Kathryn Bernardo Sheds “Good Girl” Image In PREVIEW PH November Feature
Sorry, Kathryn Bernardo can’t come to phone right now. Because…………. she’s burning her “Good Girl” image to the ground in her latest cover feature for PREVIEW PH.
Challenge, Accepted
But the draw for Kathryn was set by the fourth and final condition: the enticing pull of a challenge.
Portraying both Philo and Mercy had stretched the way she viewed acting as she knew it. While 2019’s Hello, Love, Goodbye infamously immersed the actress into the life of an OFW on the brink of frustration-laced tears, A Very Good Girl expanded herself, in more ways than one, by filling the roles of seeming opposites in one film, which involved physical and mental preparation. She had shed some weight for the characters, and played dress-up to distinguish Philo and Mercy. Emotionally, she sought guidance in hopes to better manifest the blurring line between them.
With a 20-year acting experience in her mere 27 years of existence, challenges were now her personal bread and butter in an industry that can so often box actors in plug-and-play, perfectly laid-out typecasts. She found her start in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it role in 2002’s Dekada ’70, which, when thought about, became the butterfly effect that led her to first main role in Super Inggo, to eventually Mara Clara and She’s Dating the Gangster, then coalescing into a filmography that found its way to A Very Good Girl. For the most part, the common denominator in the many roles she has been in is constant change.
“Before I accept any movie or TV series na i-offer sakin, [I ask myself,] ‘Okay, anong bago? Anong hindi ko pa nagawa?’” Kathryn says. “Para hindi ako parang nagpa-plateau. Yes, you can do rom-coms. Pero the next, [pwedeng] ibang klaseng story naman na rom-com.”
“Nakaka-proud na, slowly, nakakapasok tayo sa ganong mundo,” Kathryn says. “Sana magtuloy-tuloy, because I feel like ang dami talagang magagandang materials and talents dito. If just given enough time and budget, kayang-kayang natin.”
Production and material have evolved, she thinks. But even more so, the audience has, too. Some would coin this as the brink of a renaissance for the Philippine entertainment industry, where genre-bending films and series have been put out to the world, and Filipino actors are given their due in the international landscape. As someone knee-deep in front and behind the scenes, Kathryn knows it, too.
“Not that I’m against the formula, because it worked before. It just so happened na iba na ngayon. Nandito tayo sa transition era.”
(READ FULL FEATURE HERE)
