Marimar (2007 TV series)

This article is about Philippine television series. For the original Mexican television series, see Marimar (TV series).

Marimar
Genre	Drama Action Adventure romance
Created by	Inés Rodena (Original story) GMA Entertainment TV Group
Developed by	Dode Cruz
Written by	Benedict Miguel Denoy Punio Kit Villanueva-Langit
Directed by	Joyce E. Bernal Mac Alejandre
Starring	Marian Rivera Dingdong Dantes Richard Gomez Katrina Halili
Theme music composer	Tata Betita
Opening theme	"MariMar" (Main theme) sung by Regine Velasquez
Ending theme	"Mahal Kita" (Love theme) sung by Maricris Garcia
Country of origin	Philippines
Original languages	Filipino, Tagalog, English, Spanish, Cebuano
No. of episodes	155 + 4 specials
Production
Executive producer	Wilma Galvante
Production locations	Metro Manila, Philippines Zambales, Philippines
Running time	30–45 minutes
Original release
Network	GMA Network
Release	August 13, 2007 – March 14, 2008
Related
Marimar

MariMar is a Filipino drama series previously being broadcast in GMA Network, starring Marian Rivera and Dingdong Dantes.

Though a remake-adaptation of a Mexican telenovela the setting and some of the storylines were altered. Directed by Joyce E. Bernal and Mac Alejandre, the series premiered on August 13, 2007 and ended on March 14, 2008. It was aired internationally with a one week delay on GMA Pinoy TV, which became a huge success to Filipino viewers abroad. The series also aired in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, China (dubbed in Mandarin), Cambodia (dubbed in Khmer), Uganda and in the United States (airing Sundays on KIKU/Honolulu with English subtitles) And on Fil-Am Digital TV Network.

Overview

Origin

Main article: Marimar (TV series)

Marimar was a Mexican TV telenovela that was first aired in 1994 on Televisa with singer-actress Thalía in the title role.

The series had 75 forty-five minute episodes, and is the second part of a "Maria" trilogy. The first was Maria Mercedes, and the final was Maria la del Barrio.

It aired on RPN 9 in 1996 and became the one of the well-loved telenovelas in Philippine television history. It was repeated in 1998 (RPN), 2002 and 2008 (GMA). The telenovela is scheduled to make its return on Telenovela Channel this coming July.

2007 TV series

Casting Marimar

The contract with Televisa for the rights stipulates that GMA Network should start the series in 2007. With Angel Locsin's rejection of the offer, the network was prompted to give auditions to their roster of young actresses for the highly profiled role. On March 13, 2008, a video of the fifteen actresses who auditioned for the role of MariMar leaked on YouTube. These actresses are Bianca King, Nadine Samonte, Jennylyn Mercado, Ryza Cenon, Jewel Mische, LJ Reyes, Rhian Ramos, Camille Prats, Pauleen Luna, Katrina Halili, Valerie Concepcion, Nancy Castiglione, Cheska Garcia and Karylle.

The role eventually went to Marian Rivera, who beat her closest rival for the role, Jennylyn Mercado. Some actresses who took part in the audition also landed major and supporting roles in the series. The antagonist role of Angelika Santibanez went first to Bing Loyzaga but replaced by Katrina Halili after her character Ashley killed off from Lupin which would replace it, so the role of Esperanza went to Bing Loyzaga instead. The role of Natalia and Inocencia went to Bianca King and Nadine Samonte respectively.

Production crew

This series is a comeback project for Joyce E. Bernal in TV and for GMA Network.

• Writers: Benedict Miguel, Denoy Punio and Kit Villanueva-Langit
• Head Writer: Dode Cruz
• Creative Consultant: Anette Gozon-Abrogar and Don Michael Perez
• Executive Producer: Wilma Galvante
• Production Manager: Cheryl Ching-Sy
• Executive-in-charge of Production: Wilma Galvante
• Directed by: Joyce E. Bernal and Mac Alejandre

Plot

Gustavo Aldama, a rich businessman, married a woman named Lupita despite his mother's disapproval of their relationship. Things become more complicated when Lupita gave birth to Gustavo's daughter, who she named Marimar. Dolores, Gustavo's mother, believing Lupita married her son only for their wealth, did everything to separate the two of them. Dolores drugged Lupita and hired a man, setting them up to make it look like Lupita was having an affair. Gustavo was devastated to find Lupita "sleeping" with another man, unknown to him that it was a plot by his own mother. Dolores then demanded Lupita to leave their property and never to come back. It was too late, however, when Gustavo finds out his mother's treachery. He could no longer find Lupita, who had gone into hiding along with his daughter. Lupita promises her daughter that one day Marimar will claim what is rightfully hers. Meanwhile, Gustavo left his parents and decides to live alone in Manila, not losing hope that one day, he would find his wife and daughter. Seven years pass, but Gustavo's efforts to locate the whereabouts of Lupita and Marimar remained fruitless. One day, his cousin Esperanza visited him, carrying with her the news of his parents' fatal accident. Despite his ill feelings towards his mother, Gustavo went home to finally put closure on his past. While visiting the grave of his parents, Selva, a friend of Lupita, came by to inform Gustavo the whereabouts of Lupita and Marimar. Gustavo doesn't waste any time and goes to reunite with his family. Lupita manages to forgive Gustavo, to the delight of Marimar who is overjoyed to finally meet her father. On their way back to Manila, the passenger plane on which the family is riding crashes into the sea and separates Marimar from her parents. Gustavo once again loses the family he had tried so hard to rebuild. Lupita is later found dead, but Marimar is nowhere to be seen.

Marimar was washed ashore on a nearby island. She was found by a childless couple, Lola Cruz and Lolo Pancho, and upon discovering that Marimar suffers from amnesia, decided to raise Marimar as their own granddaughter. Lola Cruz calls her Marimar after seeing the name on Marimar's necklace. Young Marimar meets a young Angelika. Even when she was a little girl, Angelika was a social climber, always envious of rich people. Despite this Marimar and her become friends. However, Marimar and Angelika start fighting when Angelika falls and breaks her arm, blaming the incident on Marimar.

Marimar then grows into an innocent and naive young woman. Her grandparents tried to keep her away from others because they were afraid Marimar's real parents will see her, because of this, she never went to school and she actually believes that all people are actually nice like her friends in the island. Her complicated and tormented life begins when she meets, falls in love with, and agrees to marry Sergio Santibañez, for the latter's reason to have revenge against his father Renato and Sergio's ex-girlfriend, Angelika, Marimar's childhood friend, who had become his new stepmother. He wanted to put shame on the family name and make her stepmother jealous. Marimar is then subjected to the cruelty of Angelika in the Santibañez mansion. Marimar is awakened to the harsh reality of what her love for Sergio had done to her. Sergio learned that their resort was becoming bankrupt and his father, Renato, is hiding this fact to him. So he decided to leave abroad to join a formula one race to get money to save the business and to find a separate place for Marimar so Angelika won't harm her anymore.

Angelika despises Marimar because of her innocence and her lack of knowledge of the world of high society. She also hates her because she still wants Sergio. She hates the fact that Sergio found a replacement for her. She wants Renato's money and Sergio's love. After Sergio left, Angelika drugged her husband to make her the sole owner of the resort which she doesn't know is going downhill. Then, Angélika constantly embarrasses Marimar, often diminishing her worth as an individual. She made Marimar get a bracelet from a puddle of mud using her mouth then she tells the police that Marimar stole the bracelet from her, and Marimar is sent to prison. Then Angélika sends one of her servants, Nicandro, to set fire on the humble hut belonging to Marimar's grandparents, which results in their deaths. Angélica forges Sergio's handwriting and writes a fake letter to Marimar stating that he wants nothing more to do with her and that he never loved her and he just used her. All this, along with the impact of her grandparents’ deaths, changes Marimar and sets her on the road to revenge.

Fate began to favor the once oppressed Marimar when she decided to leave her town of San Martin de la Costa after suffering much from the Santibañez household. Marimar changed her name to Bella. In the city, she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl whom she named Cruzita after her Lola Cruz. Marimar did not allow the child's father, Sergio, to see her, believing that Sergio had left her for good. After many years of searching, Gustavo finally met his daughter, Marimar, but since the latter had changed her name to Bella, Gustavo did not recognize her. Natalia, an insane and ambitious provincial lass from San Martin dela Costa who is jealous of Marimar when she still lived in Villa Santibanez, had snatched up Marimar's pendant, which would prove the identity of Gustavo's missing daughter and heiress. Natalia began pretending to be Gustavo's missing daughter, yet her deception did not last long as Marimar's lost memory came back and she was later on proved to be an impostor. Soon after Gustavo finally acknowledged Marimar as his daughter, he died from a heart attack, leaving the countless wealth of the Aldamas to her. With the help of her aunt Esperanza and friend Innocencia, Marimar left for the United States and completely transformed herself from a poor and naive lass into the rich and sophisticated Bella Aldama.

After the new, improved Marimar is ready to face society, she bumps into Sergio at a welcoming ball for her at her hotel. Sergio is in shock because when he went back to town, Angelika told him that she died in the fire along with her grandparents and showed him a fake grave. Fueled by anger, Marimar denies to Sergio and other people that she is Marimar. She seduces Sergio constantly and then rejects his advances to hurt him. She also flirts with billionaire playboy, Rodolfo San Genez to make him jealous. At the same, she time strips Angélica of her wealth and Marimar buys out the Santibáñez resort, leaving Angelika homeless and destitute again. She also embarrassed Angélika the way she had embarrassed Marimar before by making her get the keys to the resort in a mud pit in front of all of Angelika's former workers and made her narrate that Angelika made her do this before. This was her confession that she is Marimar from San Martin Dela Costa.

Rodolfo made advances to Marimar and even tried to rape her but she was saved by Sergio and he is put in prison. Still Marimar's heart was as cold as stone. Sergio tried all that he can to win Marimar's heart again especially now he learned that he has a daughter with her. Marimar denied him even though he went as far as kneeling in front of her. Sergio decided to leave but his plane went down and he became missing. Marimar herself created a search party just for him revealing she still loves him all this time and she is afraid that it's too late to save their love. Sergio was found, and Marimar realizing only forgiveness will make her happy, decided to make their family whole again. They also pieced together all the lies that Angelika made up and realized all the damage that she did. Meanwhile, Angelika was involved in a car accident which burned her, destroying her beautiful face. Sergio also rescued his father from Angelika and sent him for rehabilitation. Sergio and Renato's relationship as father and son was restored.

Angelika can't bear the thought of Marimar's family being whole again so she planned to take away Marimar's happiness. She killed Marimar's aunt Esperanza and planted the evidence making it look like Marimar was the culprit. She hid the primary evidence that will set Marimar free. She blackmailed Sergio to marry her to save Marimar. Through careful manipulation, Marimar got the evidence. She also hired a private investigator to gather evidence that Angelika was the culprit for her grandparent's death. Angelika was sent to prison but escaped.

On Marimar and Sergio's wedding, Angelika kidnaps Sergio and Cruzita and went to San Martin Dela Costa. She put them in two separate boats at sea each with a bomb that will explode on the same time. Marimar was forced to choose whom to save. Marimar saves her daughter. Unknown to them, Sergio managed to escape. Angelika is furious and decided to attack Marimar, but was beaten into a bloody pulp and having her hand brutally crushed in between the door of a car during the brawl. Now severely injured Angelika attempts to hijack the chopper the family was riding to escape. Marimar pushes her off the chopper with Sergio hanging on for dear life and Angelika fell to her grizzly death near a crocodile infested river smashing her head on the stones killing her instantly and was dragged into the river and eaten by a group of crocodiles.

Finale Episode (The Wedding)

The finale episode of MariMar, "Sergio and MariMar, the Wedding", was aired live on March 14, 2008. The venue was at San Agustin Church, Manila. The reception was at Studio 3 of GMA Network Center and aired live. It replaced two Koreanovelas, Coffee Prince and The Legend to make it 2-hour special before Bubble Gang. This event includes not only the whole cast and staff of MariMar but also celebrities, fans and GMA staff. This is the third time that a Philippine finale episode event takes place live, the first one was ABS-CBN's Basta't Kasama Kita in 2004 and the second was Bakekang's finale episode. This event was tagged "The Wedding of the Year". The special guests in the final episode before the live event includes Rufa Mae Quinto, who is the voice cast of a dog Fifi, German Moreno, Tim Yap, Sandy Talag, Ricky Reyes, LJ Reyes, Arci Muñoz, Regine Velasquez and Ogie Alcasid as wedding singers, Regal Films producer Mother Lily Monteverde, executive producer Wilma Galvante, GMA Films president Annette Gozon-Abrogar, MTRCB chairwoman Consoliza Laguardia, and talent manager the late Douglas Quijano (died in 2009).

Awards

• 1st Filipino-American Visionary Awards (2008)
  • 2007 Favorite Television Actor – Dingdong Dantes
  • 2007 Favorite Television Actress – Marian Rivera
• 4th USTv Students' Choice Awards (2008)
  • Most Popular Drama/Miniseries
  • Most Popular Actor in a Drama/Miniseries – Dingdong Dantes
  • Most Popular Actress in a Drama/Miniseries – Marian Rivera
• 38th Box-Office Entertainment Awards (2008)
  • Most Popular TV Program
  • Most Popular TV Directors – Mac Alejandre & Joyce Bernal
  • Most Promising Female Star -Marian Rivera
  • Phenomenal TV Star – Marian Rivera
• Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards Philippines 2008 Favorite TV Show – Marimar

Cast and characters

Main Cast

Cast	Character	Summary
Marian Rivera	MariMar Perez-Santibañez Bella Aldama	The epitome of simplicity and innocence, MariMar is an unassuming girl who falls in love with Sergio, the rich heir to the Santibañez hacienda. Her relationship with Sergio causes her misery until she learns to fight back. Little does MariMar know that she is the only heiress of the Aldamas. When she gives birth to Cruzita she promises herself to protect her daughter from Sergio. She gets very jealous when she sees Sergio with other women especially Innocencia.
Dingdong Dantes	Sergio Santibañez	Rebellious and impulsive, Sergio takes advantage of MariMar's naïveté to take revenge on his father and ex-girlfriend-turned-stepmother, but later because of Marimar's good nature he started falling in love with her. He later finds out about Bella's daughter and that he is her biological father. He gets very jealous when he sees MariMar with other men especially Adrian and Dr. Hayden. He is later forced by Angelica to marry her because she has evidence that shows MariMar is Tiya Ezperanza's killer.
Katrina Halili	Angelika Santibañez	The ambitious and stuck-up Angelika was Sergio's first girlfriend. Although she married Renato (Sergio's father) for his money, she makes it her life's purpose to ruin Sergio and MariMar/Bella Aldama's relationship.
Richard Gomez	Renato Santibañez	Renato is Sergio's father who's blinded by his love for Angelika. Although he is one of MariMar's main adversaries, he becomes an ally to MariMar/Bella Aldama to downfall Angelika's evil plans.

Supporting Cast

• Jestoni Alarcon as Don Gustavo Aldama – The Biological Father of Marimar who hired Marimar as a maid in his house. Gustavo also was desperate to find his missing daughter. Died due to his heart attack before his daughter renamed herself as Bella Aldama.
• Rita Avila as Lupita Aldama – The Mother of Marimar and wife to Don Gustavo. She died by a plane accident.
• Buboy Garrovillo as Padre Porres – San Martin de la Costa's Parish Priest. In the final episode, he is the one who officiates the wedding of MariMar and Sergio.
• Leo Martinez as Lolo Pancho Perez – Marimar's Grandfather, who feels sorry for MariMar since her grandmother is very protective of her. He and Cruz died in burning.
• Caridad Sanchez as Lola Cruz Perez – Marimar's Grandmother. She is very protective of MariMar. Cruz and Pancho burned alive and died.
• Bing Loyzaga as Tiya Esperanza Aldama – Marimar's Aunt who raises her niece and she's supporting Marimar/Bella Aldama's plans to get Angelika out of their picture. Killed by Angelika. She is one of the first to find out that Natalia is the fake MariMar.
• Michael V. as Fulgoso's voice – Fulgoso is Marimar's dog.
• Nigel the dog as Fulgoso – The Dog pet of Marimar.
• Manilyn Reynes as Corazon – Friend of Marimar. She is Cruzita's nanny and she has always helped MariMar when in need. She also tries to hook MariMar and Sergio back together.
• Gabby Eigenmann as Nicandro Mejia – Angelika's ally. He later turns as an ally to MariMar and Sergio. But he was killed in a fire squad after Renato tells him to be surrendered.
• Sheena Halili as Monica – Angelika's Friend. Villain later good. After Angelica is sent to jail she later helps MariMar and becomes her friend. She is Diego's wife.
• Bianca King as Natalia Montenegro – Worker in Villa Santibañez. Fake Marimar. She pretends to be Marimar to get revenge on her for taking Choi, since Choi had a huge crush on Marimar. Killed by the police after attempting to kill baby Cruzita and Marimar.
• Marky Lopez as Arturo – Sergio's driver and friend. He has a crush in Sergio, Angelika and her allies found out Arturo's identity that he is "gay".
• Rufa Mae Quinto as Fifi's voice – Fifi is the dog Renato gave to Angelika. Fifi is later in the custody of Aldamas.
• Nadine Samonte as Innocencia Arcega – Marimar's Friend. Marimar later turns against her when she finds out her love for Sergio. Killed at the hands of Angelika's henchman when she found out that Angelica is the one who killed Tia Esperanza.
• Mike Tan as Choi – Worker in Villa Santibañez. He later develops a crush for Marimar.
• Mel Kimura as Perfecta – Maid in Villa Santibañez.

Extended Cast

• Arthur Solinap as Diego – Monica's Husband. He doesn't like Monica's friendship with Angelika. He later aids Sergio and Marimar.
• Marvin Agustin as Rodolfo San Jinez – Marimar's ex fiance. He only wants to marry Marimar for her money since his company is losing money. Later he is arrested after Sergio saved Bella from Rodolfo
• Francheska Salcedo as Cruzita Aldama – Santibañez – Daughter of Marimar and Sergio Santibañez. She tries to hook up Marimar and Sergio again.
• Dino Guevarra as Antonio – Sergio's Friend. He has a crush on Innocencia.
• Carmina Villaroel as Dra. Rhia Concepcion – Renato's Friend. She is the ex fiance of Dr. Hayden.
• Lani Mercado as Vanessa Mae Cruz – Angelika's mother who revealed that she had a relationship with Gustavo Aldama. Angelika kills her although she also had cancer.
• Hayden Kho, Jr. as Dr. Hayden Miranda – Dra. Rhia's ex fiance.
• Paolo Paraiso as Carlitos Solis – Angelika's ally and bodyguard. Shot to death after he almost exposed Angelika's evil schemes.
• Shermaine Santiago as Brenda – one of Bella Aldama/Marimar's staff who worked for the Aldamas
• Victor Aliwalas as Atty. Adrian Alasco – Marimar's Friend. He is one of the guys Sergio gets jealous of since he aids Marimar on earning her company back. He later became friends with Sergio and he arranges a legal marriage contract for both Marimar and Sergio towards the finale of this series.
• K Brosas as Rowena – Marimar's secretary. She is another ally of Angelika.
• Pocholo Montes as Inspector Vitug -
• Raquel Montessa as Leonor Arcega – Mother of Innocencia. She tries to talk Innocencia out of her love for Sergio since she already knows Sergio loves Marimar.
• Joseph Ison as Rodrigo - one of the bodyguards to the Aldamas who revealed to be a spy for Angelika. Killed by Nicandro.
• Mike Gayoso as Angelika's bodyguard

Guest Cast

• Jaime Fabregas as Don Augusto Aldama
• Pilar Pilapil as Doña Dolores Aldama
• Cristine Reyes as Kim Chan – Sergio's ex-girlfriend.
• Kirby de Jesus as Mental hospital patient
• Irma Adlawan as Selva
• Soliman Cruz as Berto
• Bruno Folster as Bruno
• Gwen Garci as Olga
• John Lapus as Rafa Laurente
• Ailyn Luna as Cecilla
• Jan Marini as DSWD officer
• Joanne Quintas as Jemma
• Ronnie Lazaro as Jose - Angelika's father-figure
• Ella Cruz as Young MariMar
• Nicole Dulalay as Young Angelika

Syndication

Country	Network(s)
Cambodia	CTN
Cameroon	MyTV Africa
Canada
China
Equatorial Guinea	MyTV Africa
Ethiopia	MyTV Africa
Ghana	MyTV Africa
Hawaii	KIKU-TV
Indonesia	MNCTV
Iraq
Kenya	NTV Kenya
Malaysia	TV3
Myanmar
Nigeria	MyTV Africa
Philippines	Fox Filipino
Singapore	Astro Prima
Tanzania	MyTV Africa
Uganda	NTV Uganda
Vietnam	Today TV VTC SNTV
Zambia	MyTV Africa
Thailand

Farewell TV Special

A farewell special entitled "MariMar: Isang Pasasalamat" was aired on March 9, 2008 prior to the finale week of the show. This is the second time that GMA Network made a farewell special, the first was for Encantadia. It got a 52.9% rating in Mega Manila which is the highest for that date according to AGB-Nielsen. It rated a higher 38.1% in the March 2008 ranking of AGB Nielsen's Nationwide Urban Television Audience Measurement (NUTAM).

Trivia

• A video on the auditions held for the MariMar role leaked on YouTube. The actresses featured in the video who auditioned for MariMar include: Bianca King, Nadine Samonte, Katrina Halili, Jennylyn Mercado, Valerie Concepcion, Ryza Cenon, LJ Reyes, Jewel Mische, Karylle, Rhian Ramos, Chesca Garcia, Pauleen Luna, Camille Prats, Nancy Jane and Marian Rivera.

• Bing Loyzaga was earlier tapped to play the main villain Angelica. But as plans changed, she was given the role of Tia Esperenza.

• MariMar's two-hour finale hit 52.6% according to AGB-Nielsen in Mega Manila. It registered a 57.5% rating for non-cable. This beats the record set by Darna in 2006 which got 52.1%, making MariMar the highest rating primetime drama to date.

• The finale episode of MariMar was aired on March 14, 2008. The two-hour finale highlighted the tying of the knots of Sergio Santibanez (played by Dingdong Dantes) and MariMar Aldama (Marian Rivera). The wedding was held at the historic San Agustin Church. The reception of the wedding in the finale was aired live in Studio 3 of GMA Network.

• Prominent persona in the industry graced the Santibanez-Aldama Wedding like beauty guru Ricky Reyes, young entrepreneur Tim Yap, Master Showman German Moreno, Regal Films producer Mother Lily Monteverde, executive producer Wilma Galvante, GMA Films president Annette Gozon-Abrogar and talent manager Douglas Quijano were sponsors. Regine Velasquez and Ogie Alcasid were the wedding singers. Other celebrities like Rufa Mae Quinto, German Moreno, Sandy Talag, LJ Reyes, Arci Munoz took part in the wedding entourage. It was earlier announced big personalities and politicians like Imelda Marcos and Jinggoy Estrada were earlier invited as sponsors, but the network decided not to pursue because of political reasons.

• A finale TV special entitled "MariMar: Isang Pasasalamat" was aired on March 9, 2008 prior to the finale week of the show. This is the second time that GMA Network made a farewell special, the first was for Encantadia. It got a 19.9% rating which is the second highest for that date according to AGB-Nielsen. Due to insistent public demand, the special, retitled "MariMar Memories" was re-aired on March 16, 2008 and it got an impressive 28.4% rating.

• Due to the phenomenal success of MariMar, the management decided to give Dingdong Dantes and Marian Rivera a follow-up project which is the TV serialization of Filipino mermaid legend Dyesebel.

DVD release

The series was released onto DVD-format by GMA Records. The DVDs are in volumes, there are 15 total containing all of the shows episodes. The DVDs were released in 2008.

Soundtrack

The theme song of MariMar (in Tagalog) is sung by Regine Velasquez. The love song of Sergio and Marimar, "Mahal Kita", is sung by Maricris Garcia.

See also

• List of programs previously aired by GMA Network
• List of telenovelas of GMA Network

External links

• MariMar at IMDb