“Honestly, sa dami, I lost count,” he says. “Our director, Perci Intalan, says kailangang realistic na laplapan talaga, labas dila, so we did it as we’re instructed. Wild din yung love scene namin dito inside a tricycle kasi tricycle driver ako rito.”
So didn’t he feel any reluctance in doing those kissing scenes? “Actually, dahil sa sobrang dami ng kissing scenes namin na sobrang ang tatagal, towards the end, parang I’m feeling sick at gusto ko nang masuka. Pero pinigil ko na lang, hindi ko ipinakita, kasi gusto kong matapos yung scene nang maayos at ayokong ipaulit pa sa’min ni Direk. I kept on thinking na I’m just playing a character who’s so much in love with Barbie, and hindi ako talaga yun. Yung character ko lang ang gumagawa noon, but may point kasi na nabe-break yung hold ng character ko sa’kin at bumabalik ako sa reality, so it’s a struggle. I’m not perfect and I just wanna be honest and share what happened noong very last day ng shooting namin ng kissing scenes.”
How about Aikihiro Blanco? How did he feel about his love scenes with Martin? “I’m aware when I accepted the project that we have a kissing scene. Pero akala ko, minsan lang, but it turned out, napakarami pala. Alangan namang umurong pa ako, so nilagay ko na lang sa mind ko na lasang Toblerone ang lips ni Martin. Pareho kami, tinodo na namin para wala nang take two. Ang love scene namin dito happened inside a taxi cab, kasi taxi driver naman ako rito na na-in love kay Barbie.”
Director Perci Intalan says he is thankful that all his actors were very cooperative. “In fairness to them, walang nag-inarte sa mga pinagawa ko sa kanila. Alam nilang it’s all needed in the story,” he adds. “Game na game lahat sila at wala silang inhibitions man lang. Yun ang edge ng ‘Born Beautiful’ sa ‘Die Beautiful’ ni Paolo Ballesteros na walang kissing scene at all. Dito, marami, but I wish people would watch it not just for the kissing scenes kasi mas marami pang puedeng pag-usapan about our movie other than those kissing scenes. So I urge everyone to watch it when it opens in theatres on Wednesday, January 23 dahil talagang sa touching story pa lang nito, madadala na sila.”