Three male stars ‘discover’ fountain of youth

IN LOCAL show business, much is being made of the few female stars who have remained lovely and “young” well past their 50s. When you cut your way through all of the lighting, retouching, star-filtering and Photoshopping techniques and processes being used to come up with their seemingly “forever young” images, however, you realize that a lot of creative enhancement and downright deception have been involved.

What’s truly amazing about a few stars’ ability to keep the natural and chronological signs of age-related attrition at bay is the fact that two veteran male celebrities appear to have managed to look much younger than their actual age. We’re talking about … no, not Gabby Concepcion and Albert Martinez, but Robin Padilla and Bong Revilla.

Both male luminaries are parents of offspring who are already in their 20s. But they are able to pass themselves off as slim and trim gents in their late 30s. Their secret? Both of them are action stars, and have kept their bodies in good condition and top “fighting” form, despite the passage of the years—and decades.

Fact is, there was a time, quite a number of years ago when Bong looked markedly flabbier and older than he does now. And, in his last movie, which was shot in India, Robin was still able to pull off some martial arts moves that would have knocked the breath out of his less buff and toned contemporaries. Their youthful looks have enabled the two male stars to pass muster as the leading men of much younger actresses—and, in Robin’s case, he even ended up marrying one, Mariel Rodriguez, in real life!

How unlike their counterparts among the older generation of action superstars, who, even when they already looked flabby and decidedly on the wrong side of 40—or 50!—quite without compunction, cheekily costarred with actresses who looked young enough to be their daughters—even their granddaughters.

So, we thank Bong and Robin for working hard to sculpt their bodies to suit the still dynamic roles they continue to play, without unduly embarrassing themselves and their much younger leading ladies. “Movie magic” is fine by us, as long as it’s believable!

For proof positive, note that both Robin and Bong are currently top-billing new productions—Bong is starring in the MMFF blockbuster “Panday 2” with Marian Rivera as his leading lady, while Robin has his own film projects lined up for shooting next year, and is currently starring in the “Toda Max” sitcom, with Angel Locsin as female lead.

If they looked as mature as some of their contemporaries do, they wouldn’t have been tapped for these new projects—and, in any case, viewers would have rejected them out of hand. So, for other veteran and “maturing” leads, they serve as sterling and disciplined examples of the way they, too, must go, to keep their own careers continually viable.

They also prove to all stars, regardless of gender, that discipline and determined and constant body sculpting, not visual trickery, are essential to keep stellar careers alive and kicking into the 40s, 50s and beyond.

P.S.: In US films, mature stars generally look their advanced age. Currently, however, Tom Cruise is amazing viewers in the hit action flick, “Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol,” because he’s doing most of his own stunts, which are highly challenging and dangerous, and would exhaust other actors a full decade younger than he is.

Cruise trained for months to pull the most impressive feat off, so he fully deserves the raves he’s been getting off his age-defying achievement.