MANILA, Philippines — Enrique Gil and Liza Soberano are oozing with maturity in their new series Make It With You or at least that’s what the teaser trailer is promising viewers as their reel and real pairing returns to ABS-CBN primetime bida tonight.
And the maturity has obviously extended off screen, with the two having grown much since their last series in 2018, Bagani, going by how they talked about their new roles, new challenges and all.
“We always say this, but expect a new LizQuen because each time we try to be better and better at our craft, and all we want is for our audience to be happy and satisfied with the show, and of course, we want them to learn something from it. That’s what we’re looking forward to,” said Liza during the show’s presscon last Thursday.
The trailer introduces Enrique as Gabo, a drifter who leaves home and wanders off to a foreign land that’s Croatia and meets Liza’s character Billy, an OFW who sidelines as a matchmaker. She tries to pair off the down-and-out Enrique with a rich Croatian socialite but as the age-old saying goes, “the bridge is the owner,” right?
Said Enrique, “Gabo is someone who’s like a lost boy, a lost soul. He’s in search of something that he’s been longing for ever since that he couldn’t understand. Akala mo taong grasa, but he’s really just looking for purpose in life, something different from what he was used to growing up.”
Liza, on the other hand, described Billy as “very strong-willed, confident and family-oriented. She has this dream to be a popular pastry chef but she ends up going to Croatia to find work in hopes of providing a better life for her family. But along the way, she makes decisions that are not right, but in a way she’s just trying to help people out.”
How did they prepare for the roles in the project (directed by Cathy Garcia-Molina and Richard Ibasco Arellano, and written by Mark Angos), that’s visibly worlds-apart from their last serye?
“I didn’t have much preparation (for my character),” Enrique admitted. “What I only remember was what direk Cathy told me, that I was too fair-skinned, because the people in Croatia, they’re a bit tanned and they have rosy skin. We had to look like locals. So every morning before taping, they would tell me to do sun-bathing.”
He continued, “With the character, I can never really prepare until I’m on the set and actually do the scenes.”
Liza, for her part, said that she asked for the script beforehand so that she could practice her Tagalog. As for her look, Liza was also asked to sunbathe and color her hair, and was made to watch the film Erin Brokovich starring Julia Roberts, because direk Cathy “wanted me na ganun ka strong din ang character ni Billy.”
The young actress also shared that portraying her character was particularly difficult. “I really struggled with my character, direk Cathy and direk Richard know this. This is because my character Billy is quite different from who I am as a person. She’s very outgoing, she’s very loud, very big, spunky and confident which is feeling ko, wala akong ganun. When I was taping for the first few days, I was really having a hard time. Nangangapa talaga ako sa character. Good thing, direk Cathy and direk Richard were there to guide me for the duration of the shoot.”
Nevertheless, Liza has gleaned some lessons from playing Billy. “I think it’s the confidence because with Billy, her confidence is overflowing, she’s very decisive, she knows what she wants and she’ll do anything to get it as long as nasa tama siya. That’s what she believes. She believes she’s right. I think me, as a person, I’m starting to become more comfortable with myself as an actress, and I’m also gaining a bit more confidence to speak up because before when I have problems, I just keep them to myself. But now I feel I’m more open.”
Filming in another country presented logistical difficulties, Enrique related, revealing that in some parts of Croatia, it was hard to secure permits, that they resorted to “guerilla shooting.” Language barrier posed another challenge to the work experience between the Filipino production and the local crew. “But I think that was a small obstacle for us,” said Liza.
The actress also shared that Croatia has the least number of Filipino OFWs, just a little over a hundred, and some 15 of them helped them during the shoot.
Much as they wanted to, unfortunately, they didn’t get to explore Croatia that much because dayoffs were spent traveling to the next place they were going to shoot.
What’s perhaps important is that it offered a unique opportunity for them to work again in a foreign location no less, as both admitted they can’t really see themselves being paired with other people just yet, like what other popular loveteams such as KathNiel have done.
Asked about other things they hope to do as a couple, they’ve added a few more to their bucket list.
Liza enumerated, “Go to another country that we’ve never been to and do a dream project together that we’ve never done. We dream of doing a docu film and a horror film, and maybe a business together.”
Ending up with each other in the future is also part of the wishlist. Enrique told reporters that he believes Liza is the one for him. “Yes, I really believe so, 100 percent in my heart, yes,” he said.
“I’m happy because he makes me feel secure,” Liza responded. “He’s always assuring me and I think that’s what any girl in a relationship is looking for.”
They’re still young Enrique is 27 and Liza is 22 but they and their fans certainly hope they make it.
Also starring in Make It With You are Ian Veneracion, Katya Santos, Fumiya Sankai, Eddie Gutierrez, Pokwang, Vangie Labalan and Herbert Bautista, with up-and-coming actors Jeremiah Lisbo, Anthony Jennings and Daniela Stranner.
Make It With You airs weeknights after FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano.