Grace Libero

Boots Anson Roa Talks About Her "Until She Remembers" Co-Stars Charo Santos-Concio and Barbie Forteza

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<div style="text-align:center"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1772202717694640087508_18557778034026856_6530240101364122529_n.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/>Photo from @solarpicturesph</div><div> </div>Boots Anson Roa-Rodrigo is grateful beyond words. At 81, it&#x27;s truly a gift that she still gets to do one of the things she&#x27;s passionate about: acting. The Philippine cinema icon currently stars in the Brillante Mendoza film Until She Remembers alongside Barbie Forteza and her dear friend, Charo Santos-Concio.<div></div>Throughout almost six decades in the industry, Boots has portrayed all sorts of roles in various films, but her latest one is something new in her portfolio. Until She Remembers delves into a same-gender relationship. As the story goes, Boots&#x27; and Charo&#x27;s characters shared a closeted love; years later, they go their separate ways, but Charo&#x27;s character—who goes on to get married, bear a daughter, and later become a widow—is in search of that long-lost love; one day, her granddaughter, Barbie&#x27;s character, gives her the idea of searching for that person. &quot;Hinanap nila until they found her, my role, in the home for the aged, mentally challenged with dementia,&quot; Boots shared. Family is at the core of the movie, but it also tackles topics like LGBTQ relationships, mental health, and what Boots phrased as &quot;the sheer, pure joy of loving and the patience and earnestness that go with loving.&quot;&quot;I&#x27;ve done mental health roles. But lesbian roles, same gender, first time. Very first time,&quot; Boots told Metro.Style. Firsts are always special, and more so at this point for Boots, who shows no sign of stopping, even at her age. <div> </div><div><iframe class="instagram-media instagram-media-rendered" id="instagram-embed-0" src="https://www.instagram.com/reel/DUKZUYuEVPm/embed/?cr=1&amp;v=14&amp;wp=720&amp;rd=https%3A%2F%2Fod2-workbench-web.abs-cbn.com&amp;rp=%2F#%7B%22ci%22%3A0%2C%22os%22%3A19366197.900000002%7D" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="" frameBorder="0" height="857" data-instgrm-payload-id="instagram-media-payload-0" scrolling="no" style="background:white;max-width:540px;width:calc(100% - 2px);border-radius:3px;border:1px solid rgb(219, 219, 219);box-shadow:none;display:block;margin:0px 0px 12px;min-width:326px;padding:0px" spellcheck="false"></iframe></div><script async="" src="//www.instagram.com/embed.js"></script><div> </div><div style="text-align:center"><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1772203569160612508734_18557463769041495_824643134102559238_n.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/></div><div> </div>&quot;I only used and practiced the word retirement to mean to give up a title and a job description. Pero beyond that, wala, trabaho pa rin,&quot; Boots said when asked if ever retiring from acting, or work in general, is in her vocabulary. &quot;So the only formal retirement I had was from Mowelfund after being executive director and president for about 18 years, 20 years, and then I remained on the board. And soon after &#x27;Manay Ichu&#x27; Maceda, our chairman, died, I was elected to be the chairman, and this was after retiring as president. So, parang sabi nga, wala yata sa diksyonaryo ko &#x27;yun. I&#x27;m always on the go. I&#x27;m always moving. I think it was my mother who said, parang merong bulate sa katawan ko. Hindi matigil e.&quot;Last January 30, in time for her 81st birthday, she launched her book, Grateful, which she co-authored with Jennie Leuterio Ilustre, encapsulating her different facets and her life&#x27;s various aspects. Present at her birthday celebration were her Until She Remembers co-stars Charo and Barbie. Charo, who is mentioned in Boots&#x27; book, gave a speech at the party to honor her friend and colleague. Fun fact: They go way back, meeting for the first time at the Miss Green Race 1974 awarding ceremony, where a 27-year-old Boots crowned a 17-year-old Charo as the titleholder.Charo recalled when she first saw Boots, &quot;I saw an apparition of Mama Mary. Wala pong biro. Talagang nakanganga ako. Her aura was so radiant—the light was really shining through, and she was so pretty and so elegant.&quot; Charo also said that she&#x27;s always been a fan of Boots, whom she calls &quot;Tita Boots,&quot; citing the latter&#x27;s projects like Wanted: Perfect Mother; Santiago!; Ang Uliran: Imelda; Isang Gabi, Tatlong Babae; and May Minamahal as her favorites. She said, &quot;As an actress, Tita Boots is very professional. She is consistently prepared, disciplined, and respectful on the set. Never arrogant. Despite her stature, she treats everyone as an equal. Kaya bagay talaga sa kanya na maging pinuno ng Mowelfund dahil napakalakas po ng empathy niya for other people. Beyond acting, she has dedicated time to public service and advocacy, using her platform to uplift others. Tita Boots speaks with clarity, with intention, with kindness. She listens deeply and responds with empathy. And when facing personal loss, career transitions, or public scrutiny, she carries herself with composure, steady and dignified. Really, she&#x27;s a picture of grace under pressure.&quot; <div> </div><div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1772205791899630094233_18397637833146535_2885717830333997050_n.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/></div><div style="text-align:center"> </div>Despite all these years, it&#x27;s so refreshing to see two friends—two empowered women—working on something new together. This is the first time they worked together on a movie, but even so, their collaboration felt so smooth and enjoyable. &quot;It helps that Charo and I have been friends for the longest time,&quot; said Boots, opening up about what it was like working with her in the film, written and directed by Brillante Mendoza. &quot;Even if we don&#x27;t really see each other often, I think we have a meeting of the hearts and minds... Even if we had not done a movie together yet, we&#x27;ve been together at work in the industry in various capacities. I look to Charo as a role model even if she&#x27;s younger.&quot; In Until She Remembers, Boots takes on a dream role, one she described as challenging but worth doing. We asked Boots if she still has a dream role at this point in her career. &quot;This is one of them,&quot; she said. &quot;It&#x27;s very challenging. Hindi lang LGBT role, dementia role pa, so napakaraming perspectives, napakaraming faces or facets.&quot;Brave endeavors like their movie continue to excite Boots. &quot;The landscape is wide, vast, and waiting to be explored further,&quot; Boots said about the Philippine entertainment industry. &quot;And, in other terms, there is so much that can be done with our film industry, because creativity-wise, ang galing ng mga tao natin, &#x27;di ba?&quot;Given the chance, she said she wants to work with &quot;a more mature Romnick Sarmenta&quot;—&quot;Si Romnick, inaanak ko sa kasal &#x27;yan e. But when we worked together the first and only time—it was in 1993 or 1994 when I was only 48—he was much, much younger. Pero, wow, si Romnick ngayon, buong-buo.&quot; Boots also mentioned that she hopes to work with other brilliant artists, like Piolo Pascual, Elijah Canlas, and Enchong Dee. Speaking of excellence, Boots also couldn&#x27;t help but express her admiration for her and Charo&#x27;s young co-star in Until She Remembers, Barbie Forteza.Boots shared, &quot;I have been so amazed and astounded by Barbie Forteza. Wow! I can safely say, among the members of her generation whom I&#x27;ve worked with, she&#x27;s easily one of the best, if not the best. And what a thinking, feeling, intelligent, but heartfelt actress she is... Her suggestions, her inputs are—she&#x27;s what, 28 years old, 29? Sabi ko nga sa kanya, &#x27;Barbie, you know, you&#x27;re 28 going on 50!&#x27; And her insights, her intuitiveness, her penchant for details, even on the set—kasi Brillianta Mendoza, our director, works without a script; he&#x27;ll give you the situation, he&#x27;ll block you, he&#x27;ll motivate you, it&#x27;s up to you. And Barbie, for her age, you know, came up with her own nuances—her blocking, her own little movements. I said, this is beyond her years and beyond her youth. Well, she was a child actress, but she hasn&#x27;t been around as long as I have been, for example. Marami siyang naiisip na little touches that, for me, are beyond her years. Touches that can embellish her performance.&quot; <div></div><div> </div><div></div><div><img src="https://od2-image-api.abs-cbn.com/prod/editorImage/1772202462584boots anson roa rodrigo and barbie forteza.jpg" style="width:960px" class="fr-fic fr-dib" width="960"/></div><div> </div>Having the opportunity to work with a fresh crop of talents is one of the many things Boots is grateful for. At 81, her drive and zest for life are remarkable. One of the characters that inspires her, that she hopes to breathe life into one day, is Bernarda Alba from the play &quot;La Casa De Bernarda Alba,&quot; which she thinks can be translated into a movie. &quot;It&#x27;s about a matriarch who is so strong, so powerful that her own children and siblings and everybody who are under her helm are so controlled by her, but she herself is broken,&quot; Boots described. This character&#x27;s strength, influence, and resilience are qualities that can be said about Boots as well. She&#x27;s many things to many people, but unlike Bernarda, &quot;broken&quot; is a word that won&#x27;t be associated with her because she is complete, she is fulfilled, and she has led a life well-lived. What is she most grateful for today? &quot;That I woke up this morning—many people didn&#x27;t.&quot;<div></div><div> </div><div>Until She Remembers is still showing in cinemas nationwide.</div><div> </div><div>“Grateful” is available for P1,500. Email tcfntrading@gmail.com for inquiries.</div><div> </div>Photos from @solarpicturesph

Grateful at 81, the legendary Boots Anson Roa-Rodrigo talks about taking on a dream role in "Until She Remembers," a movie that she's thankful she got to do with Charo Santos-Concio, her friend and "role model," and Barbie Forteza, whom she considers one of the excellent young actresses today.

Grateful at 81, the legendary Boots Anson Roa-Rodrigo talks about taking on a dream role in "Until She Remembers," a movie that she's thankful she got to do with Charo Santos-Concio, her friend and "role model," and Barbie Forteza, whom she considers one of the excellent young actresses today.

Boots Anson Roa-Rodrigo on Starring in 'Until She Remembers' and Working With Charo Santos-Concio and Barbie Forteza

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Boots Anson Roa-Rodrigo on Starring in 'Until She Remembers' and Working With Charo Santos-Concio and Barbie Forteza

Grace Libero

Published March 02, 2026 08:55 PM PHT

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Updated March 02, 2026 10:53 PM PHT

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