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Christian Bables discusses exploring and discovering what it’s like to be ‘street gay’.



8/25/2019 3:26 PM

Ever since he rose to prominence as an actor, Christian Bables has become a talent who chooses to play characters “na may puso” and “dapat po laging may gustong sabihin sa mga nanonood.”

He’s proven this being the overeager assistant of John Lloyd Cruz in Someone Like You, who initiates a makeover for the distraught bride Sarah Geronimo. On television, he was a furniture plant supervisor and loyal pal to Jericho Rosales in Halik who became a rather unpredictable character. “Kase po papunta character ko towards gender fluidity eh. Na-embrace sya ng LGBTQ.” In the end he finally ended up with Hero Angeles’ flirty character.

In the upcoming comedy The Panti Sisters of writer-director Jun Lana, Bables becomes an all-out gay son, estranged from his two other gay brothers Paolo Ballesteros and Martin del Rosario. They must cease hostilities when they are summoned by their dying wealthy father (played by John Arcilla) who gives them his last wish: for one of them to give him a grandchild otherwise no inheritance for them.

Bables is bent on showing a new side of a gay person wit his character Samuel Panti. “Baklang kanal ako dito,” he blurts. “Bargas, walang poise walang ka-pino-pino sa katawan. In short sa tatlong magkakapatid na gays, ako iyung pinaka-jologs”.

But what made his character even more interesting for him is what he did to help him inhabit his character effectively. “Ay nagpunta po ako sa Tondo. Bag-observe ako sa mga gays doon. Kung paano sila kumilos, magwalwal, magsalita, makisama. Mga gays na di pansin ang pagpapa-poise. Maingay sila ang I had fun,” he shared.

Who was his inspiration for his character Samuel? “Si Miss Vice Ganda ang ideal ng character ko eh. So evident yun sa pagkilos, pagsasalita ni Samuel. Iyung mabilis na pag punchlines ni Miss Vice, wit niya, naisip ko bagay para kay Samuel.”

But there is one trait of Samuel from his character description the actor finds intriguing. “Fierce kase siya eh. Street smart kung tutuusin. Yung pigging baklang kanal niya, hindi nega na character. May gusto lang talagang ipakita sa mundo. May gustong mapatunayan sa buhay. Pero not necessarily napaka-lalim na tao”.

His last sentence connects to Lana’s view of the entire movie whereby “iyung significance ng movie na’to is not mainly trying to show na there should be specific places for the LGBTQ community. We’re not thinking of matters like in-your-face social relevance of the movie or deep messages. The movie is mainly fin to watch, considering how magical our cast is. Makikita po natin ang good blending of the lives of straight and gay people,” Lana added.

Submitted by Wilbur F. Hernandez for push.com August 22, 2019