These tween stars get tough and dirty

MANILA, Philippines - Starting tonight, GMA 7’s primetime soap Luna Blanca enters a new phase as characters Luna and Blanca turn teenagers in the persons of Bea Binene and Barbie Forteza, respectively.

Once again, Bea and Barbie’s acting will be put to a test. But it will no longer be a question of, “Who acts better between the two?” as both had already hit the public radar with their effective portrayal as lead characters in their respective drama starrers in the past. Barbie had Pilyang Kerubin and Nita Negrita while Bea played the title role Alice Bungisngis. It is more of determining now how they will effectively plunge into their characters who are their total opposites.

Losing her demure and lady-like manner for Blanca’s tough and street-smart personality gets Barbie into thinking of how she could look the part without exaggeration. She initially read the script and asked director Dominic Zapata’s nod to deliver her lines with her own words. That way, she gets to express herself more than just following the script to the letter.

“(The role) Blanca, who lives in the squatter’s area, requires me to act like a kanto girl kaya mas maganda kung ‘yung dialogues ay natural na galing sa akin, konting ad-lib din payag si direk,” shares Barbie who started taping some scenes in Marikina the past week.

She, too, relies on the dilemma of her character to easily give apt emotions to each dramatic scene. “It’s always a sad thing to live in poverty, add to that the fact that there are kids who can’t go to school. That’s how Blanca is in the story so thinking about those things makes me cry.”

Luckily, her experience in the indie Puntod had given her enough exposure in the stinky area of mountainous garbage. “Magbabasura din ang character ko dun pareho ni Blanca kaya sanay na ’ko.”   

What need some more polishing are her “angas” moves. “I need to be rough and tough which I am not in real life kaya medyo konting praktis pa.”

For her part, Bea finds the acting task three or four times gruelling than her past projects. Aside from the dramatic acting it requires, she has to endure that “itchy, hot feeling” while her face and body are heavily covered with dark make-up. It usually took two hours for her fair complexion to turn dark as soot. “And we have to re-touch in every scene due to perspiration and oiliness.”

What inspires Bea the most are the values the show imparts with televiewers. “Just like Luna, we all need to believe on what we can do because it gives us the strength to survive life’s difficulties.”

She continues, “We can lean on to our family but how about those who unfortunately lose their families due to some circumstances? Si Luna walang pamilya pero buo pa rin ang loob n’ya para mabuhay mag-isa.”

And just like any teenager, the show also illustrates young love with Bea falling in love with Kristoffer Martin while Barbie partners with Derrick Monasterio.

“I didn’t expect Derrick to be my love team but since we’ve been together in Tween Hearts, we’re both comfortable acting out our scenes. Pareho pa kaming kalog kaya masaya,” says Barbie.

Bea admits it will be her first time to work without her perennial screen partner Jake Vargas.

“This is my first soap without Jake but it’s okay. We all have to take new path, new challenges.”