Lauren Young is fairly certain that rumors of a possible romance with costar Richard Gutierrez and, consequently, of a jealous Sarah Lahbati going ballistic, will not make the rounds in chismis chat shows anytime soon.
Young is paired with Gutierrez in the coming Wincy Aquino Ong-Earl Ignacio movie “Overtime,” a GMA Films thriller.
“Sarah and I are friends,” Young points out. “We are always in touch. She knows nothing will happen between Richard and I.”
Absolutely nothing fishy will transpire, even if they share a love scene that, by Young’s own admission, is quite “intense and daring.”
“It was stressful. It’s my first time and I appreciate the fact that my partner is someone who’s respectful and professional. Richard is a gentleman. He guided me throughout the shoot,” she recalls.
“RICHARD is a gentleman,” Lauren (left) says of her costar. “He guided me throughout the shoot.”
She and Gutierrez chatted up a storm between takes, but one topic was off-limits.
Although she is chummy with Sarah, she thought it wouldn’t be proper for her to pry about her pal’s relationship with Gutierrez. Lahbati and Gutierrez recently revealed that they are parents to a baby boy.
“I didn’t know that she had given birth,” Young asserts. “I couldn’t ask Richard about Sarah. I didn’t want to add to the tension they were already feeling then …. I understood that she was going through a lot of things that time. I am just happy that they can now tell the whole world about their baby, Zion.”
Controversies
Young didn’t need to meddle in other people’s business as she had enough on her plate.
She herself had to parry controversies about rumored ex-boyfriend Elmo Magalona’s budding affair with fellow Kapuso Janine Gutierrez.
She recently bumped into the pretty pair in a show biz gathering and, she insists, that there was no awkwardness, no fireworks, no drama.
“We’re OK,” she asserts. “I have no problem [about Elmo and Janine being a couple].”
She concedes: “There will always be intrigues about Elmo and me. What’s good is that we respect each other’s decisions in life. Elmo and I are now on different paths, but we’ll always be friends. I can always talk to him. We remain close.”
Moreover, Young is still being managed by Magalona’s mom, Pia.
“We handle things in a professional way,” she says.
She is ready for more changes in her life.
Young, 20, recently shifted from culinary arts to filmmaking at De La Salle University-College of Saint Benilde. “I wanted to learn more about the business I am in now. Even after my scenes are shot, I often hang out on the set and ask my directors about camera angles and lighting.”
She dreams of working behind the camera in the future.
“I can’t be an actress forever. Maybe I can become a scriptwriter, director or cinematographer,” she explains.
New filmmakers
She says she is inspired by the directors she has worked with—from Jade Castro in “Zombadings: Patayin sa Shokot si Remington” to Mike Alcazaren in “Puti” and Ong/Ignacio in “Overtime.”
“I learn so much from them,” she says of these new filmmakers.
She dreams of working as an apprentice under Erik Matti. She played the Virgin Mary in Matti’s short film “Vesuvius.”
Young is in the cast of another indie project, Neil “Buboy” Tan’s “Bigkis,” an advocacy film on maternal healthcare.
“I prefer to work in indie movies … there’s no pressure for your movie to be a huge box-office hit,” she owns up.
“Overtime,” which opens on July 2, is her first big mainstream movie. “But it feels like an indie because our directors, Earl and Wincy, are new, dynamic and have fresh ideas. Our movie is different, definitely out of the box.”
(E-mail bayanisandiegojr@gmail.com)