Julia can now take roles fearlessly

Julia Barretto is portraying two different characters in I Am U, the latest iWant original series produced by Dreamscape Entertainment and The IdeaFirst Company that will start streaming on the Kapamilya digital platform on Feb. 26.

The mystery psycho thriller requires Julia to display the fierceness of Elise and the boldness of Rose, and portraying them, the 22-year-old actress said, is a complete departure from the usual saccharine kind of acting she’s done in past projects.

“I’m grateful that I’ve been trusted with projects that are not the usual and I’m glad na nakapaglalaro na ako; that I’m free to do some scenes and some roles and take more risks. That I can now take roles fearlessly, and that I can be the actress that I’ve always wanted to be,” said Julia on taking a “new” level of acting.

Showbiz watchers know that her onscreen pairing with Joshua Garcia had resulted to a brighter acting career yet Julia maintained that she is already past the loveteam stage, saying, “Siguro graduate na ako kung saan ako dati. Graduate na ko sa loveteam. I’ve been blessed to have experienced that, don’t get me wrong. But I still enjoy doing rom-coms and hopefully, I can still do rom-drama na parang classic love story na may drama and, perhaps, more edgier roles.”

With (from left) director Dwein Baltazar, co-star Tony Labrusca and producer Perci Intalan of The IdeaFirst Company during the presscon

IdeaFirst top honcho Perci Intalan, on the other hand, expressed delight at having Julia as the female lead. “When we met with Sir Deo (Endrinal, Dreamscape head), the prospect of working with Julia came out. Sobra kaming na-excite na sige willing to wait kahit ilang taon kami abutin because honestly, Julia is at the stage in her career na ang ganda kasi makikita mo ‘yung dynamics; nalalaro n’ya ‘yung nuances.”

He was thrilled when he saw the first rushes that director Dwein Baltazar presented to them. “I was not disappointed. Kitang-kita ko talaga ang magnetic ng persona ni Julia both as Elise and as Rose…sobrang na-deliver ni Julia.”

Julia described her characters as edgy with “nasa loob ang kulo” attitude, finding them both challenging yet fulfilling to do as an actress. No, she’s not at all bothered about handling expectations of people.

“Right now, I am more focused on (work). I just wanna do my best and also I wanna push myself in delivering siguro tumanda na rin ako na unlike when I was younger I was kinda pressured because I had expectations to live up to. But now, I only have one goal, and that is to be able to give what I’m asked to perform.

“I’m very happy to be in the phase of my career na mas mature na ‘yung mga nagagawa ko, mas marami na kong nakakatrabaho…I can now explore, as an actress, different genres, and be able to work with different leading men and different kinds of material.”

Speaking of new leading man, Tony Labrusca is working for the first time with Julia, who never denied that what initially came to her mind upon learning that they  would be working together were the passionate kissing scenes Tony did with Angel Aquino in Glorious.

“When it was pitched to me na Tony Labrusca, I said, ‘Oh, daming laplapan?’ I heard of Tony first in Glorious, so even before I met him, I already thought that his image was like that — sexy, hot, steamy (laughs),” she shared and added that she felt excited working with him whom she described as a “universal leading man.”

Completing the cast of I Am U are Ina Raymundo, Richard Quan, Cedric Juan, Kokoy de Santos, Adrianna So, Claire Ruiz, Lander Vera-Perez, Yayo Aguila and Jenny Miller.