Publication in ABS-CBN Interactive

Write up in the daily newspaper.

Article by Ricardo F. Lo

The Philippine StarJust when everybody thought that he and his wife Mariz and their two daughters have made good their plan to migrate to California (where his parents, Edith and Naldo Ricketts own and manage their own flourishing real-estate business in San Diego), Ronnie Ricketts would surface to announce that, yes, he has just wrapped up an action film called One Percent Full which is intended for international release.

“We are showing the movie in Manila starting on Oct. 10, after its premiere on Oct. 7 (at SM North),” Ronnie told Funfare in an exclusive interview. “We are releasing it in Manila first para hindi ma-pirate. Then, we’ll have premiere showings in Hawaii and San Diego.”
Co-starring with Ronnie is famous martial artist Burton Richardson (leading lady is Andrea del Rosario) who is the fight instructor of such Hollywood stars as Steven Seagal and Keanu Reeves. His style is jet kundo, a la Bruce Lee, and he is ranked No. 3 in that martial-arts form.
“I met Burton through my brother, Topher, who is also a martial-arts instructor. It was Burton who came up with the idea that we do a movie together. My family and I were having a vacation in the States, and Topher showed me around. We visited the set of Burton’s movie and that’s how we knew each other. We clicked at once. Our ideas jibed. Even our lifestyle is the same. We have the same campaign in our movies. Pareho kaming clean-living, no vices; we are both vegetarian.”

One Percent Full is a co-production venture between Ronnie’s Rocketts Films and Burton’s Fat-Free Productions.“As you will notice,” noted Ronnie, “even the name of Burton’s company proclaims his advocacy which is the same as mine.”
Also co-directed by Ronnie and Burton, One Percent Full is the story of a rich American guy (Burton) who comes to the Philippines and loses everything. Then, he meets Ronnie’s character who comes to his rescue. The two venture into all sorts of adventures, surviving many challenges along the way.“It’s not the typical action movie,” said Ronnie. “It has a good story which I cannot elaborate on baka ma-preempt. It was Burton who wrote the screenplay. I just put in some changes where Filipino values are concerned. He wants to test the water in the Philippines and if One Percent Full makes good, and I’m sure it will, then we can go on with more projects.”
Among Ronnie’s own plans is a Four Brothers kind of movie that will star Ronnie and other action stars like Ian Veneracion and Monsour del Rosario, perhaps with Kuya Ipe (Phillip Salvador) as the big brother. “I’m also jamming with director Lino Cayetano who, I discovered, is a deep director with so many exciting ideas. I met Lino last Saturday in an event sponsored by his sister, Sen. Pia Cayetano. Anytime now, I will sit down with Bill Velasco (STAR’s sports columnist) who has great ideas for scripts.”
As in his past movie, One Percent Full is devoid of sex and violence, meaning the fight scenes are executed by hand-to-hand combat and not with the use of guns and/or deadly weapons (knives, etc.).True to his clean-living advocacy (no smoking, no drinking, no vices, etc.), Ronnie is endorsing Exped Socks with his family (they’re doing a mall promo tour next month). On Oct. 2 at 3 p.m., he and his Bakbakan buddies will hold an anti-smoking campaign highlighted by a basketball match between their all-star team and the Philippine Christian University (PCU) Dolphins at the San Andres Gym, San Andres, Manila. Ronnie is a graduate of PCU which has been awarded as a smoke-free-zone school. Ronnie himself got the same award.“We call our group Bakbakan International (bakbakan.com), composed of martial-arts enthusiasts. Among our celebrity members are TJ Trinidad, Sen. Migz Zubiri, Monsour del Rosario, Gerard Pizarras, Mon Tulfo and Onemig Bondoc.”