The re-invention of Katya Santos

Katya Santos assumes a new screen persona in her latest movie under Viva Films, Keka, directed by hotshot indie filmmaker Quark Henares, son of my good friends Atom Henares and Dr. Vicki Belo. Keka marks a departure for Katya in more ways than one.

In fact, the testosterone set panicked for a while because they mistakenly thought that Keka is not Katya’s usual sultry skin flick. "This is a totally different and challenging character for me," Katya says. "There’s a lot of action, a lot of fight scenes in this movie. I play a killer, that’s why."

But she’s no run-of-the-mill murderess.

In the words of direk Quark, Katya will make you fall in love with Keka, no matter how gruesome and grisly her behavior is. "I was pleasantly surprised," direk Quark says. "I actually found her adorable, so charming as Keka. It’s because she’s super game. She’s willing to try anything. As if she’s not afraid to get hurt in her fight scenes with Ryan Eigenmann."

"Brusko," Katya describes Keka. "She’s quite boyish. Astig. She’s a lot like me."

To prepare for the murderous femme fatale aspect of her character, Katya had an intensive meeting with direk Quark. She even watched the French movie La Femme Nikita, upon the suggestion of her director.

Katya avers that working with direk Quark is a blast.

"The mood on the set is always very light," she enthuses. "We’re always happy. We’re always having fun." She found a good pal in her youthful director.

"We’re like magka-barkada (gangmates)," she says. "But when we’re working on the set, I still look up to him as a director. There’s still respect. Sometimes I forget and I still use po and opo when I talk to him. He tells me to stop because we’re almost the same age. I think he’s just a year older than I am."

"She is really one of the best actors I’ve worked with so far," Quark speaks highly of Katya. "So nice. So easy to direct. She easily gets instructions. She’s such a professional."

Katya hopes that Keka will signal a bright new beginning, in the same way that her launching movie (Sukdulan) and equally steamy follow-up (Sex Drive) made waves in the movie scene and revitalized her then-floundering career.

"Versatility is my goal as an actress," she asserts. "That I can do not just sexy roles, but also drama, comedy, and now action."

Katya’s reinvention as an action heroine is quite a big leap. Nevertheless, she seems to exude self-assurance in spite of the excruciating demands of her latest screen incarnation.

After all, this is the same former Ang TV moppet who successfully reinvented herself into a Viva bombshell, into Sunshine Cruz’s heiress as the holder of the Materyales Fuertes title.

"Viva had offered to launch me since I was 16," she looks back. "But I only agreed last year." Still, the 21-year-old actress encountered a lot of challenges when she agreed to go from winsome to wordly. The changes, she stresses, went beyond the wardrobe.

"I had to change my entire attitude," she recalls. "I even had a one-on-one acting workshop with direk Mac Alejandre. I also listened to the advice given by (fellow Hot Babe) Maui Taylor. I really had to learn how to be sexy which I didn’t know and couldn’t do before."

Now, Katya is a seasoned pro when it comes to raising temperatures. She gabs about her title Materyales Fuertes with unusual candor.

"It really felt good the first time I heard about it," Katya reports. "Especially since it originally came from Sunshine Cruz. I really consider it a compliment. Because it means that I got the title without having anything done on my body."

She is insistent that her having undergone liposuction sessions (with Dr. Vicki Belo) shouldn’t be considered as altering her Materyales Fuertes body in any way.

"Kumbaga it was just a fast way of losing weight," she expounds. "Of slimming down." But when it comes to her best physical asset (size 37, cup C), Katya proudly declares that she’s 100 percent natural. Still, she attests, the essential Katya has remained the same.

"Nothing much has changed in me," she points out. "Except that I’ve become more confident. But I am still basically shy."

An ordinary girl who just found herself in a rather extraordinary profession, Katya, in fact, is still every inch a movie fan. She looks up to Sharon Cuneta, Rosanna Roces, and Alice Dixson as her all-time favorite actresses.

"I admire Sharon Cuneta because she is very sweet," Katya relates. "And because of the way she has maintained her wholesome image and how she has retained people’s respect for her through the years. I like Osang because she doesn’t care about what other people think. She will do what she feels is right. I’m a lot like her kasi. I also speak my mind. And I love Alice because she has remained so simple in spite of her success."

Keka will be shown in theaters on Aug. 20. It is also one of only two local films which will be premiered during the 5th CineManila International Film Festival tonight, 8:30 p.m. at Cinema 1 in Greenbelt 3, Makati.