Nia ang tipik sa mediacon nilang Star for all Seasons Vilma Santos ug King of Philippine Drama Christopher “Boyet” de Leon atol sa promo tour sa ilang pelikulang “When I Met You In Tokyo” sa Sugbo nga usa sa mga official entries sa 2023 Metro Manila Film Festival nga showing na sa Dec. 25.
Paano nag-evolve yung loveteam n’yo?
VILMA: Would you believe we’ve been together for more than 40 years already? Ganoon na po kami katagal na gumagawa ng pelikula ni Christopher de Leon. And if we’re not mistaken, this is our 25th or 26th movie together. Sabi nila may magic daw kaming dalawa sa chemistry. Hindi naman namin sinasadya but maybe it’s really there. At sa When I Met You In Tokyo dito magiging obvious na talagang nag-evolve na yung loveteam namin ni Yetbo. To the point na kami na halos ni Boyet ang gumagawa sa mga scene namin. Sasabin lang sa amin yung eksena, bahala na kami. Ang tawag po namin dito improvisation.
BOYET: This was shot mostly or 90% of the movie was done in Japan. We both play as OFW who became friends and eventually fell in love. Her character is Azon who lives in Tokyo. Ako naman si Joey who lives sa outskirts. Si Joey annulled na while Azon is still single at her age because her priority is her family.
So, what’s new in this film?
VILMA: Kung napanood nyo po yung mga movie namin noon ni Boyet medyo hyper kami. Laging may third party, sampalan, sigawan, nag-aaway. But this time, wala pong sigawan, walang third party at walang kontrabida. You will feel happy and you will feel kilig. When I learned that I’ll be doing a movie with Christopher, right away sabi ko `yes.’ Kasi almost 20 years na since our last movie together (Mano Po 3). It’s a love story pero lovestory sa edad namin. At yun ang nagpa-Oo sa akin. Ang director po namin sina Conrado Peru at Rommel Penesa. But personally, I requested Mr. Christopher de Leon to be the associate director.
Was there a time na naging kayo ba?
BOYET: Sana nga liligawan mo na pero may Edu Manzano sa set, nandoon si… sino pa? Hmmm.. gusto mo sabihin ko lahat eh (laughs). Yung first movie namin together (Tag-Ulan Sa Tag-Araw) she was free. Pero sinong asawa ko noon? Si Nora Aunor. Paano na? Ang hirap, di ba? Tapos noong okay na. Meron naman siyang si, yun na nga… tapos naging Edu Manzano, si Bobby Vasquez (laughs). Anyway, this was asked so many times already. And we couldn’t really explain kasi we’re like… ang passion namin is our work. Ang hirap pa rin sagutin ano!? (laughs again)
VILMA: Basta kami ni Yetbo, we’re very, very serious in giving respect to each other. I guess that’s the most important thing. Because before, pag siya libre, ako naman ang hindi.
BOYET: I remember we’re doing a movie in San Francisco, si Edu Manzano was there. Tapos after several weeks or a month after. Kasal na sila ni hindi ko alam. Nagki-kissing scene kami sa eksena may asawa na pala siya. (laughs)
VILMA: May continuation yung shooting na yun. Pagdating namin sa Manila nasa kotse kami, sabi ko `yet may sasabihin ako sa `yo, “Buntis na ako!” Sabi niya, “bakit sa akin mo pa kinukuwento yan?” Kasi si Lucky was a honeymoon baby. So that’s the kind of relationship that we had and we have. I guess what is important now is we’re both very professional with each other. The kind of love that we have for each other and with our family is more of platonic kind of love. Yetbo will always be very, very special because in 60 years of my career, si Christopher de Leon po ang isa sa pinakamalaking parte ng animnapo na taong buhay ko sa industriya and for that, I’m very grateful. I mean it, yet. I mean it.
