Before winning the hearts of viewers of teleseryes like “Agua Bendita” and “Dolce Amore” and, eventually, the heart of pop songstress Sarah Geronimo, Matteo Guidicelli was a kart racing champion. Kart racing was Matteo’s first love — something that he engaged in when he was only 11 years old.
Now 27, the actor and singer still maintains a very active and healthy lifestyle, and still finds time for motorbike racing and joining triathlons despite his busy showbiz schedule. However, he admits that his current adrenaline-pumped activities aren’t as fulfilling as car racing.
“Riding a car on the track is, like, the best. Nothing can describe that. Overtaking, dicing, in a race, is just an unexplainable feeling and experience. That’s the number one feeling nothing can beat. I still remember those days. They can’t compare to anything else,” Matteo said at a press interview during the recent premiere screening of “Cars 3” at The Block in SM North Edsa.
“It’s different kasi pag cars meron tayong makina, sa triathlon naman sarili nating katawan natin. But many days are the same. The dedication, the passion,” he said.
Considering Matteo’s racing background, it’s no wonder that he loves “Cars 3” so much to say that it’s his favorite among the three “Cars” films so far.
In “Cars 3” Piston Cup champ Lightning McQueen tries his best to keep up with new, faster, technologically-engineered cars on the track but soon realizes that he needs to step down from his pedestal and serve a more meaningful purpose other than bringing home the trophy. It goes beyond being just an animated film about racing.
Matteo loves the film not only because he can relate to it and saw a bit of himself in the characters. “The movie’s really cool. I did not expect it to be that awesome. It has so many lessons that you’ll take home.
“I brought my brothers and his friends and they enjoyed it. There’s so much meaning in the movie. There’s a lot of women empowerment in the movie. There’s a lot of ‘working at it’ and ‘believing in yourself till it’s your time,” he said.
Based on his posts on social media, Matteo is obviously quite fond of his 10-year-old brother, Paolo, and confirms this by saying, “we’re very close, surprisingly. I don’t know why. When I was 10 years old I wasn’t as lambing as him. He’s very, very lambing. And I love him, I love him to death. He’s such a cool guy, he’s just a fun guy to be with. I hope he grows up to be a really really cool, responsible and smart guy.”
Did watching “Cars 3” make Matteo miss car racing to the extent that he would want to go back to it in lieu of his showbiz career? His answer delivers a clear message: Matteo will continue to appear on TV and the silver screen—not on race tracks.
“Not as much as I would think because my racing life…parang I opened another chapter in my life. But I have a car show, it’s called ‘Wheels.’ So that’s close to my heart because it’s still part of racing. So we go around, feature anything on wheels.”
“Watching films like this makes me relive my racing memories but I don’t really miss it so much, but I still love it kumbaga,” said Matteo.
Aside from his motoring show, Matteo is also busy working on an upcoming album that will feature all original tracks written by some of the country’s most reputable songwriters.
Matteo is also excited for the release of “Ghost Bride,” a horror film directed by Chito Roño where he co-stars with Kim Chiu.
“Cars 3” is currently showing in cinemas nationwide.