Karylle combines business & pleasure

Even the best actors need a take two. They are, after all, as human and prone to mistakes as we ordinary mortals are. Except that they happen to be more beautiful, more idolized.

That’s why, when Karylle was thrown into a one-take set-up in the Toga episode of Creative Futures, Inc.’s indie film Pitong Tagpo, she felt as if the rug was pulled from under her feet. Suddenly, she found herself outside her comfort zone.

But instead of wringing her hands and gnashing her teeth, Karylle chose to look at the bright side. She took director-screenwriter Rahyan Carlos’ orders as a challenge.

This explains why Karylle is beside herself with joy, stopping short of shouting it to the world that yes, she’s proud of her work. To top it all, she’s happy to have had the chance to work with Bembol Roco and learn from him.

As a tortured fresh graduate rebelling against her absentee OFW father (Bembol), Karylle had all the chance to prove she can do drama as well as she can host and record songs in her album.

So troubled is Karylle’s character she even attempts suicide by perching precariously on a ledge one dark day. Tension mounts when father and daughter confront each other in one emotionally-charged moment.

The role is as physically draining as it is emotionally loaded. Karylle is only too glad she went to all those gym workouts that allowed her to run up and down flights of stairs, all in one long take. The minute direk Rahyan (Pamahiin, Shake, Rattle & Roll 8) shouts ‘Cut!”, no one is allowed to turn back. The camera will not grind to a half for any actor — veteran or not. And woe is the actor who fumbles.

Film buffs have seen this technique work wonders in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Rope, Robert Altman’s The Player, Brian de Palma’s Snake Eyes, Rodrigo Garcia’s Nine Lives and Jeffrey Jeturian’s Kubrador. So the brave, bold people behind Creative Futures can’t see why it can’t do the same for their first venture, Pitong Tagpo.

Seasoned theater hands in the seven-episode production (e.g. Cherry Pie Picache, Robert Seña and wife Isay Alvarez and Vangie Labalan) may hurdle the challenge with aplomb. But what about those like Karylle, who, after Trumpets’ Little Mermaid, have yet to chalk up a long list of theater credits?

Karylle admits to feeling awed at her co-star’s presence.

“Bembol is so good an actor! He looks so macho in his leather jacket, but when he broke down in one scene with me, all that tough image melted away,” recalls Karylle.

You can actually feel the fear crawling all over his body, she goes on. And Karylle can only wish the audience will see her effort to measure up to his acting when Pitong Tagpo premieres at The Centerstage, SM Mall of Asia tonight at 7. Special screenings are set on Oct. 12 at SM Megamall and Oct. 27 at The Block, SM North EDSA.

Karylle is just as proud of her new “baby” with boyfriend Dingdong Dantes. The couple, together with friends like Bobby Garcia (not the stage director) have just opened the Centerstage KTV-Restaurant and Circle Cafe at the second floor of Centro Building, near the Morato Circle in Quezon City. You can’t miss the spanking new place sprawled over a 900-sq. m. area. It is awash in lights, giving the place a welcome, cheery glow, especially at night.

It is Karylle’s answer to her entrepreneur-friends’ challenge for her to come up with a business she can call her own.

“They have been investing in stocks and businesses. I felt so left behind. So I came up with this venture,” Karylle explains.

The venture has been squeezing Karylle’s creative juices to the max. She is forever on her toes, thinking of new come-ons. One of them is a varied menu of 30,000 songs divided into intriguing categories.

The “Beauty Queen” category, for instance, caters to those who go for songs like It’s Raining Men and I Will Survive. Then there are the Sawi Songs for those who want to keep their sanity intact during those dark, lonely nights.

Karylle also plans to fill the place with meaningful artists’ memorabilia. For starters, she has asked her mom, Zsa Zsa Padilla, The CompanY, the Bagets gang and her S.O.P. friends to donate anything — pictures, tickets, albums, etc. — for guests to ogle at.

There’s more. The first-time entrepreneur announces the launching of Open Mike Night on Mondays.

“You can go up the stage and sing to your heart’s content,” she reveals. She and her partners are also tapping a show band and a retro group as regular performers. A Ladies’ Night will also be launched.

Of course, the sound system must be A1, and the videoke light box just as fault-free.

And while Karylle goes to the place as often as she can, it is Dingdong who can drop by more frequently since his house is just nearby. A businessman in his own right, Dingdong brings friends and clients to the place. They hold meetings in the seminar-meeting rooms and sing their cares away soon after.

Karylle knows reinvention will keep the guests coming. So she is forever in search of new ideas, new inputs to liven up the place.

Now, Karylle need not lag behind her entrepreneur-friends anymore. Not only that. It’s far from no-work-no-play for her. She can combine business with pleasure in this brave, new business with her beloved Dingdong. How’s that for having your cake and eating it, too?