Piolo to colleagues: Be responsible

MANILA, Philippines - “Be responsible.”

That is Piolo Pascual’s advice to younger stars on how to avoid getting themselves in sticky situations.

The 38-year-old actor was asked last Sunday on the sidelines of the presscon for his new indie film Silong opposite Rhian Ramos about handling himself in public, following fellow Kapamilya artist Enrique Gil’s televised apology over his reported alcohol-induced misbehavior during a flight to London for an ASAP show.   

Piolo was also part of the recent ASAP London show, but he wasn’t privy to what exactly happened (“I wasn’t there”). Saying that actors are human beings first and “not saints” who are expected not to drink or go out, he nevertheless learned through the years to avert situations that can potentially cast them in a bad light by being very aware of the repercussions of their actions.

Piolo said, “Be responsible. At the end of the day, you have to know your limitations. You can be happy, and you can be intoxicated as long as you know you’re not out of your wits and you’re responsible enough to, of course, face the media or social media wherein they can record everything and anything that you do. It’s a given: Everything now is magnified, everything can be videotaped easily with the CCTV and cameras on (mobile) phones. So, you just have to be a responsible person.”

Meanwhile, while in London, Piolo was photographed for the first time with ex-girlfriend KC Concepcion, a development that went viral on social media and thrilled fans. “It was at an after-party for ASAP on a boat rented by (ABS-CBN big boss) Sir Gabby Lopez on River Thames. I guess nagkaroon ng chance (to bond). I was there and getting a drink at the bar, one thing led to another. Although things like that you hope would be kept from the public eye, but it came out, made people happy, so that’s it. At the end of the day, I’m just happy that everyone is happy about it.”

The picture was probably more of an addendum to the already “improving” ties between the ex-couple since their much-publicized break-up in 2011. Piolo revealed that long before the photo was taken, the icy relationship, so to speak, has somewhat thawed to the point that whenever they would meet, they were civil towards each other.   

“I guess it (the photo) was just magnified on social media because Kristina (KC’s real name) and I are actually OK even before London. Ever since her lola (Elaine Cuneta) passed (early this year), we kind of broke the ice already when I sent my condolences and then when we would see each other, we were OK. Maybe (this time) we just had the chance to talk lengthily, we had the time to talk about the past, asked each other how are you, this and that. It was a happy moment, ang sarap kasi it was a thorn off your chest. Showbiz is a very small circle, we work in the same station, hindi naman pwedeng hindi kayo magpansinan, but I guess it was just the first time we got to bond,” Piolo said.

Meantime, Piolo is busy promoting Silong which is set to open in 100 theaters tomorrow, Sept. 16. Produced under SQ Film Laboratories and Black Mamba Pictures, and released by Star Cinema, the romantic-thriller -— which was the closing film of this year’s Cinemalaya Film Festival -— was co-directed by singer-turned-filmmaker Jeffrey Hidalgo and Roy Sevilla Ho (who was also a former editor at this paper’s sister publication The Freeman.) 

“By far, I should say this is the most twisted character I’ve done,” Piolo described his character, Miguel Castro, a doctor still grieving over the death of his wife. He meets a badly bruised woman named Valerie (Rhian) on a deserted road and tries to nurse her back to health.

Piolo on his role in Silong: ‘By far, this is, I should say, the most twisted character I’ve done.’

It’s not hard to notice that Piolo, who was last seen on the big screen via The Break-Up Playlist with Sarah Geronimo, has been increasingly starring in indies. He is also part of the next opus of Lav Diaz, known for critically-acclaimed, marathon-length films. According to Piolo, he’s not doing indies because he wants to shed off his rom-com leading-man image or take a break from the mainstream fare.

He said, “This movie came to me about two years ago… it was an opportunity that I just couldn’t pass. There’s no conscious effort on my part to do anything different because my job as an actor is to do roles that will really be a challenge. I’m just happy and content that even if I am under an exclusive contract with ABS-CBN, I’m allowed to do (indie) roles that I really want to do, out of the box, just to give me the chance to diversify, career-wise.

“And it’s hard to do something like this because more often than not, hindi nakikita ng maraming tao ang ginagawa mo, especially with indie films. That’s why I want to put (it) out there, in our community, because there’s a lot of great concepts in indie films that people don’t get to watch… I guess what’s good about doing indies is you kind of have that playing field wherein you cannot necessarily experiment, but you can cross the line as to how far you wanna go. Here, there’s probably more freedom to move around. I’m not saying that doing rom-coms (will) always (put you) in a box. But doing indies is really interesting because there are more concepts you can play around with. I have so much fun doing indies.”