that she had nothing to worry about. Everybody was very nice, from the other stars down to the staff and crew, that she enjoyed filming the movie from the get-go.

“I was always looking forward to the next shooting day,” she says. “Kaya nga lagi akong maaga sa set.” In fact, Eugene notes, there were days when Maricel was on the set earlier than some of the crew members.

And it never felt like work for the “Diamond Star”. “‘Di ba nga kaya tinatawag na trabaho kasi pinagtatrabahuhan at pinagpapaguran mo talaga? Ito hindi. Ni minsan hindi ko naramdaman na napagod ako kasi ang saya-saya lang namin sa set.”

That’s really saying much especially considering that Maricel and Eugene had to do the kind of outsize, fantastical, “papunta nang cartoons” (as Eugene describes it) physical comedy that they hadn’t done in a while. In Eugene’s case, the last time was last year for the “Kimmy Dora” sequel and in Maricel’s it was perhaps 1998′s action-romance-comedy “Tulak ng Bibig, Kabig ng Dibdib”.

In the film, Maricel and Eugene play the mothers of a young engaged couple (played by Billy Crawford and Andi Eigenmann). They start sparring and locking horns (and other body parts) from the time their children introduce them to each other during the traditional pamamanhikan. Turns out the two women have a shared bitter history together. They shared the same guy unknowingly when they were still single ladies.

This couldn’t be further from real life. The two actresses became very very good friends in the course of the production of the movie. “Mas naging close pa kami (than before),” notes Eugene, whom Maricel fondly calls Junior. “Parang permanente na.”

Rivals onscreen, besties offscreen, these “Momzillas” are the new kind of movie queens.

Maricel Soriano returns to broad comedy in reunion project with Eugene Domingo

Source: InterAksyon.com (September 15, 2013 at 11:46AM)

Continue...