Iñigo takes a big step

Right before 2015 ends, Iñigo Pascual is taking a big step forward in his career as he stars in his first-ever teleserye, And I Love You So (AILYS).

It is major for him, not just because it’s his first regular TV show, but also because he won’t have his father Piolo Pascual around as part of the cast. Piolo is busy working on his own show, Written in Our Stars, also under Dreamscape Entertainment, which will debut in 2016.

By the time this sees print, AILYS will already be on air, and Iñigo is very excited over his teleserye debut where he shares acting credits with other talented young stars in Julia Barretto and Miles Ocampo. Also in the cast with them are some more senior actors, including Angel Aquino and Dimples Romana.

They have already taped several scenes, and Iñigo says that so far, the experience has been “amazing.” He had a hard time in the beginning, though, because he was used to the way things are done in the movies, where only a few scenes are filmed a day. In television, it can sometimes go up to 30-plus sequences a day, so the pace is much faster.

Thus, he had to adjust. “Having a hard time was part of it, especially in the beginning,” confesses Iñigo. “It was very fast-paced, I was just so used to the whole movie set-up na ilang beses tina-take ang isang scene. So medyo na-shock ako na parang ang bilis. Yon na ‘yon? I had to really come prepared every time kasi sobrang dami naming sequences na tatapusin in such a limited time so that was the main challenge for me.”

His father has been a big help. From watching him, Iñigo has slowly gotten used to how things are done on television. “Just watching him, visiting him on the set, seeing the way he is even off-cam, the way he focuses on his role and the way he gets into his character, is something I’m lucky that I get an inside scoop on for free — that I’m able to see that and use that as well.”

And yet Iñigo is clear on one thing, which is that he doesn’t want to be seen as just an extension of his father. Not because he’s ashamed or shy about it, but because he wants to carve his own identity as an actor. “Of course, I want to be different,” he says. “I want people to say I’m Iñigo Pascual, and not just the son of Piolo. Kukunin ko yung mga ginagamit niya at ginagawa niya, but at the same time I want to come up with my own way of acting and going through things.”

But through the years, there is so much that he has learned, even just from watching his dad. “How professional he is (is one thing),” says Inigo. “He’s never late, he shows me na you have to respect the time of others. I’m like that also. I hate being late, it’s one of my pet peeves. When I’m running late, I keep texting people, I say ‘I’m almost there, almost there.’ I really freak out and I try my best to explain kasi nahihiya din ako to waste their time.”

And yet it wasn’t until recently that Iñigo felt the showbiz bug had really taken a hold of him, and that he was here to stay. Now he’s pretty much decided on settling in the country to make this a career.

“There was a moment that I just felt… na sabi ko sa sarili ko, ‘Whoa, I’m really here, I’m not just coming to visit. I’m part of them now.’ Recently ko lang na-feel nu’ng nasa ASAP ako, na wala doon si Papa. I felt that ‘Okay, I am part of it. This is what I really want to do, I made my decision already, ito na, I’m not going to go back to the States, I’m going to focus on this.’”

But on the other hand, he says it might be premature for him to say goodbye to the life he had in the US. “I’m not letting go of my American life, I’m still thinking there might be a day that I might want to go back there or maybe take a break from everything and go there. I don’t wanna say that it’s forever because you never really know.”

All he knows now is that he has fallen in love with the craft of acting, and that from this point on, it’s going to be a big part of his future.