First kisses–and hisses

“STARSTRUCK” finalists face a number of daunting thespic challenges. facebook.com

“Starstruck’s” 2015 edition continues to teach its 10 remaining finalists how to act—sometimes, the wrong way. Last Tuesday, the acting test on tap was how to do a kissing scene. The lesson was particularly daunting for the tyros in the group who had yet to romantically osculate “in real life.”

We commiserated with them, because learning how to kiss well for the camera is not an essential thespic skill that everybody has to master when he’s just starting his acting career.

Yes, it could be a plus point, especially for teen and young-adult acting assignments, which have an inordinate preference for “kilig”-inducing love scenes.

But, the relative ability to smooch well for the cameras does not spell the difference between being a good actor and a bad one. So, for the ongoing talent search to imply that it does makes for an off-tangent thespic “requirement.”

The “issue” may sound trivial, but it became hugely pertinent on last Tuesday’s telecast, because some of the thespic tyros were positively traumatized by it.

One of them even burst into copious and anguished tears, painfully sharing that she had pledged to herself years ago to “reserve” her first kiss for her intended husband—but now, she would have to sacrifice that pure vow and allow an actor to claim it—!

Well, the tearful outburst ended with the tyro deciding to do the kissing scene after all, for the sake of her fledgling career.

—But, it turned out that her worst fears were unfounded, because she was “allowed” to accept the dreaded kiss—only on her cheek! Apparently, that made all the difference in the world to her—so, on with the show!

Other notes: Quite a number of the surviving male finalists couldn’t speak Filipino well—they either had a regional accent, or sounded Fil-Am or Fil-Australian.

Our question is: How did they even get into the finals with such an obvious impediment? Some TV execs obviously feel that the flaw isn’t a major one and can be attended to and solved in due time—but, they’re wrong!

Bad speech takes months or even years to rehabilitate so that the new actor is completely comfortable delivering dialogue in Filipino—so the “flawed” tyros should have licked the key problem first before even auditioning for the talent tilt.

Many actors who can’t speak Filipino well have tried to make it in the local biz, but practically all of them have failed to become durable stars because of the impediment, so newbies should take their cue from that, and save themselves the unnecessary pain and frustration.

Finally, the tyros in the “kissing challenge” were partnered by young stars, Kylie Padilla and Aljur Abrenica. Kylie did well, but Aljur was his usual tentative self—and sometimes looked like he could have benefited from some acting lessons himself—even if he’s already been playing lead roles for some TV seasons now.