In the middle of the interview, Ricky Lo namedropped Lea Salonga and let Anne aware that she (Lea) is one of his friends. He showed her a text message and added that Lea couldn't wait to watch the movie version of Les Miserable. She was known to have played Eponine and later on, Fantine in the Broadway version, a few years back. This is yet to be one of those examples of Pinoy Pride that Filipinos tries to be associated with celebrities (who have a shared a common ancestry) who made it in the international scene. The star responded positively and elicit her admiration to Lea Salonga. However, Ricky, with a question rooted on Anne's interview from Vogue Magazine and a flattery, had put up an indirect comparison between the two. Fortunately, the actress had made it clear to him that there she and Lea are different, that is, she is an actress while Lea is a singer.
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| Anne Hathaway as Fantine |
Let's set aside the stiff English accent of Ricky Lo, the poor interpersonal communication that Lo tries to cover it up with flattery, the rude and mean response of Anne and other factors. Clearly, the interview was a product of cultural difference between the Philippine showbiz setting and the American Hollywood setting. While in Hollywood, celebrities were asked objectively about the film itself and their character and personal life is considered to be sacred and a privilege; in the local setting, artistas were asked subjectively about the film, their character and to the extent, evading their personal life. It is no wonder that, during a promotion of a film or a TV series in the local scene, I can always read a showbiz headline that goes like this, "May namumuong pagtitinginan kina Celebrity X and Celebrity Y?" (Is there a growing affection between Celebrity X and Celebrity Y?") or like this, "Aamin na ba sa kanilang tutuong estado sina Star A and Star B?" (Will Star A and Star B disclose their personal relationship?) Of course, what answer can I get. "Magkaibigan lang po kami," We're just friends. It looks like that the artist center where they had a contract and their own managers trained them well during their Personality Development and Public Relations 101 for those question that would popped up by those reporters. As usual, reporters would asked the same so as their papers would be sold to the general public and to the fans of the star. Not to mention, promotional purposes. The bottomline is that Ricky might have brought that stigma in his interview to Anne Hathaway and because of that, the actress might have felt that it is unusual, eerie and annoying.
Anyway, to be fair with Ricky Lo and to question this comment "his interview is humiliating to us Filipinos", let me point out that Ricky Lo and his interview doesn't represent the whole 100 million people of the whole 7,107 islands located in Southeast Asia. Objectively, the interview is part of the promotion of the film and whatever happened during that interview is nothing and nothing will ever happen even to us Filipinos. However, people focused more on the outcome, took those blunders and criticize Lo, Hathaway and the interview subjectively. People took the whole thing seriously as if the whole Pinoy Pride will fall and destroys our good image to the foreigners because of Ricky Lo's interview. But truthfully, the interview will not negate our image and doesn't affect us, economically and politically. In fairness to Ricky Lo, during the whole interview, he tried his best and continue doing what he needs to do amidst Anne's response to his questions.
