Derrick on indecent proposals: I’m no piece of meat

Monasterio

For male show biz hopefuls, a handsome face and gym-sculpted abs are always a potent combination. Ask Derrick Monasterio, who has learned a thing or three about getting the kind of unsolicited “attention” from hormonally driven women and gay admirers.

“Yes, I get indecent proposals from both sexes—pero wala pa naman akong pinatulan (laughs),” he disclosed. “There are those whom I totally ignore, especially the super bastos ones, but I befriend the others who are medyo disente ang dating until they realize I’m no piece of meat.”

At 22, the hunky 6-foot tall actor is making his bid as local Tinseltown’s latest big-screen heartthrob by way of director Louie Ignacio’s “Almost a Love Story,” a rom-com costarring Barbie Forteza that was partly shot in picturesque Tricase in the southeastern Salento region of Italy.

Derrick had a grand time acting in the production’s Italian sequences, but he said he needed some time to get used to the lovely comune’s ice-cold weather. He shared, “It was freezing when we got there. It was my first time in Italy, so imagine the kind of adjustments I had to make, especially because we had to shoot our scenes there for about 10 days,” he shared.

The movie’s European shoot had a lot of memorable moments for Derrick, but one particular scene he couldn’t forget involved more than just taking his shirt off. “In an unforgettable underwater sequence, Direk Louie instructed me to take my top off, then remove my underwear! That was crazy, but [it made sense because] it was something that my character, Luigi, would do,” he said.

Monasterio with Barbie Forteza

While Derrick doesn’t mind showing “some” skin, he acknowledges that there are limits to what he’s willing to share with the public—like those very “revealing” sex videos that are “suspiciously” leaked in cyberspace.

Now a dime a dozen on the world wide web, they feature mostly fading male stars and eager-to-please starlets.

“You won’t catch me in such a ‘compromising’ act any time soon,” he assured us during a Kapuso Night-related interview in Davao City a couple of years ago. “Yes, I’m outgoing and I always have a lot of energy, because I’m a Leo—but there are things that I still keep to myself.”

In the same chat, Derrick even came to those daring actors’ defense. He said there were reasons why they were, well, caught with their pants down: “Blame it on men’s raging hormones. Who knows, they might have been coaxed into [doing the deed]. Everybody goes through that stage naman. Look, there are many sex videos online these days, but theirs are sensationalized because they’re celebrities.”

Speaking of his film “Almost a Love Story,” when we asked Derrick early this week if he were as sensible where his breakups were concerned, he enthused, “I’m still young, so I don’t really have a lot of failed relationships to draw from. Even the ones that I considered serious, I’ve only had one or two, so far. But, the breakups that eventually followed were always mutually agreed upon. We talked about it. For those that weren’t serious, we just lost touch.”

Asked what he finds attractive in women, Derrick said that he likes them “tall, slender and fair-skinned.”

Like Barbie? “What I find sexy about Barbie is her personality—she’s makulit, bubbly and fun to be with. We jive in a lot of ways,” he said.

But, for Derrick to truly fall for a girl, he said that it went beyond physical attributes: “She should be as intelligent as she is funny. It’s an even bigger draw if she happens to be a loving person, especially to her family.

“Moreover, she should understand the kind of work I’m into—which, for any girl, requires a lot of patience and understanding.”