Saturday, June 22, 2013

Novela Pages: Dama y Obrero


Dama y Obrero 

A love that dared to go beyond all differences and prejudices

Telemundo/ 8pm/7c
Original run: June 24, 2013-October 18, 2013
Originally written by José Ignacio Valenzuela
Adaptation for Telemundo by Sandra Velasco



SYNOPSIS
Ignacia (Ana Layevska) is a young engineer who works for an important construction company that belongs to Tomas (Fabian Rios), her boyfriend. Ignacia and Tomas have been together a long time and finally decide to get married, although Ignacia could never imagine the kind of man Tomas really is. Days before the wedding, they have a heated argument, and Ignacia decides to leave town and have some time to herself. That is how she meets Pedro (Jose Luis Resendez), a charming, seemingly wealthy man, who makes her forget all her problems. Their attraction is immediate and mutual. With neither being able to control themselves, they end up spending an unforgettable weekend together, each falling in love with the other. However, Ignacia knows she is only living a dream, a parenthesis in her life, so first thing Monday morning, Pedro wakes up to only find a note from Ignacia, thanking him for their time together but leaving him no trace of how to find her.

Regretting what happened, Ignacia returns home to find that Tomas is waiting for her with a new position in the company, expecting her to forgive him. She accepts the post, but when she goes to visit the construction site that she will now be managing, she is shocked to find herself face-to-face with Pedro, an average construction worker with no money and no great aspirations.

Pedro, indeed, is just another worker at the site, while Ignacia is the boss, the wealthy one, the one with all the professional success. The differences between Ignacia and Pedro are great, like a deep chasm that separates them, however, they will discover that their passion and love is stronger than anything else, and as much as they try, they cannot be apart. Among Ignacia’s well-to-do family and Pedro’s working class family, the relationship causes a scandal. The more the couple gets closer, the more reasons arise for those around them to believe that theirs is an impossible love.

Ignacia and Pedro will discover that, despite having every reason not to be together, they will love each other above prejudice, differences and rejection, however, they will have to ask themselves whether it’s all worth it when it seems that the entire world is against them.



CHARACTERS




IGNACIA SANTAMARIA– Ana Layevska
She’s a beautiful, smart and sensitive young woman of very good social status and college-educated. She has a natural gift for leadership and believes that women are not the weaker sex. Ignacia is a woman who has not experienced true passion in her life. When she finds it, she won’t give it up and will cling fearlessly to whom she considers the love of her life. She's willing to do anything to show everyone that having love is more than enough. She has a very poor relationship with her mother, whom she doesn't consider a friend and is always quarreling with her. She is incapable of forgiving Mariano, her father, for having abandoned them when she was a child.



PEDRO PEREZ – Jose Luis Resendez
He’s very attractive, sexy and manly. Pedro is sensitive and smart, but also very impulsive. He’s a humble guy, who leads a tough, hard-working life. He doesn't have a steady job and makes a living from whatever jobs he gets. He has a huge heart and dreams of having a small house of his own and several children. He falls hopelessly in love with Ignacia, even though deep down he knows she could never be his. He's proud and a little headstrong, which many times go against his best interest. He loves his family above all, especially his mother, with whom he has a terrific yet over-protective relationship. He has a girlfriend, Mireya, whom he loves, but not in the same way as when they first began dating.




TOMAS VILLAMAYOR – Fabian Rios
He’s attractive, smart, clever, unfaithful, cynical, and unscrupulous; he has no principles. Tomas is a complete perfectionist, a serious man, who wants to marry Ignacia above all things. He's obsessive, extremely tidy, meticulous, somewhat difficult and conservative. He always wants to get things done his way. By all appearances, he is a prince of a man, one who knows how to make a woman happy, with gifts and romantic details. However, drinking turns him into a very different person: he's a fierce and challenging adversary, as he lets out all that evil within him.




ESTELA – Felicia Mercado
She is Ignacia and Ruben’s mother, and Alfonsina’s daughter. Estela is a cold, heartless woman, brilliant, decisive and unforgiving. She comes from a very good social status. She was left alone at an early age and had to learn to get ahead on her own, something she's always repeating as if she wanted to blame all those around her for it. All her dreams and illusions are placed on Ignacia, whom she raised in her own image. She's capable of hatred and not forgiving, even the people she loves. She is Julio's main enemy and will not rest until she separates him from her daughter. She has a strange relationship with Tomas, her son-in-law, whom she worships and venerates above all things.




JOSE MANUEL CORREAL – Shalim Ortiz
He is attractive, very smart and a good man. He is a civil engineer and works at the Omega Construction Company. He has a somewhat malleable personality, which leads him to not be able to form his own opinion or a voice about anything. He will be continuously manipulated by Karina when she discovers she needs a facade to continue her relationship with Tomas. Unwittingly and unintentionally, he will be Karina's puppet who will play with him as she pleases. He's an affectionate guy of good feelings who only dreams of settling down with a good woman and having children. Becoming aware of Karina's lies will bring out the worst of his personality.




MIREYA GOMEZ – Sofia Lamas
She is Pedro's girlfriend, a girl of humble origins, who dreams of marrying Pedro and changing her life. She's been in a wheelchair for two years, after a car accident she had with Pedro. She appears to be calm and acts as if she has overcome her condition, but she is deeply bitter and resentful after being confined to a wheelchair. She becomes obsessed with Pedro and will do everything possible to stay with him.




ALFONSINA – Tina Romero
She is Estela’s mother, and Ignacia and Ruben’s grandmother. Alfonsina is a much more liberal woman than her own daughter. She is cheerful, fun, and someone who can read between the lines in situations. She will be the go-between in Ignacia and Pedro’s relationship, encouraging her granddaughter to follow her heart.




RUBEN SANTAMARIA – Oscar Priego
Ruben is Estela and Mariano’s son, and Ignacia’s brother. He's a rebellious boy, the black sheep of the family. He's violent, aggressive and permanently looking for trouble to upset others. Deep down, he's a guy anxious to be loved, but who's always had to be strong to get ahead. Misguided by bad company, he will end up stealing and in drug conflicts and his issues will get complicated when the police start looking for him. His mess has cost millions that Tomas has financed, as a gesture of solidarity. His entire life will take a dramatic turn when he faces a personal situation.




GINA PEREZ – Lilian Tapia
Gina is Pedro’s mother and Margarita’s sister. She is attractive, sexy, lively, lighthearted, smart and spontaneous. She is a woman of humble origins, hard-working and who has always been very lucky. Everywhere she goes, she's always the queen of the place. This was precisely what captivated Mariano when he met her, almost thirty years ago.




MARIANO SANTAMARIA– Leonardo Daniel
He is a man of an enormous inner life, cheerful and a little bohemian, who saw how his vital energy subsided forever once he married Estela. Forced by his wife, a woman full of secrets and capable of extortion, he leaves his family against his will. When he hears that his daughter is getting married, he decides to regain that past and close this chapter of his life. He loves his daughter Ignacia, thus suffering when he faces his children's strong rejection. When he is reunited with Gina, he feels he can't leave again and decides to stay close to try and tie all the loose ends in his existence.




MARGARITA PEREZ – Monica Sanchez-Navarro
Margarita is Lupita and Pedro’s presumptive “mother,” and Gina’s sister. She’s a hard-working and self-denying woman, who has dedicated her entire life to the care of others. In love with Olegario, she feels she is her sister’s rival when she realizes that he is flirting with Gina.




OLEGARIO OSCULO GOMEZ – Ricardo Dalmacci
Olegario is Mireya’s father, and a project manager at Tomas’s construction company. He's whom everyone calls "the old sage." He has a great deal of patience, is good at giving advice, and he is the first person to notice something is going on between Ignacia (his boss) and Pedro. Olegario’s life is a real mystery, and he himself has made sure to fuel a legend around himself. He's in love with Gina, but she doesn't seem to have the time or the energy for love.




KARINA CUERVO – Christina Dieckmann
She is Ignacia's best friend. Karina is attractive, sexy, but also a liar and manipulative. She’s her friend’s complete opposite: She likes to party, is emotionally unstable, changes boyfriends often, and her motto is "live as if the world is coming to an end." She's cynical and very resourceful to get what she wants. In time, she will realize that she is completely in love with Tomas, and will have to go out of her way to keep her feelings to herself. She will even start a relationship with Jose Manuel in order to hide her feelings.




CHRISTOPHER MELQUIADES GODINEZ “NETO” – Alex Ruiz
He’s Pedro's co-worker, an expert in masonry. He's fun, talkative, falls in love very easily, and is good at partying, telling jokes, drinking beer and wrestling. He has always liked Mireya, Pedro's eternal girlfriend, but the loyalty to his friend has prevented him from getting close to her. His reputation as a womanizer will be his worse sentence when he decides to settle down. He's a lonely guy, who has no family, and who sees Pedro as a brother.




LUPITA PEREZ – Carolina Ayala


Lupita is Margarita’s daughter and Pedro's sister. Lupita is in high school and a model daughter. She's generous with her mother, helps out at home, and is responsible in her studies and a model student. All this begins to change when she meets Ruben, and her world turns upside down. She falls hopelessly in love with him and, to her surprise, gets pregnant. She is expelled from school, rejected by her family, and the last thing Ruben wants is to help her. So she decides that the best thing she can do is harden her heart and become a cold and manipulative woman.





Sophie Charlotte, Fernanda Vasconcellos and Isabelle Drummond show their “Sangue Bom” for Estilo magazine


Brazilian actresses Sophie Charlotte, Fernanda Vasconcellos and Isabelle Drummond, who are currently the female protagonists of the 7pm telenovela “Sangue Bom”, became the cover girls for the June edition of “Estilo” magazine. Each of the beauties revealed her own unique style and fashion sense through the photo shoot.

They also spoke about the way fashion relates to their characters. Sophie Charlotte, who plays the it-girl Amora, revealed that she sought information about the fashion world during her preparation for the novela: “I watched the French documentary film “Profession: It Girl”, by Laurent Lunetta. It was about how the current it-girls became popular. Although the term itself is quite old and appeared in the 20’s, the boom is recent. I also began following some of these girls on Instagram and started reading fashion blogs.”

Fernanda Vasconcellos told that there are more important priorities than always following the latest trends: “The pressure to be always dressed well does exist, as well as many others, but I don’t pay attention to it. Of course I’m concerned with my visuals, but my focus is my career. I’m not a slave of my appearance.”

Meanwhile, Isabelle Drummond, who had to let go of her feminine side in order to portray the tomboy Giane in the novela, spoke about having to trim her beautiful long hair for the role: “After we had our script reading with the authors, a specialist for preparing actors for their roles helped me to find the right tone. I needed to detach myself from my personality, and therefore, cutting my hair was essential.”


Make sure to check out the photos:











William Levy takes a break from "La Tempestad" in order to reconstruct his character


It’s been more than a week since Cuban actor William Levy has appeared in "La Tempestad", the telenovela starred by him and Ximena Navarrete. The last scene in which he was seen was the scene where his character Damián Fabré and wife Esthercita (Laura Carmine) suffer a mysterious boat accident, caused by villain Hernán (Iván Sánchez).

The prolonged absence made many fans worried, but it is said that it was planned in order to reconstruct the entire storyline and the character. As the ratings of the novela aren’t doing very well, especially after the big success of its predecessor “Amores Verdaderos”, it is said that the production is planning to make some changes to help the telenovela become more popular and gain acceptance from the public.

Do you think the changes bring in more viewers in the new phase of the telenovela? 




Laura Carmine suffers an accident while filming "La Tempestad"


U.S.-Mexican actress Laura Carmine, who currently portrays Esthercita, the comical villain of "La Tempestad", recently suffered an accident when she slipped while filming for the novela. She said: “I’m intense with my scenes. When I was told to run, I was running and giving it my all, and I think that I slipped because of a leaf that was on the ground, and because I was running so fast, I should have fallen first on my butt, but I fell very badly and my first reaction was putting my arm first.”

She also revealed that she suffered an intense pain after the accident and that the hurt her entire leg, causing her not being able to move for a while. Although the pain gradually decreased, she continued to suffer from pain in her lower back, neck and the wrist on which she leaned herself in order to avoid her head from getting hurt. She’s staying in Mexico City in order to get better after her accident, but she’ll return to work next week.

Carmine confirmed that she’ll continue her participation until the end of the telenovela and revealed that there will be many changed in the story and that her character Esthercita will go through notable changes after the boat accident that she suffered in the telenovela.

Regarding her costar William Levy, she said that he’s indeed very handsome, but that relationship between them is strictly professional.


Eduardo Yáñez to temporarily leave telenovela-land


Mexican actor Eduardo Yáñez (52) recently revealed that after the success of his latest telenovela “Amores Verdaderos”, he decided to temporarily leave the telenovelas in order to make it big in the cinema industry. He said that one of his biggest dreams has always been making movies.

It’s not his first attempt at making in big in Hollywood. After finishing filming for “Corazón Salvaje” in 2011, he left Mexico for Los Angeles in order to try out for exciting cinematographic roles there, but had little luck and came back to Mexico.

He added that he also want to give opportunity to new actors to become telenovela stars, after starring a primetime telenovela that aired during almost a year: “I’m one of those actors who think that after being on air for 11 months with a telenovela, they should give the public the opportunity to enjoy other options. Now it’s the turn of my colleague actors to show what they’ve got.”


Saturday, June 15, 2013

Novela Pages: Marido en Alquiler [Part I]


Marido en Alquiler/My Dear Handyman

Telemundo/ 9pm/8c
Original run: July 9, 2013-January 13,2014
Originally written by Aguinaldo Silva
Adaptation for Telemundo by Perla Farías


SYNOPSIS
Behind her dirty overalls and toolbox is a woman unlike any other: forceful, spirited - possessing a quiet beauty and rock-solid values.

She is Griselda. Ms. Carrasco. She is the “Husband for Rent”. And this is her wonderful story, the story of a woman who has changed for good the lives of all those around her.

Griselda Carrasco is a strong and determined woman, who has faced life’s difficulties by coping with all situations by her strong moral ethics. She takes care of three children and a grandson all on her own since her husband, Jose Antonio, disappeared at sea 15 years ago. Without losing her enthusiasm and zest for life, she has devoted herself to doing what she knows how to do best: plumbing and roof repairs, wiring and painting. She is the “Husband for Rent”.

So here we have Griselda in a brightly colored van, going from one end of Miami to the other, and destined to run into Teresa Cristina, a well-bred lady, who is arrogant and apt to do outrageous things. She is married to Reinaldo, the famous chef of the Gourmet Palmer restaurant. He is a good-hearted man, but is incapable of changing a flat tire. Reinaldo will become intrigued, if not bewitched, by Griselda, the woman who fixes this problem in no time at all.

What Griselda doesn’t know is that her son Antonio is dating Patricia, the daughter of Reinaldo, and Teresa Cristina – who in the end will become her worst enemy. To her great surprise, and disappointment, Griselda discovers that Antonio has introduced his future in-laws to a woman who goes by the name of Giselle, an actress he has hired to play the part of his mother. He hires her because she comes across as a woman of high social status. Reinaldo’s heart breaks when he sees how devastated Griselda is by this.

But Griselda’s luck changes overnight when she wins the lottery jackpot: 43 million dollars. From that moment on, her life will never be the same, although she remains faithful to her beliefs and values.

Having gotten a makeover, Ms. Carrasco creates a network of female Husbands for Rent.
Her fortune also attracts other opportunists, beginning with Jose Antonio, who returns from the dead when he finds out that his wife is now a millionaire.

Unfortunately for Teresa Cristina, Griselda moves into a mansion in the same luxurious neighborhood that she lives in. She now has to put up with the person she most despises, as her neighbor. Teresa Cristina wages war on Griselda, without imagining that Reinaldo, who is sick of her lies, is going to abandon her and pursue Griselda, whom he has fallen deeply in love with. At Griselda’s side, the handsome chef will once more embrace the values of friendship, love and family, which he has always believed in.



CAST
Sonya Smith - Griselda Carrasco
Juan Soler - Reinaldo Ibarra
Maritza Rodríguez - Teresa Cristina Palmer de Ibarra
Miguel Varoni - José Salinas
Gabriel Coronel - Antonio Salinas Carrasco
Kimberly Dos Ramos - Patricia Ibarra Palmer
Roberto Manrique - Kike Salinas Carrasco
Ricardo Chávez - Gabriel Rodríguez
Pablo Azar - Rafael Álamo
Ana Carolina Grajales – Amalia Salinas Carrasco
Paulo Quevedo - Juan Pablo Palmer
Sandra Destenave - Esther Salas de Palmer
Ariel Texido - Rosario Flores 'Ro'
Daniela Navarro - Bárbara
Alba Roversi - Maria Iris de Silva
José Guillermo Cortines - Máximo Durán 
Maite Embil - Celeste Porras
Ismael La Rosa - Simón
Víctor Corona - Manuel Porras
Dad Dager - Paloma Ramos
Gabriel Valenzuela - Fernando
Adrián Carvajal  - Daniel
Lino Martone - Elio
Jalymar Salomon - Clara
Anthony López - Iván Rouge
Adriana Lavat - Marcela
Sandra Eichler - Alba
María del Pilar Pérez - Vanessa
Sol Rodríguez - Sol Porras
Ahrid Hannaly - Beatriz
Gustavo Pedraza
Luis Alvarez - Leonardo
Nadia Escobar - Elsa
Emmanuel Pérez - Kikito



PHOTOS