Christian Bables explains why he bowed out of the ‘Die Beautiful’ sequel

MANILA, Philippines – Actor Christian Bables will no longer reprise the role of Barbs in the upcoming Born Beautiful series. 

On Twitter, Christian, who won Best Supporting Actor awards in the Metro Manila Film Festival 2016 and Gawad Urian 2016 for the role, said that the move was his management’s decision.

“Ako, as much as I wanted to do the project, as much as I wanted to push harder dahil mahal na mahal ko si Barbs, ang mga taong bumubo ng proyekto, at ang mga taong sumusuporta at nagmamamahal kay Barbs, I guess I will have to leave it to the management. I wouldn’t want to further expound. End of story,” he said.

(For me, as much as I wanted to to the project, as much as I wanted to push harder because I really love Barbs, the people behind the project, and those who support and love Barbs, I guess I will have to leave it to the management. I wouldn’t want to further expound. End of story.)

The actor also said that he believes everything happens for a reason, including his having to give up the role.

He added that he’s very happy for Martin de Rosario, who will take on the role of Barbs instead. “I know he’s a good actor. He’s one of the actors na magaling at tinitingala ko bilang baguhan sa industriya (who’s great and who I looked up to when I was new in the industry). And I know adding his own flavor to the character will make it a new lovable, relatable, and 3-dimensional Barbs. The feeling that I have right now is synonymous to someone who’s letting go of a person he deeply loves,” Christian said.

He told Martin to love Barbs, the same way he embraced her when he played the role:”I hope you take care of Barbs. Mahal na mahal ko yan (I love her so much). She has my heart. And please love her the way you love yourself. Please love all the people sa world niya, kasi doon siya nabuo.(Please all the people in her world, because that was where she was created.)”

Hi everyone! Sharing with you my first and last statement about Born Beautiful  great day everyone  pic.twitter.com/wy57mLKClO

— Christian M. Bables (@ChristianBables) November 16, 2017

It was announced ealy this year that Born Beautiful, a spin-off of the movie Die Beautiful starring Paolo Ballesteros, was in the works. 

In an interview with Ricky Lo in the Philippine Star on November 14, director Jun Robles Lana confirmed that Christian will no longer play Barbs, and that they had already cast Martin in the role. “We know that Martin can bring a new dimension to the character now that the entire series revolves around Barbs,” Jun said.

On Twitter, Martin wrote: “Barbs fans, hope you give me a chance. To Christian na magaling na actor (who is a very good actor), I will try to give justice to the role.”

Barbs fans, hope u give me a chance. To Christian na magaling na actor, i will try to give justice to the role. https://t.co/HyXH41QJux?

— Martin Del Rosario (@mart_drosario) November 15, 2017

Martin, who starred in a number of shows in GMA 7 has also appeared in the movies Ang Mananagggal sa Unit 23B and Dagitab, which won him the Gawad Urian Best Supporting Actor in 2015. – Rappler.com