Casting woes hound new ‘teleseryes’
FUENTES. Not enough elbow room in her kontrabida role.
Like many Susan Roces-Amalia Fuentes fans, we were looking forward to seeing them revive their stellar rivalry in the new teleserye, “Muling Buksan Ang Puso.” Unfortunately, after only one taping session, Amalia decided to step away from the eagerly awaited show—for a number of instructive reasons. We thank her for bothering to detail them, so useful lessons can be learned:
First off, according to reports, she felt that her unrelievedly “poor girl” role wasn’t textured or layered enough for her to be able to make it develop and grow beyond its predictable kontrabida dimensions. She wanted to give it more sense and “heart” but, in her view, she wasn’t given enough “elbow room” to do that.
Amalia has always been known for sticking to her guns, so it’s no surprise that she chafed at the less than ideal parameters given to her assigned character. But, it’s still disappointing to see that her big thespic comeback with her top rival, Susan, is not meant to be.
But, all is not lost: She may still star in another ABS-CBN series, playing a character that’s less predictably villainous, and thus more to her liking.
Lesson learned: When a big star who is financially comfortable and doesn’t “have” to work stipulates key changes in terms of material or character, the production had better comply with them, or lose the golden opportunity of working with the prized talent.
The big question now is, who will be tapped to step into the plum role that Amalia has opted to say, “Thanks—but, no thanks,” to?
At her level, only a few other icons in their own right can pass muster—among them, Hilda Koronel, Marlene Dauden and Dina Bonnevie. —Which one will the stressed and flustered teleserye fairy bless?
Less than friendly
Casting problems hound and harass other TV shows, as well. For instance, the otherwise popular show, “Ina, Kapatid, Anak,” is being affected by the now less than friendly relationship between its two young female leads, Kim Chiu and Maja Salvador, both of whom have been involved with actor Gerald Anderson.
While the two stars insist that they have been behaving professionally and haven’t allowed their rift to adversely affect their portrayals, it still intrudes into the drama’s impact on viewers.
To be sure, some observers say that the real-life rift adds to the series’ believability, since the two leads are supposed to be at odds with one another—!
But, in our view, that’s still art following life too much, so we hope that the young stars will be able to resolve their differences before the series winds up its storytelling.
Also less than smooth sailing is what the magazine show, “Mars,” is experiencing, for the simple reason that its two hosts, Suzi Entrata-Abrera and Camille Prats, aren’t a good fit, age-wise.
Suzi is decidedly older than Camille, so their points of view sometimes fail to mesh. Variety is the spice, but not in this instance (the two ladies are supposed to be kumares, who usually belong to approximately the same age group), so changes could be in order for the show to come off better than it currently does. Specifically, Camille comes off as too young to be anybody’s mare.
