To bare or not to bare

Pauleen Luna may have the curves at all the right places and ranked ninth in recent FHM Magazine survey on the sexiest women in the country. But she’s not plunging headlong into unchartered waters and biting the offer to grace the cover of the man’s glossy.

The offer to appear on the cover is flattering, Pauleen says. But she has to turn it down.

"I’m only 17 (she marks her debut in November). I’m not ready for it. Probably someday, when I need a career change or when I get bored at the way my career is going," says Pauleen.

As it is, she has no reason to worry. The GMA 7 talent insists she is beside herself with joy at how people in the Kapuso network are treating her, even if she came from rival network ABS-CBN.

Pauleen is a mainstay of GMA 7’s Now and Forever, where she co-stars with JC de Vera, with whom she shares many experiences, on-screen and off.

Pauleen admits she and JC had a mutual understanding for six months. But they decided to call it off and remain friends because their busy schedules got in the way of their young romance.

But the chemistry built-in between two people sharing a beautiful past can’t be denied. It shows in their upcoming movie, Regal Entertainment’s White Lady. The horror movie casts JC as a student torn between current love Pearl (Pauleen) and school outcast Christina (Angelica Panganiban).

As the student who sees Christina’s ghost, Pauleen has to show raw fear in many of her scenes. And that is where the problem lay at first.

Not having done any horror film before (her film before White Lady was the romance drama Blue Moon), Pauleen felt awkward trying to scream her lungs out. Besides, she happens to be a brave soul who doesn’t get scared easily. In fact, Pauleen even asked a male ghost she sensed lurking in her home to leave her in peace (he did).

So screaming just goes against her character.

"I don’t know how to scream the right way. So I asked my director (Jeffrey Tan, son of the late Universal Records boss Bella Tan) if I could do it another way," says Pauleen.

Her young director saw no problem with that.

Thus, Pauleen put on the scariest facial expression she could muster.

Pauleen’s third eye allows her to sense if an unseen force is following her. She has also seen a ghost many times right at her own backyard.

"But I don’t want to develop my third eye. It scares the delights out of me," she admits.

Suffice it to say that Pauleen’s goose bumps automatically break out when she senses an unseen presence anywhere, anytime.

Anyway, there’s always the beach or Sombrero Island (in Anilao) to go to whenever she feels out of sorts.

"I’m a water person," she admits. "I enjoy jet skiing and deep-sea diving. I feel like I’m transported to another world."

But those lazy days at the beach will have to wait once more when she starts shooting Regal’s Metro Filmfest entry, ZsaZsa Zaturnnah.

This time, Pauleen dabbles in comedy with Zsa Zsa Padilla, Rustom Padilla and others. Which is just as well. If she had her way, Pauleen would rather play a variety of different roles for her 12-picture contract with Regal.

Getting stuck in a role would be stunting her talents too early in the game.

At the rate juicy offers are coming her way though, Pauleen need not worry. She’s having her fill of all the movie genres there are (except for action, that is). For that, she has a lot to be thankful for, and to look forward to.