Dennis Trillo keeps up with the new gen stars

MANILA, Philippines — “Perhaps when you have contentment in your life. You’re content with what you have, being happy and always looking on the brighter side of life.”

That was Dennis Trillo sharing his secrets to maintaining that youthful appearance and glow in a recent press conference for his villain role, Col. Yuta Saitoh, in the GMA primetime series, “Pulang Araw.”

Looks-wise and definitely talent-wise, the actor can keep up with established, new and young stars. “Pulang Araw” allows Dennis to collaborate with Alden Richards, Barbie Forteza, David Licauco and Sanya Lopez.

“Masarap yung pakiramdan na maka-trabaho mo yung mga superstars, di ba? (The feeling is good when you work with superstars, right?),” said he. “I enjoy working with Alden Richards. It’s my first time to work with him. You can see his passion every time we have a scene. His energy level? He seems to never get tired.”

With the three other stars, Dennis worked with Sanya in “Cain at Abel,” while he starred along with Barbie and David in the hit historical portal fantasy, “Maria Clara at Ibarra.”

“Masaya kong maka-trabaho sila ulit… habang lumilipas ang panahon, nakikita mo yung growth nila (I’m happy to be working with them again… as time passes, you can see their growth),” added he.

Given the challenges of playing a Japanese imperial officer, such as delivering dialogues in Japanese and considering the proper accent, besides inhabiting the character, Dennis shared that he just stays in his tent and is focused on reading the script. That’s how committed he is to this project. “Hindi ko nilulubayan kasi kapag may ginawa akong ibang bagay, nakakalimutan ko na siya (I need to be attuned to my character. If I do something else, I will forget him).”

Thus, as much as he wants to, he has less time to bond with fellow stars.

Besides, as part of a historical show, creatives like Dennis and TV series director Dominic Zapata have to put all their energy and effort into scrutinizing every aspect of the production, from props to the characters’ appearance, to name some, in their period-oriented presentation.

The character Col. Yuta is described as someone stern with hatred towards Filipinos in “Pulang Araw.” The hostility stems from an unfortunate event that he witnessed. He can’t forget it as it cost the lives of some of his family members.

Asked if the character will have redemption at some point of the story, Dennis said, “Sa tingin ko kahit papaano magkakaroon ng redemption yung character (I think somehow he will have redemption). Like what I said (earlier) ang kontrabida naman hindi naman siya masamang tao, eh, may pinanggagalingan ang lahat ng yun (a villain is not really a bad person. His being is coming from, let’s say, a past experience). He has the chance to change, no matter how bad he is.”

At the end of each taping day, Dennis, the actor knows how to detach from his character and shake off emotions and traits that define the latter. What he does is watch funny videos while on his way home and continue to watch the same content until he falls asleep.

“Para puro positive energy pa rin ang madala ko sa bahay (so that I will still carry and have positive energy at home),” shared he.

Portraying Col. Yuta is Dennis’ first-ever major villain role. He is challenged to take in and process pieces of information to give some realism to the character. On top of that, he needs to memorize Japanese lines and think of the nuances when he delivers them.

As his colleagues can attest, Dennis commits to his craft.

(‘Pulang Araw’ airs weeknights at 8 on GMA Prime and streams on Netflix.)