Enrique’s successful 360-degree turn

So many good things have happened to Enrique Gil. After his successful teleseryes on TV, a dance album and a packed Araneta Coliseum concert in the last two years, he started 2015 with a new series, Forevermore, that is now one of primetime’s top draws.

“I’m just overwhelmed, still in awe, because I — we — never expected when we started taping na ganun kainit ‘yung pagtanggap ng mga tao,” says Enrique, whose character Xander has lifted the 22-year-old actor straight into the ranks of the Kapamilya network’s top leading men. His co-star Liza Soberano, who plays Agnes, has also turned herself into one of the most promising leading ladies and has people predicting she’s going to be the next big star.

Enrique says it’s strange because when they started taping in La Presa (which has now become a tourist attraction of sorts), not many people were interested in what they were doing. “Ngayon, ‘pag nag-ta-taping kami doon, parang tourist attraction na. Grabe!” he says with a laugh. “And at first, we were scared because siyempre hindi namin alam ‘yung chemistry namin ni Liza. It was our first time with each other, and for a big show and a big timeslot like that, with the big cast they made, there was pressure na sana naman magustuhan ng tao or sana maging malakas ito.”

The sacrifices the cast made were not easy ones so now that they have paid off, Enrique feels that everything was worth it. Ultimately, he — and everyone else in the cast — was focused on only one goal.

“We just wanted people to enjoy what we do. Malayo kami sa family namin, tapos we’re all the way in Baguio, taping non-stop hours, sometimes wala kaming tulog. Ang gusto lang talaga namin is magustuhan ng tao. Hindi namin alam na ganun ka-grabe ang kalalabasan. As in, nagulat kami. Even now, ang dami talagang tao.”

Even more surprising, he says, is how the reaction to Forevermore and the more edgy character of Xander gave his career a shot in the arm. “Sabi nga nila, you’re only as good as your last show,” he reflects seriously. “So I just wanted to prove something like, ‘Guys, ito ako, your new leading man. I wanted…we wanted… kami ng management, si direk Cathy (Garcia-Molina) to change me… to change Enrique. We wanted somebody new, somebody fresh, and somebody different from the Enrique that they’ve seen in previous shows. They wanted to give the people something different and they put direk Cathy in charge of that — and she did an excellent job. We gave them something new, and sabi nga nila, ‘Uy, Quen is back. Enrique is back.’ ‘Yun lang naman ang sa akin. I just want the people to enjoy what I do. Kasi kung may trabaho lang naman ako, masaya na ako pero it doesn’t mean anything kung hindi naman magusutuhan ng tao.”

Enrique clarifies that this doesn’t mean there was a time that he faded away or felt like his career wasn’t going anywhere. In fact, it was in the last two years that it really made big strides, especially on the small screen, in shows like Muling Buksan ang Puso and Mirabella where he played the male lead roles, that he has been climbing steadily in terms of quality of work and just keeps getting better and better.

He shares, “I won’t say ‘Enrique was gone’ but maybe for the past few shows, parang I kept quiet, lay low, just kept on doing what I was doing. Usually, I play characters na mabait, may sakit, or the good guy, ‘yung maamo. They wanted me to change, and give me an edgy character, like Xander na mayaman, mabait pero may pagka-brat, may pagka-spoiled, pero hindi mo naman hate, mahal mo dahil naiintindihan mo siya.”

Now, Enrique’s made that 360-degree turn onscreen, and his career is all the better for it.