Producers shuffle stellar deck of cards

MARIAN Rivera and Ai-Ai de las Alas

Hit stellar pairings are favored by producers as safe bets for “assured” viewers’ patronage. For instance, the popular screen tandem of Dingdong Dantes and Marian Rivera has chalked up numerous successes on TV and in the movies.

But, even the most popular team-ups taper off as box-office “insurance” after some years, so it’s no surprise that Dingdong now has a movie, “She’s the One,” with Bea Alonzo—and Marian is teaming up, also for the first time, with Ai-Ai de las Alas in “Kung Fu Divas.”

Variety is the spice of life; familiarity breeds, if not contempt, then most definitely boredom—hence producers’ occasional decision to “shuffle” their deck of stellar cards to come up with fresh, exciting and surprising combinations.

There’s a measure of risk involved, but as long as both stars in a new project are “bankable,” failure can be thwarted by savvy casting, a script with a “unique selling proposition” to entice viewers, and heavy promotions.

That’s why we see the leads of new projects tirelessly making the rounds of TV talk and magazine shows, showing how much “chemistry” they have together, and having such a fun time that viewers find themselves wanting to catch their big-screen starrers the minute they open!

Hectic and hard-sell promotions aside, we can more instructively vet how new pairings will fare in their first outing together, by looking back on their separate careers and screen personas.

For instance, Dingdong is one of the local screen’s handsomest male leads and Bea is exceptionally lovely, so we can expect their new movie to be visually enchanting and endearing.

They are in their 30s and mid-20s, so their portrayals will probably be deeper and more textured than those turned in by younger colleagues, like Daniel Padilla and Kathryn Bernardo. However, Bea has built up a better reputation as a sensitive and versatile thespian than Dingdong, so he may have to work harder to keep up with her in their film’s “deeper” or more conflicted moments.

What about Marian and Ai-Ai? At first glance, their pairing appears to come far out from left field, since they epitomize distinctly different performing styles. Ai-Ai is known for her in-your-face, gung-ho “comedy,” while Marian has not been associated with many laugh riots. So, their new movie is a bigger gamble, casting-wise, than Bea and Dingdong’s more “copacetic” costarrer.

But, we can bet that the “Kung Fu Divas” production team will do everything it can to make their “mismatched” stars come up with contrary, contentious but savvily coordinated portrayals. That way, they will be credible when their characters are supposed to get over their differences and fight a common foe at the end of their comedy-action caper. Let’s hope they succeed!