Onscreen, they’re a lovely pair to watch. Offscreen they become bantering sometimes bickering pals. With the revelations they both say about each other, each repartee coming off either tongue-in-cheek to making your eyes roll and laugh, it is easy to say how honest, comfortable, even playful, much to anyone’s delight, how Liza Soberano and Enrique Gil have become with each other.
“When we go shopping for example, it does not take me too even an hour to choose what I will buy, kase madalas hindi ako nag fifit ng clothes for example,” the lovely lass admits. Then the leading man retorts, “so minsan yung bibilhin niya hindi tuloy kasya kase hindi sya nag-fit”. Then Liza expands “but in his case when he buys clothes for example and tagal niya pumili. He will fit something tapos ila-lakad pa niya. Then he will ask me ‘okey ba ito, maganda ba?’ then I will say ‘oo ayan maganda yan, yan na lang, then hindi naman niya bibilhin tapos kapag hindi naman ako nagandahan sa pinili niya, yun bibilhin niya! The opposite happens!” This diverts to what Liza says a habit Enrique has which she finds abominating “many times kapag hahawakan niya yung kili-kili ko, naiinis talaga ako. Tapos basa yung kili-kili ko. I really hate it when he does that!” All these just elicited laughter from everybody.
However, truth to be told now, much of their loveteam’s charm comes from how the level of their maturity already improved and evolved. After their string of blockbusters and a successful ethnic primetime teleserye they both starred in in 2018, We can only place the observation of Antoinette Jadaone, the loveteam’s director in their latest and this time “masakit na love story movie” Alone/Together, to validate how seriously they took their craft and perhaps unconsciously tell their loveteam have truly levelled up. They immersed themselves into their characters to pull off and show the disparity between college sweethearts Christine Lazaro and Rafael Toledo and young professionals Christine Lazaro and Rafael Toledo. Along with this is their important decision: compromising love for their life’s choices that changed them both.
“They are smart actors,” Jadaone says matter-of-factly. “May galing sila sa pag arte pero hindi nila yun talaga nare-realize kase hindi nilang dalawa nilalagay sa utak nila na Liza Soberano at Enriquue Gil sila eh. Instead they both want to show na their characters are real people we are watching. Example, like ano after a take and I said ‘cut’ and tell them na good take yun, they will say ‘direk sigurado ka?’ kase minsan feeling nila pareho mas may igaganda pa yung ginawa nila. Ganon sila ka-smart sa pag-attack sa roles nila”. Discussing with the loveteam the immersion they both were tasked on and finished, the filmmaker herself was surprised over how “seriously nilang ginawa”. Playing an aspiring museum director Liza narrated “I sat in many art classes, I took the ride of UP Ikot, I ate in the UP canteen, I ate where students eat Isaw. I observed how they expressed themselves in their art classes. I also observed how the students behaved and took their lessons”. Playing a pre-med student on the other hand, in his task , Enrique surprised himself for doing “I interviewed doctor in out of town. I went to the barrios and experienced how they all get by having limited water supply or electricity. Yet seeing their drive, I was amazed over how these doctors do their work”.
Considering the milieu of the college life and stressing specifically of choosing the UP studentry atmosphere, stapling also herself being a UP graduate, as important backdrops for Alone/Together, Jadaone extracts the college life realities and show how college students can become disillusioned after brandishing their diplomas when they already get into their realities. She maintains grounded over where the story of Alone/Together will lead viewers to, while following the changes in Christine and Rafael. “I will call the movie a love letter to my college life or anybody’s love letter to their college lives. You will see kung ano ang mga dapat na gagawin mo once you make a choice in college and after college. You see, we can apply the adage or quote na ‘you are always the captain of your own ship’. If you made a mistake you can always do something to recover from it. You will try to face the ‘what ifs’ and ‘what if nots’ to lead you to being the person that you are now from the person that you once were”. This can take us to a beautiful hope from what pain or hurt love can leave us with….when we see in the end why LizQuen’s Christine and Rafael deserve who they have become may they be both alone or together.
As reported to Ted Claudio by Wilbur F. Hernandez
VIDEO INTERVIEW
We interviewed director Anoinnette Jadaone about the movie and WazzupPH asked a question that revealed a “super kilig” secret about LizQuen on what happens at night!
