David going on 2-year leave from music industry

FUNFARE By Ricardo F. Lo The Philippine Star Updated January 14, 2012 12:00 AM

David Archuleta. Inset: Perci Intalan, head of TV5 Creative and Entertainment. — Photos by Ver Paulino Yes, it’s true. American Idol alumnus David Archuleta confirmed what he announced during his My Kind of Christmas Tour in Salt Lake City in December last year that he was going on a two-year leave from the music industry. “I will serve a full-time mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints,” he said at a presscon at the EDSA Shangri-La yesterday after he signed a contract to do a soap for TV5. He arrived on a PAL flight at 5:30 yesterday morning from L.A., obviously jet-lagged from the 12-plus long haul but was nevertheless as engaging as he has always been during his visits to Manila. His first was in 2009 when he did a concert with his namesake, AI champ David Cook, followed by two more only several months apart for a solo concert and for an album promo. David is here for more than two weeks to shoot for the soap that will premiere third week of February, with Jasmine Curtis-Smith and Eula Caballero as his leading ladies and L.A.-based G Tongi as his mother (G also arrived yesterday). In the soap titled Nandito Ako (with David himself singing the Ogie Alcasid-composed song in Tagalog), the soap, directed by Mac Alejandre, will run for five weeks. Perci Intalan, TV5 Creative and Entertainment head, told Funfare that David will deliver bilingual dialogue (English mixed with a few Tagalog words) in his role as a Fil-Am singer in search of his mother. An acting greenhorn, David took a crash course in acting in L.A. before he flew in. American Idol alumnus David Archuleta with two copies of The STAR carrying stories about his concerts during his previous visits here. He charmed movie reporters at yesterday’s presscon for the soap he’s doing for TV5. “David’s character spends five years in the Philippines before going to the US, kaya nakakaintindi siya ng Tagalog pero hindi siya nakakapag-salita,”explained Perci. “He will attend a story conference (set for today), record the theme song and do pictorials. And then he starts shooting the next day.” Asked how much TV5 was paying David, Perci was mum, saying,“Mahal but it’s worth it.” TV5 executive vice president/COO Bobby Barreiro, who was also present at the contract-signing together with TV5 president/CEO lawyer Ray Espinosa, described David as “mabait na bata.” Fearing that David would be mobbed during the mostly outdoor shoot, TV5 offered to assign a few bodyguards to him but David declined. “He arrived with only one companion,” added Perci. “Walang entourage.” After the shoot, David said that he wouldn’t be doing any other showbiz-related projects since he would buckle down to his mission to serve God. “I made the promise even before I decided to come to the Philippines,” assured David. Source: www.philstar.com