My memorable close encounter with Rihanna

There’s an interesting story behind the two photos you see on this page, one that doesn’t lose its thrill effect even if retold once too often.

It happened the week before Lent in April last year on the flight deck of USS George Washington at the US Naval Base in Yokosuka, an hour drive away from Tokyo where us journalists from around the world were billeted at the five-star Ritz Carlton (where Sofia Coppola shot several scenes of her critically-acclaimed movie Lost in Translation) for Battleship, the movie debut of Rihanna.

It was nearing sunset and the spring breeze was far colder where we were than it was in Tokyo, making all of us (including Rihanna’s co-stars Taylor Kitsch, Alexander Skarsgaard, Brooklyn Decker and Japanese actor Tadanobu Asano, with the movie’s director Peter Berg who claimed to be a Manny Paquiao fan) shiver even as we were wrapped in thick jackets.

After our one-on-one (for Startalk), I tried my luck by asking Rihanna if I could have a picture with her (it’s a big no-no during Hollywood junkets to ask for the stars’ autographs and have a picture with them…but you can always try). Breaking into the same friendly wide smile that never left her face throughout the round-table interviews the day before, Rihanna said, “Sure!”

Wasting not a second, I reached for my cellphone inside my jacket pocket and, with my hand slightly trembling (not so much from the icy-cold wind as from my sudden nervous excitement), I clicked the shutter. I checked the picture and, OMG(!!!), it was blurred.

Rihanna flashed me a questioning look and asked, “Okay?” I mumbled, “Not quite,” and thanked her anyway. I felt “vindicated” when she smiled (always smiling, huh!), “Let’s do it one more time!,” calling her assistant, “Do it for us please!” At last, good shot! Rihanna sat so close to me that I could smell her sweet fragrance and feel what a cheerful soul beats inside her rich natural (nothing retouched?) resources. I said, “Thank you very much!” and, again, she smiled, “Thank you, too!”

If only for that single, memorable close encounter with her, I would proclaim Rihanna the nicest, humblest, friendliest (one of the few, anyway) and most accommodating Class-A celebrity, so beautiful inside and out.

Will Rihanna be as nice and as accommodating when she comes back in September for her second (after last year’s) in Manila? I should hope so, unless she would be reeling from jetlag.

Some sound bites from that interview:

•  â€Do I sing in the movie (Battleship)? No, I don’t. My role (as a petty officer second class in the US Navy) doesn’t call for it. You know, I sing in real life. That’s who I am. But not in the movie. I want to keep the two worlds separate — the world where I sing and the world where I act.”
•  â€What role do I want to do next, if ever? I want to do a romance-comedy. One day, I’ll be doing a role like that. And maybe I’ll sing in one of my future films.”
• (Asked how she’d react if offered to play Whitney Houston) “There’s a lot of pressure in it. That would be something incredible. It would be an honor. But you know, I would really, really think about it and prepare hard for it. Uhm, it would take a lot of training and preparation but I guess I would be up to it.”

If ever I got a chance to meet Rihanna again, I would show her the two photos shot on the deck of a warship. And, why not, have another picture taken with her…up closer?

(Note: Rihanna’s Diamonds World Tour on Sept. 19 at the MOA Arena is locally presented by Smart; brought to you by tour promoters Music Management International in association with Live Nation Global Touring. Tickets are available at all SM Tickets outlets: SVIP Php 26,990; VIP Php 21,710; Patron Seated Php 16,430; Lower Box A Php 13,260; Lower Box B Php 11,150; Patron Standing Php 11,150; Lower Box C Php 7,980; Upper Box Php 4,810; General Admission Php 1,960. Call 470-2222 or visit www.SMTickets.com.)