Derrick Monasterio bares his leading man potential

Derrick Monasterio is among the Sparkle 8, GMA 7’s next brightest stars, being introduced early this year by the network’s talent management arm, Sparkle GMA Artist Center.

He, Khalil Ramos, Ruru Madrid and Miguel Tanfelix are dubbed as its poster boys, while Gabbi Garcia, Sanya Lopez, Bianca Umali and Ysabel Ortega are known as poster girls. As faces that represent the artist center, they are expected to grace the small screen and sparkle with their talents.

To showcase his leading man potential, Derrick headlines Return To Paradise, a drama series, which will premiere tomorrow, Aug. 1, on the GMA Afternoon Prime after Apoy Sa Langit. The actor is about to flex his acting muscles in portraying a college student, named Red Ramos. The production notes reveal that the latter is being marooned on an island after a plane crash, with another college student Eden. Sta. Maria, played by the newcomer Elle Villanueva.

“When I was 17, I started to lift weights, nagkaroon ako ng kunting muscles, yun na (I gained few muscles and that was it),” said Derrick of how some took notice of his hunk image in a recent virtual press conference. “For me, hindi ko naman talaga siya like pinlano (it wasn’t something that I planned). Ako talaga, I just want (to be) fit and I just love working out, pero yun nga hindi ko ini-expect na magagamit ko siya dito sa ganitong role.” Derrick took this assignment as an opportunity to share what he is made of, acting-wise.

“Siyempre, gusto ko din po na makita nila na hindi lang ito puro like pa-yummy (Of course, I want them to see that this is not just about looking good on the screen or a display of physique),” said he of what fans and viewers can expect from the Sparkle artist, who acted in Legal Wives and a Daig Kayo Ng Lola Ko episode, co-hosted Catch Me Out Philippines and released a single, Virgo, in the new normal. “Gusto kong makita nila na, alam mo yun, kaya ko ring mag-deliver (I also want them to see that I can deliver as an actor).”

Derrick acknowledged the production and creative people, like his director Don Michael Perez and acting coaches, in helping him portray Red. He gained insights from the collaboration among  them.

“I think, for me, this is the best team that I’ve worked with,” said he. “Grabe lang yung passion ko for this project kasi grabe rin yung passion nila.”

As everyone knows, Derrick’s leading lady is Elle, whom he followed on social media like Instagram before finally meeting her in a workshop.

“Yung vibe kasi ni Elle is chill lang siya… chill din lang ako kaya kami nag-connect,” said Derrick, “mabilis naming na-trust yung isa’t-isa.”

From there, they depended on each other to create their characters and the onscreen chemistry. With the good rapport between them, Derrick and Elle worked on set with trust and respect. Their acting process made work easy, said he, who had some intimate scenes with Elle. They did them professionally and with proper guidance from the director and acting coaches.

“Hindi na kami naiilang… it’s very important, especially for me to ask her, what’s her limitation, kasi ayaw ko siyempreng maka-disrespect ng co-actor ko,” shared he. Derrick added that Elle is good at acting and has only given her best.

Through their work, Derrick considers Elle as one of his closest friends. Every time he sees something randomly or experiences something interesting like food, Derrick will share a snap shot or a piece of information of it with Elle.

From the perspective of direk Don, he found the workshop that Derrick and Elle attended a big help for them to play their characters.

“During it, Elle and Derrick got to know each other very well,” said he. “By the time we got to the island, they were very comfortable with each other. I credit our excellent acting coaches. Because of that, it made my job a lot easier. Ang isang maganda ding ginawa namin (Another good thing that we did) was we tried to shoot (the scenes) chronologically, meaning kung ano yung umpisa ng kwento, sinundan namin siya hanggang mag-progress yung kwento as per script. More or less, they grew with the characters. By the time that we got to the scenes that they needed to be intimate, na kailangan na nilang mag-bond, na kailangan na nilang ipakita yung love nila for each other, naging organic yung development nung characters nila.”

Although he is summer beach bod ready for the character, Derrick had this to say as part of his preparations, “I had to trim down a bit physically because I looked big on TV… I tried to deliver the lines in a different way, tried to change my looks at least para hindi ako mag-mukhang dating mga characters.”

Since the GMA Afternoon Prime series will premiere on his birthday, Derrick was also asked about his wishes during the group interview. Among them are “for this show to fly and (hopefully) people can relate to it,” said he.

Also part of the ensemble acting are Eula Valdez, Allen Dizon, Teresa Loyzaga, Ricardo Cepeda, Karel Marquez, Kiray Celis, Liezel Lopez and Paolo Paraiso.