Bea Alonzo In MEGA Magazine June 2023
Bea Alonzo talks about painting her world her own way and how her life has imitated her own works of art—and the other way around.
Life imitating art and vice versa seems to be a common element in the many chapters of Alonzo’s life. And sometimes, it takes a while for her to comprehend that.
In 2007, Alonzo and John Lloyd Cruz, both of whom comprised the most popular love team of their generation, premiered their hit movie One More Chance. In one of the film’s scenes, Alonzo’s character, Basha, breaks up with her boyfriend of five years, Popoy, played by Cruz, amid a car malfunction.
“Nagkaroon ako ng epiphany no’n na parang ayaw ko na ng relationship ko sa totoong buhay,” she says. “It was not helping me grow anymore. As I was saying my lines, I felt them for real. So, the next day, I broke up with my boyfriend.” She laughs before continuing, “Life happens so fast, and we get caught up with our schedules that sometimes we don’t have the time to reflect. When I would do a character, I get to have time to reflect because I would have to dig deep into myself, ‘What do I really feel?’ It’s like therapy for me.”
Another similar incident happened while she was shooting the 2015 film The Love Affair, with Richard Gomez and Dawn Zulueta. In the movie, she played the role of Adie, the mistress of Gomez’s character, Vince. There was a scene where Vince refused to answer Adie’s calls because he had decided to patch things up with his wife. Adie went berserk.
Before shooting that scene, Alonzo had talked to the screenwriter Vanessa Valdez, who remains a friend to this day, and had asked the writer to give Adie dignity by restraining her a bit—“hindi naman ata siya maghahabol sa lalaki nang ganiyan.” While Valdez listened intently, she persuaded Alonzo to do the scene anyway. After a long discussion, the actress decided to stop overthinking and just jump right into character as demanded by the script.
Then, when the cameras were finally on her and she was acting her heart out, something clicked, as if a someone had turned on a switch. “Ako pala si Adie sa totoong buhay,” she says, her voice softening to a sigh. “When the director yelled, ‘Cut,’ I kept on crying. Nagising talaga ako sa katotohanan na sa totoong buhay, ’yon ’yong pinagdadaanan ko, and I was just in denial. I was running after a man who didn’t want me anymore. It’s those moments that life imitates art for me. There’s always a part of the character that stays with me and there’s always a part of me that stays with the character.” (SOURCE/FULL ARTICLE)
