Second choice always better

When you look at Maricar Reyes, she looks so frail and gentle you can’t possibly imagine her as bad — or acting bad. But these days, the actress-wife of singer Richard Poon is doing just that, making a splash playing the resident bad girl on ABS-CBN’s Sana Bukas Pa Ang Kahapon.

Maricar actually wasn’t the first choice for the role. She was supposed to play Betty in Dyesebel (the role eventually went to Andi Eigenmann) when Iza Calzado, who was set to play Sasha, ended up in Hawak-Kamay with Piolo Pascual instead, leaving the role of Sasha open. It was then presented to Maricar, which was a bit of a surprise for her. Even Maricar herself didn’t think she was cut out to play a kontrabida because most of the characters she has played onscreen have been the opposite.

Says Maricar, “(To tell you the truth), I was surprised that they considered me kasi ang mga roles ko before, mababait. The role I played before this was Fina, ‘yung mom ni Honesto, and she was a very, very, very nice, sweet, malumanay na Babaeng Pilipina, so when the role of Sasha was offered to me, I was like, ‘really’?”

Although Maricar herself had doubts about her ability to get into the character when she first read the script, she was attracted to other things, like its non-linear approach to the story. Unlike other teleseryes, it didn’t start out with a young Bea Alonzo or a young Paolo Avelino. But while she doubted if she could play Sasha, at the same time, she was attracted to the character’s complexity. “Parang ang daming puwedeng ilabas sa kanya,” was her initial reaction to it.

But as all actresses know, reading a character from a script and taking that character from paper to the screen is a difficult, complicated process that requires long hours of study and asking a lot of questions. Maricar had the same feelings when she read the part of Sasha. She had to talk to Sana Bukas Pa Ang Kahapon writer Reggie Amigo and directors Jerome Pobocan and Trina Dayrit to help her really flesh out the character. “We talked, na ‘Why is she (Sasha) like this, bakit ito ang choices niya?’” says Maricar. “Wala naman daw kasing tao na bad lang for the sake of being bad. Laging may motivation, may pinanggagalingan. May reason siya why she became that way.”

Her directors advised her to really study the character of Sasha and to find something about her to fall in love with, and to find some common ground between the two of them. It was important to understand Sasha’s motivation to be able to play her effectively. It also helped that Maricar took acting classes and attended a couple of days of workshops with Star Magic’s training head, direk Rahyan Carlos. “I realized that basically, Sasha is very rejected kasi she grew up without a dad,” reflects Maricar. “Ako, I grew up with a dad, but for the first part of my childhood, laging nag-wo-work ang dad ko, sobra siyang workaholic. He was very good at his job, but he worked a lot. Later na lang niya na-realize na he has to be home with his family. Iba yung when your dad’s really present and affirming you, telling you you’re pretty, that you did a good job. Kaya siguro ganoon si Sasha with men, na ang attitude niya is, ‘Kailangan may magmamahal sa akin.’”

If she thought researching the character was hard, when she finally got the script and started taping, she realized how much more emotionally draining it could be. “It can be quite draining pala, kasi when you initially get the script, it annoys you on the first level kasi nga bad siya, but my director kept telling me, ‘You have to fall in love with her and really get to know her, understand her and where she’s coming from kasi wala namang tao na bad just for the sake of being bad. May rason ‘yan sa ilalim. So yon ang hinahanap ko. And once I found it, naging interesting siya.”

Since the show started airing, Maricar’s portrayal of Sasha has been earning positive reviews from both critics and audiences. She would like to play more of these types of roles in the future and see how much further as an actress she can go.