Bourne actor, producers pay courtesy call on PNoy

Hollywood actor Jeremy Renner and producers of the spy action film The Bourne Legacy, in which Renner is among the lead stars, paid a courtesy call on President Benigno Aquino III Wednesday morning. Renner and some of his co-stars, including Rachel Weisz, were in the country to shoot some parts of the movie. Weisz had already left the country. In visiting Malacañang, Renner, clad in Barong Tagalog, was accompanied by the movie’s executive production manager Daniel Stillman, executive producer Patrick Crowley, and Filipino counterpart Jun Juban. Aquino handed them boxes of chocolates bearing the presidential seal and copies of his inaugural book. Renner, on the other hand, gave him DVD copies of the three Bourne movies — Bourne Identity, Bourne Supremacy and Bourne Ultimatum — as well as DVDs of his other movies, The Town and The Hurt Locker.   Shootings for The Bourne Legacy were done in some parts of Manila, Makati, Navotas, Marikina and Palawan.   Juban earlier said that the film's producers chose Manila over Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam and Jakarta in Indonesia as a shooting location due to the hospitality shown by Filipinos.                                                                                                                      Others present during the courtesy call were Tourism Secretary Ramon Jimenez, Presidential Communications Operations Office head Herminio Coloma, Metropolitan Manila Development Authority Francis Tolentino, Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office head Ricky Carandang. Carandang said that during the meeting, the movie’s producers expressed their admiration for the Philippine crew and producers for their professionalism and dedication.   The producers also thanked the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA), Office of the Executive Secretary the Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office, the Presidential Communications Operations Office and the Department of Tourism for their help in making the filming experience easier for them.   "They were happy that they chose to film in Manila rather than the other locations they considered in Vietnam and Indonesia,” Carandang said.   The President thanked the producers for choosing the Philippines and expressed hope that this would boos tourism and lead to more film productions being staged in the country, he added. - Amita O. Legaspi/KBK, GMA News