Just careless

Are there film companies or TV networks still interested to cast actor-singer James Reid now that he seems to have not much to do anymore because his Careless company’s top asset has left?

That “asset” is actor Liza Soberano whom Careless itself recently announced as no longer managed by the company headed by Reid.

Careless may have had either a substantial role or an insignificant one in Soberano’s landing a major role in the Hollywood movie Lisa Frankenstein released in the US and in the Philippines in February this year. At that time, everybody knew that in the Philippines, Soberano’s manager was Reid’s Careless (more popularly known as Careless Music). Around the time that Soberano was reported to have been cast in Lisa Frankenstein, there were also reports that Reid had put up an office in Los Angeles, California. The film was shot in 2023 though Soberano was signed up for it in August 2022.

In early 2024, Soberano was signed up to be the endorser in the Philippines of the Maya digital bank. That new digital bank seemed to have funded the premiere screening of Lisa Frankenstein in the Philippines, which Reid and his girlfriend Issa Pressman attended in a theater at BGC in February.

Soberano has since been here in the country twice on quick engagements as endorser of high-end beauty products. Reid was no longer visible atthose events.

In May this year, the former live-in boyfriend of actor Nadine released a single, “Hurt Me, Too,” mainly through Sony Entertainment. It is classified as a “piano ballad” since it’s slow-burn song.

Showbiz buzz have it that Reid and Soberano severed business relations in early August yet. That could mean Reid had freed a lot of time for himself, for his own career as an artist. Last 30 August, he released the Filipino/Tagalog song “Sandal” across streaming platforms. He told some website reporter as early as May, while blitzing on the promo for “Hurt Me Too,” that he was preparing to release next some Filipino songs, which will be part of an EP album.

That album will again be primarily produced and released by Sony Entertainment. Reid seems to find his Careless Music inadequate for the production and release of his own creations, though he always says his company still manages some recording artists. He said that to Billboard Philippines in June.

Well, previously, in May, he revealed in a website interview that he has begun to brainstorm with some friends stories that can be turned into movies, presumably to be top-billed by him. His current girlfriend, Issa Pressman, is not mentioned in his movie plans. She must have been serious about her declarations in the past that she is hardly interested in an acting career.

Reid, if he ever finds a producer for a movie top-billing him, or if he has more than enough funds to invest on a film project, would have to find an actress who has box-office enticing chemistry with him.

We don’t think his ex-girlfriend Lustre is raring to be teamed up with him again. In fact, Lustre is busier these days on various business ventures in Siargao surfing islands than in doing showbiz projects. And she has a supportive but unobtrusive boyfriend there — for some years now, the Frenchman Christof Barriou. She surprisingly gets offered a lot of endorsement contracts even while she is based in those distant islands. She doesn’t ever lighten up her brown skin.

Lustre’s management contract with Viva Artists Agency (VAA) seems to have expired. Or, perhaps, mutually terminated, finally. She once walked out of those piled up contracts, seemingly to please her then boyfriend Reid who didn’t renew his contracts with VAA.

Lustre is actually a Careless artist of Reid. But they might have mutually agreed to stop enforcing the contract on both parties.

As for Soberano, the last time she had a flying engagement here, in first week of August, she revealed that she has acquired an apartment in Los Angeles, is still auditioning for roles, and is going to acting school, too.

After going viral last April after being spotted and filmed driving an P8.4-million BMW i8 sports car in Los Angeles, Soberano revealed that her apartment is her latest “pundar” (investment). She didn’t reveal the apartment’s cost though.

The Taylor Studio of Alex Taylor is actually one of the top five acting schools in Hollywood and Soberano revealed that she is a student there.

According to his profile, Alex is the youngest acting teacher to have worked with legendary acting teacher Sanford Meisner. He was in the last class to work with Meisner before Meisner’s death in 1997. Soberano is thus learning the Meisner approach, in which actors do not focus on themselves and instead concentrate on the other actors in the immediate environment. It is one of the most prevalent techniques in Hollywood today.

What is more significant about Soberano’s acting school is that she is working with the same acting coach that Johnny Depp, Jessica Lange, Meg Ryan and Mickey Rourke had at one time or another.