By Roger Serna
DonBelle, dubbed as the New Gen Phenomenal Loveteam, is up with a new project, a television series that, according to Director Ian Loreños, is “not only romantic but is also about family, human struggle and triumph.” It also has thrilling and suspenseful elements.
The story of “Can’t Buy Me Love,” according to Star Creatives Manager Jay Fernando, during the recent media conference, has been in development for, more or less, three years. He added that Star Creatives usually “ferment a story until such time when it is ready for consumption.”
Lead stars Donny Pangilinan and Belle Mariano, playing Bingo and Caroline, respectively, are supported by a mix of new generation stars and tried-and-tested veteran actors. The young cast is composed of Carina Bautista, Chie Filomeno, Joao Constancia, Albie Casiño, Maris Racal, Anthony Jennings, Vivoree and Darren.
Rowell Santiago, Ruffa Gutierrez, Agot Isidro, Nova Villa and Alora Sasam are also in the cast. At the helm are directors Loreños, Mae Cruz Alvear and Cathy Garcia-Sampano.
Director Mae said that the characters the stars are playing are new to them. She narrated how she instructed Donny to rush when trying to ride a jeepney upon seeing the actor queue up. Donnie admitted it’s his first time to play an underprivileged character.
Direk Mae also divulged that in a drowning scene, Belle had to wear a four-kilogram weight for her to sink since the latter is a floater. Belle said it’s also her first time to play a rich character adding that the project posed a big challenge, that of learning to speak Fokien.
Direk Mae likened Donnie and Belle to yin and yang, complementing each other thereby displaying good chemistry and inspiring the other cast members to also give their best.
Contradicting the answers of the other stars including Donnie, Belle, Nova and Albie, among others, Ruffa believes that it’s possible to have a date even without a budget adding that the two can simply sit in a park, hold hands, look at the sky and dream of having money in the future.
Everyone burst out laughing when Ruffa said that such belief often earns the ire of her mom Annabelle for making bad choices in her lovelife.
Nova expressed her happiness to be back in ABS-CBN, her home network for 36 years. Agot admitted gaining confidence with the knowledge that the project is in the hands of good directors.
Rowell said that he purposely avoided appearing in a teleseries for a year so that his prominent portrayal of the President of the Republic in “FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano” will be erased from the memory of viewers.
Darren is dropping his family name to make a distinction between Darren Espanto, the singer, and Darren, the actor.
Everyone in the cast aired their gratitude for having been given the opportunity to be included in the line-up as they believe audiences will appreciate the beauty of the project and patronize it for a long time. Moira de la Torre sings the theme song in the series’ soundtrack.
“Can’t Buy Me Love” will be shown in Netflex starting Friday (Oct. 13), IWantTFC (Oct. 14) and on free TV starting Monday, Oct. 16, at 8:45 p.m.
