Megan makes a daring debut

MANILA, Philippines - Megan Young, one of the most visible Kapamilya talents gracing on TV — be it through hosting or guesting — is finally making her debut as a lead on ABS-CBN’s newest afternoon offering titled Precious Hearts Romances (PHR) Presents Hiyas. She will topbill the show with Zanjoe Marudo who appeared in previous PHR series as leading man.

How does she feel that finally she is the lead star in the series?

“It’s a good feeling because they trusted me enough to do this project and I know that they expect a lot from me. For me, I enjoy whatever role they give me. I enjoy being contravida or even if I’m the other woman. So, now that I’m offered with the lead role, it’s a good feeling. It’s very challenging as well because I’m used to be the mean girl, ’yung nang-aapi. It’s worth the wait,” enthuses Megan, who is also a third year film student at DLSU-College of St. Benilde.

Hiyas is Megan’s first daring project. The role, Megan says, is quite daring yet classy in a way. The series revolves around the “epic” love story of Megan’s Sapphire and Zanjoe’s Silang, and how their lives will change once their paths have crossed. Megan and Zanjoe co-star with Mercedes Cabral and model-turned-actor Edward Mendez.

Asked how daring she is in the story, Megan replies, “Super ‘duper.’ It’s like a live action of what I did in Rogue magazine. Parang ganun yung katumbas kung gaano ako ka-daring dun.” She is referring to her first sexy Rogue cover published last March. This month, Megan also graces the cover of Circuit magazine where she wears a daring red one-piece swimsuit with cuts sideways.

Is this a sign that Megan is ready to go totally daring? “I think I’m at the right age naman when I did Rogue. Aside from Hiyas, I guess ’yung Rogue talaga is also daring for me. But I still have limitations naman for myself because I have my principles pa rin. And it will always depend on the story. Like ’yung Hiyas, the reason why I said yes is that it’s more focused on the lives of the characters.”

It looks like Megan is really into her role. How did she prepare for it? “First, I had to gain a little bit of weight kasi payat ako nung mag-start ’yung shoot. Kelangan kasi yung medyo may laman para maganda ’yung womanly figure ko. Secondly, I really had to watch movies na more mature like Closer and old Tagalog movies na very romantic,” Megan says.

Megan (second from left) with co-stars (from left) Edward Mendez, Zanjoe Marudo and Mercedes Cabral

Prior to that, Megan was hesitant to accept the project. “Yes, I did have hesitations because I was scared to go out of my comfort zone, and people know me as quirky, fun and kalog. I was around 19 or 20 when they offered this, so I was really scared. I thought I was not ready yet. But direk Laurenti Dyogi assured me naman that it’s going to be wholesome. That when he does a PHR series, he’ll make sure na classy pa rin siyang lalabas,” reveals Megan. Business unit head and director Dyogi is the one responsible for the TV adaptation of PHR series.

Speaking of shooting the soap, Hiyas experienced a delay in airing. Last year though, the soap was shot completely for around three to four months. No, it’s not because of the delay in the production but the management was just looking for the perfect time in launching Hiyas. Ted Boborol, one of the directors, explains, “The management is careful about the airing of Hiyas because it coincided with the now-defunct Amaya (from the rival network), which was based on facts, while this one (Hiyas) was based on pure fiction because it’s a romance pocketbook. And if that happens, we might be unfairly judged.”

That’s why the 22-year-old Kapamilya talent has a great reason to be happy about her first foray as a lead in the acting scene. Hiyas will finally air tomorrow, May 28 on Kapamilya Gold after PBB Teen Edition 4 Uber.

“I’m really happy that finally maipapalabas na talaga ito. It’s right timing lang talaga. It’s a good feeling and I wanna focus more on that rather than lingering on the feeling na bakit ang tagal namang ipalabas. That viewers can now see the fruit of our labor,” shares Megan.