fter flying in high in Mulawin , Richard Gutierrez, GMA's Golden Boy, kicks back with Sugo .

Year 2005 is turning to be as busy as 2004 as far as Richard's career is concerned. His launching soap Mulawin in which he essayed the role of Aguiluz could be considered as the turning point of his fruitful career. The fantasy soap about the myth of winged men became the first GMA's soap to win in the primetime rating grace, propelling the network to the number one position in the television industry today.

NEW PASSION

RICHARD in his Mulawin leading lady, Angel Locsin , close the year with the Metro Manila Film Festival 2004 entry Sigaw and opened 2005 with the biggest blockbuster of the year, so far, GMA Films' Let The Love Begin .'

After Mulawin ended, the highest paid teen star in television today had a month-long vacation before resuming to his original 24/7 work grind.

Last May, Richard and friend Brian Revilla produced a two-day car affair, Hot Summer Nights , at the Promenade Walk in the Roxas Boulevard grounds. It was his first project as a producer and is planning to enter the recording scene too, not as a singer but as producer for his younger brother Ritchie Paul Gutierrez 's debut album.

“Before, when I was in high school, I raced on the streets. We hear so many things about the dangers of drag racing, so we tied up with the Philippine Drag Racing Federation to make sure everything is safe and legal,” says Richard about his new passion.

“It was always my dream to organize events, so my brothers and I thought of organizing something for the youth. Finally, now that I have the time, I am making the most of it. I've always wanted to do something outside acting to prove that I am not just a guy who comes from a showbiz clan.”

NEW SOAP

JUST recently, GMA started airing Richard's follow-up soap after Mulawin , the action saga Sugo . Directed by Dominic Zapata and Lore Reyes , Richard co-stars with Ms. Lorna Tolentino , Paolo Contis , JC De Vera , Richard Quann , among others.

Richard has three leading ladies in Sugo : Taiwanese actress Jo Chen , who appeared in several Chinovelass aired on GMA, including Twin Sisters ; newcomer Isabel Oli , Piolo Pascual 's leading lady in the Max's commercial; and Richard's former love team, Chynna Ortaleza , who replaces Bianca King .

In Sugo , the real life twin to VJ-host Raymond Gutierrez is playing a twin for the first time.

“My character names are Miguel and Amante,” Richard informs us in his Amante costume during the first taping day. “There were separated at birth to fulfill a prophecy so they both did not know they have a twin brother. Amante was trained to be a karate expert. Miguel is the GQ type so there's a big difference in looks and characterization.

“That's the fun of it,” he continues. “I'll be able to show my creativity and skills in playing the two very different characters.”

For his name Amante character, Richard had to train in advance in martial arts and new harnessing technique provided by the imported martial arts trainers from Hong Kong. Three weeks before the story conference, Richard and the other stars of the soap were already being trained for the fight techniques.

“It was hard,” he recalls. “I mean, I was trained with fighting and harnessing for Mulawin but we're being trained differently for Sugo . They have a different style that we often see in movies from Hong Kong and recently in Hollywood . It could look easy in the screen but it's hard to execute.”

Perfection is the keyword for his new trainers. Certain sequences requiring simple harnessing flips took the production more than 10 to 20 takes just to perfect the landing.

“I learn a lot from them,” says Richard about his mentors. “It's fun, though masakit talaga sa katawan.”

NEW MOVIE

AS if this is not enough, Richard and Angel also have started their follow-up movie, this time from MAQ Productions, I Will Always Love You . Being directed again by Mac Alejandre, the movie is being shot here and in San Francisco , USA so Richard is doing overtime work for Sugo . Richard and Angel have James, Blanco , Bianca King , Tuesday Vargas , Bearwin Meiley and Karen Delos Reyes as co-stars in this movie to be shown September of this year.

“I really love working with Angel so I enjoy being reunited with her,” he says.

“This daily work has happened before when I was doing Mulawin ,” explains Richard when asked about his tight schedule. “I think I can manage it again.”
(Articles lifted from S Magazine) - -