Bea: Do I look like I’m heartbroken?

MANILA, Philippines - Bea Alonzo has held her own and proven her worth in movies and teleseryes, but she still felt nervous acting alongside Richard Gomez and Dawn Zulueta in the Star Cinema film The Love Affair.

“Of course, I felt nervous (acting with them), but the good thing was they were very approachable and they didn’t treat me like I was the younger actress, but equally just like how they treated everyone else. And maganda yung collaboration namin, we talked about our characters… They are very generous actors,” Bea said in a presscon last Monday at the Dolphy Theater for the Nuel Naval-directed family drama that premieres on Aug. 12.

The 27-year-old Bea was all praise for both Richard and Dawn as persons, not just as co-stars.

“Si Kuya Goma (Richard’s nickname), he always makes us laugh on the set, he’s not serious… he’s not serious in life!” said Bea, although she quickly corrected herself, when her answer drew laughs from the audience. “Let me rephrase that (laughs). He’s just enjoying life, he’s happy with his life. That’s the one thing I don’t like about myself — sometimes, I get too serious about life that I don’t get to enjoy life anymore. That’s what I like about his personality, na-inspire ako sa pagiging ganun niya. And he has done a lot in his life, he’s not just acting, he’s also into sports, he loves music, plays instruments, he plays the guitar, and now he wants to learn to play the violin. I told him, how are you able to do all these things? So, I’m really impressed by him.”

As for Dawn, Bea unabashedly confessed, “I’m a fan of her.”

“We can all see how beautiful she is, and I always tell her that. Si Ms. Dawn, she’s very graceful in everything that she does, she’s such a good actress… I admire how she handles her personal life and her career. I want to be like her someday.”

Bea portrays a young lawyer who will come in between Richard and Dawn who play a married couple. Her character, who is “in pain and broken” after being cheated on by a fiancé, finds solace in Richard whose character is also enmeshed in the same situation. As they say, misery loves company.

The Love Affair, as its trailer teases, explores the cycle of hurt in relationships: You know, if you’ve been hurt, does it give you the right to hurt back?

Bea weighed in, “For me, no. What kind of relationship do you have, if nag-gagantihan kayong dalawa. You get hurt, but you shouldn’t hurt back. Because for me that pain should teach you to be a better person, and if you hurt that person the same way he hurt you, then you are no better from that person.”

The Love Affair features scenes wherein Bea is seen sailing with the character of Richard, who in real life, is a man of various sports, from fencing, volleyball to sailing, even representing the country in some international competitions. 

According to Bea, “This is really the most physically and emotionally challenging film that I’ve ever done because I’m not athletic, I’m not sporty. Sailing requires two things: You have to be alert, you have to be fit.”

The filming underwent hiccups because Bea suffered a few mishaps in the course of learning how to sail. During the 10-day training, the sailboat capsized twice. In the first instance, she landed on the steel portion of the boat that she had bruises and was rushed to the ER. The second time around, she hit her head and was brought again to the ER, “but I guess I’m really accident-prone (laughs), because it didn’t happen to my companions.”

It was smooth sailing after, with Richard giving her good marks. “(Ten days of training) was more than enough, actually. One time I told her, you run the boat while I sleep,” Richard recalled.

Naturally, Bea couldn’t escape being asked if it was smooth sailing in the other aspects of her life. It was the actress herself who playfully told reporters to ask her pointblank on what they really wanted to know, although prior to the presscon, there were some requests to avoid asking personal questions amidst tabloid reports that Bea’s relationship with boyfriend of four years, Zanjoe Marudo, is in trouble.

“Do I look like I’m in pain and broken?” said a smiling Bea, borrowing a line from her character.

She admitted that they’re going through a rough patch, but, “I’m OK. We’re OK. Yes, we’re going through something (in our relationship). We all go through something in life... but the most important thing is how you handle yourself after all of it is (over). So there, we’re working it out. We’re happy. It’s your responsibility to be happy.”