Piolo feels blessed with breaks coming his way

Piolo Pascual is one of those rare fishes who will pass the chance to make a so-so movie guaranteed to be a box-office success. You heard it right. He respects acting so much that he’d rather nix the chance of becoming a big star than be branded a ham actor.

Can’t blame the guy. His first film, Lagarista, made people sit up and notice not just his handsome face but his acting potential as well. As a biker in the film, Piolo exuded a mix of innocence, angst and boyish charm.

Here was one pretty face who can be deglamorized and come out more interesting, even appealing.

Lagarista was exhibited at the Toronto Film Festival. Piolo was part of the entourage, of course. And the experience overwhelms him to this day.

He can’t help gushing about it during a special presscon ABS-CBN hosted for him recently.

"Lagarista is the kind of film I can be proud of, the kind I want to show my children someday," says Piolo.

The solo presscon was a good indication that the Star Network is not taking its prized drama talent lightly. After landing plum roles in Vizconde Massacre in 1991, Batang PX in 1997 and Esperanza in 1999, Piolo is not about to rest on his laurels.

There’s much to get excited about. In Star Cinema’s eighth anniversary offering Mila, Piolo is drug junkie Primo who falls in love with the lead character, a teacher played by Maricel Soriano. As a guy who wants to reform but fails miserably in the process, Piolo plays his most mature role so far.

Another gem of a film Piolo is doing is Chito Roño’s Dekada 70, set in the decade that saw the rise of Student Power and the hippies. Piolo is an NPA who goes to the boondocks to dramatize his anti-government stance. So engrossed is Piolo in the role as Vilma Santos and Christopher de Leon’s eldest son, that he shed as much as 20 pounds to appear convincing as a rebel who turns his back on life’s creature comforts.

Piolo’s no-rice diet has paid handsomely. Not only does he have a leaner frame, he also feels lighter and better.

Piolo is on the look out for a go-between for him and a real-life NPA, whom he plans to talk to in the mountains – if need be – for the role.

And since most of the NPAs are of the dusky kind – by dint of genetics or environment – Piolo didn’t mind being a little bit on the dark side for the film.

So what happened to the hunk image his handlers have so carefully built for him together with Carlos Agassi, Diether Ocampo, Jericho Rosales and Bernard Palanca?

Piolo shrugs, as if saying that’s okay, it’s all in a day’s work.

He’ll go back to that look in no time at all anyway, after his work on Dekada is over.

This hunk realizes the days of matinee idols as just good lookers is over. Today’s matinee idol must not only have a handsome face, he must also have the body to match it. The definition has broadened, and Piolo is not complaining.

"People want to see a fit matinee idol," he explains.

The lean look will also come in handy when Piolo fulfills his other dream: making an action movie. That dream is not about to come his way tomorrow, as Piolo’s other assignment casts him as Judy Ann Santos’ leading man in a romantic comedy tentatively-titled KO Ang TL Ko.

The guy is blessed. And he admits it.

"I’m happy with the way my career is going," Piolo flashes a disarming smile.

So, too, are fans who think Piolo has the lethal combination of Aga Muhlach’s matinee idol charm, Richard Gomez’s sex appeal and Christopher de Leon’s dramatic prowess.

Too good to be true, perhaps. But let’s face it. At 23, Piolo has time on his side. And oh yes, the eagerness of someone who takes his job as he does seriously as he does life itself.