NYONG’O. A major new fashion icon has arrived. Vintageclothing.about.com and AP photos
The start of a new entertainment season encourages the stellar arrival of fresh talents who will invigorate the show biz scene with their exceptional ability and promise. Several seasons ago, the young comers included Justin Bieber in the field of music, and Jennifer Lawrence in the movies.
These days, both “overnight discoveries” are much more experienced and even (in Bieber’s case) battle-scarred veteran players, so the time is ripe for newer recruits to make their mark.
This season, the stellar newbies are paced by Lupita Nyong’o, whose first-ever film role in “12 Years A Slave” has won a Best Supporting Actress Golden Globe and been nominated for an Oscar!
Lupita plays Patsey, who “has the unfortunate lot of not only being a slave, but also the object of the sexual desire of her cruel and conflicted master.”
We were initially very taken with Lupita when she wore a very dramatic red gown at the Globes award rites. She then attended two other film events where her gowns were similarly unique and eye-catching (see photos), letting the entertainment world know that a major new fashion icon has arrived!
Young action star
Elsewhere in the biz: Don’t look now, but eighteener Daniel Padilla is slowly but surely being repackaged from cutesy-wootsy boy-next-door and tween fave into—a young action star!
After all, even teen idols grow up fast (as Bieber has been sadly proving), so they have to be one step ahead of the inevitable downgrading of their “cute” careers, from “fave” to “wave” (as in, bye-bye)!
Another reason why Daniel is now about to rev up his screen moxie is the fact that he belongs to the big, “bad” Padilla show biz clan, which is led by the original Bad Boy of the local “slivered screen” himself, Robin Padilla.
It so happens that Robin and the other Padillas are producing an action flick, “Sa Ngalan ng Ama, Ina, at Mga Anak,” and Daniel is one of their clan’s current crowd-drawers, so of course he has to tweak his cute screen image and play it lean and mean for a change, to help interest young viewers in his Tito Robin’s movie!
The big question is, will the movie become a hit and thus help revive the long-comatose local action film industry?
We’ve always said that, for that to happen, younger action stars have to be built up, so the largely youthful local movie audience can get excited about the revival—and, with somebody as popular as Daniel, it could happen.
For a really strong revival, of course, local action movies need much more than one young lead player—so, others will have to be tweaked into service, or discovered and built up from scratch.
Bits and pieces: Other promising newcomers who should be given more opportunities to grow and build up a fan base include teen singer Morissette Amon; sibling sports stars and screen hopefuls, Andre and Kobe Paras; and child stars, Yogo Singh and Xyriel Manabat.