Romance and a  dose of reality in  ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’

In the pilot of the series “Can’t Buy Me Love”, Donny Pangilinan’s Bingo joins the early morning commuter rush, chasing jeepneys with passengers already packed like sardines as he excitedly heads for a business district much like Taguig City’s BGC to pitch a start-up proposal to a conglomerate.

Bingo – who earns this nickname after he and his adoptive grandmother strike the jackpot in a Bingo game during their fateful first encounter – expertly ambles up a jeepney before giving up his coveted seat to a pregnant woman, showing audiences an early glimpse of the male lead’s many admirable traits.

That scene wasn’t such a smooth take on the first try. This is the first time that Pangilinan isn’t playing the rich kid. In real life, the 25-year-old son of actress Maricel Laxa and businessman Anthony Pangilinan has never boarded a jeepney ever.

As director Mae Cruz Alviar (Make It with You, 2 Good 2 Be True), laughingly tells it, “In the jeepney scene, I told Donny, dapat nagmamadali ha, sakay kayong ganyan. Take na, action…si Donny, pinabayaan lahat na mauna, pumila siya. I said, hindi ito pila. Masyado kang polite. Kapag ganyan, dog-eat-dog world, nagmamadali ka, unahan kayo. Sabi ko, first time mo ba sumakay ng jeep? Sabi niya, opo. So nanibago talaga siya.”

In a reversal of their usual assignments, Pangilinan is a tenement-residing orphan while his screen tandem Belle Mariano (often cast as the girl-next-door) is a wealthy heiress of a Fil-Chinese tycoon in “Can’t Buy Me Love”, which premieres tonight, October 16, on free TV via Kapamilya Channel, Kapamilya Online Live, A2Z, and TV5.

Dropping its first episode October 13 on Netflix Philippines, the glossy series is the second to stream on the global platform under its continuous partnership with ABS-CBN.

Produced by Star Creatives, “Can’t Buy Me Love” follows Mariano’s Caroline, born into a wealthy traditional Chinese family, while Pangilinan’s Bingo works different jobs to make ends meet. In a twist of fate, their two different worlds collide.

Rivermaya’s “You’ll Be Safe Here” plays a part in Caroline’s childhood, while Moira dela Torre’s version of the 2005 hit provides a hauntingly beautiful background to pivotal scenes.

“It’s not a typical romantic story, but about family, human struggles and triumphs. There’s also thrills and suspense,” said creative manager Jay Fernando. “This concept was in development for more than three years, which is typical of how we do things in Star Creatives. We try to ferment a story until it’s ready for consumption.”

“Up until now, it keeps on evolving, it never stops until the last frame. Even with ‘The Iron Heart’, up to the last taping day, there are changes to the story. So this too, is a long exciting process, especially that this is a love story and we’re coming from several projects that weren’t decidedly romance,” Fernando added.

Oozing chemistry

The leads – referred to as DonBelle by fans and christened by their network as the New Gen Phenomenal Love Team – previously starred in “He’s Into Her”, “Love is Colorblind”, and “An Inconvenient Love”, also streaming on Netflix.

Alviar, on what makes this tandem click, said, “First is the chemistry, which is very transparent and evident. And they have good dynamics, they work very well together, like clockwork. Yin and yang. I will reiterate the oozing chemistry, because not everyone has that. That’s the magic that you can’t buy.”

They are joined in this new series by veterans Rowell Santiago, Nova Villa, Agot Isidro, Ruffa Gutierrez, and Celeste Legaspi, along with Albie Casiño, Kaila Estrada, Joao Constancia, Karina Bautista, Vivoree, Darren, Hyubs Azarcon, Alora Sasam, Ketchup Eusebio, Chie Filomeno, and Anthony Jennings. Shaina Magdayao and Inah Raymundo appear in special roles.

Villa, who was with ABS-CBN for 36 years before signing a contract with GMA Network, returns to the Kapamilya fold after 13 years. She said, “I have such a good role – the typical Filipina grandmother who loves her grandkids dearly – and I’m trying my best to portray it well,” said the actress, playing Bingo’s grandmother who he works hard for so he can have her failing eyesight operated on.

Santiago, coming off an unforgettable character as president of the Philippines in the long-running “FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano”, took a lengthy time off before saying yes to another series.

“I came from a role na mahirap pantayan. It took me a year before accepting another role para mabura talaga sa tao yung ginampanan ko noon,” he said. “And I think playing the chairman Wilson here is the right choice. It feels so good na puro bata ang mga kasama ko ngayon dahil nakakabata ng pakiramdam.”

Racal, tasked to play the youngest daughter of the first family in a Fil-Chinese dynamics ala “Mano Po”, calls it challenging but very exciting to be the antagonist for the first time. “Irene is feisty, scheming, and she’s always up to no good. But in her world, she’s the bida. Everything she wants, she gets,” said Racal of her scenery-chewing part.

‘Staying true to ourselves’

Mariano had seven days of Fookien language classes and immersed herself in Chinese culture. She and director Ian D. Loreños also had a “one-on-one date, where we talked for one whole day only about Caroline.”

Loreños had his own time with Pangilinan, but for him, they spent an entire day going incognito around Binondo and Divisoria so that the actor could see for himself how his role is supposed to move and talk.

“Direk would tell me, ‘Donny tignan mo paano niya binubuhat yun, tignan mo paano niya binebenta yun…’ Kasi ang daming raket ni Bingo sa buhay. I wanted to make sure that I had an idea what people like Bingo go through,” he said. “I also get a lot of help from my co-actors if my pronunciations are correct, or if I can say a sentence better. This has been a group effort.”

The hardest part was placing himself in a “teleserye state of mind.” Explained Pangilinan: “My biggest challenge since our first teleserye, it’s the schedule of shooting a show that will last for a few months. A movie, we’re done in less than a month. ‘He’s Into Her’ was just 12 episodes. So a series that airs every day and we’re shooting most days of the week, and if we’re not shooting, we’re still thinking of our characters…I’m still adjusting. Slowly with the help of the whole team, I’m getting more comfortable. I’m grateful to Star Creatives and to our three directors who we have the privilege of working with.”

As for Mariano, getting in and out of character has been particularly difficult because “Caroline is my total opposite: complex, she’s an inward personality, reserved, stoic. Lahat ng bitbit niya sa buhay, sinasarili niya lang. Sometimes, nadadala ko pa rin, ang bigat pa rin ng feeling ko kahit wala na ako sa set.”

On living up to what can often be overbearing and toxic expectations from fans of love teams, which in the Philippine showbiz industry still demand their reel idols to also be real sweethearts, Pangilinan simply said, “Me and Belle have made it a point to stay true to ourselves. In everything we do, we discuss beforehand how to attack scenes, but at the same time not losing ourselves, our genuineness, and our love for the craft. The best thing we can do is support each other a hundred percent.”

More than the romantic aspect, Alviar said audiences these days demand more from stories.

“Especially the youth, they are very much aware now. So when telling a love story, you have to be grounded and go beyond kilig. You have to talk about what’s going on in the world,” the director said.

Fernando seconded this, saying, “Iba na yung audience demand in terms of intensity of emotions, intensity in terms of plots. In recent years, ngayon lang ulit natin narinig yung word na bingeing. So is this show bingeable? It’s now part of the vocabulary of creating a teleserye.”

He added, “This show also has a certain dose of reality. That’s what the generation is asking now: authenticity, is this something realistic? Kapag may mayaman and mahirap ba talaga sa totoong buhay, will they really fall in love this way?”