Why Bela and JC never became a couple even after many films together

Maybe it’s the chemistry or convincing portrayal, but Bela Padilla and JC Santos will somehow make your jaded and cynical self entertain the idea of falling in love in less than 24 hours.

In their sixth film together, the romantic-comedy Wish You Were The One, Bela plays Astrud, an ambitious tailoring shop owner who’s not scared to sacrifice love if it gets in the way of her goals. JC is Ellis, a landscape artist who is more decisive and goal-oriented when it comes to love. A wedding accidentally brings them together where they agree to become each other’s pretend boyfriend-girlfriend in hopes of resolving and reclaiming past relationships.

What looks to be a mismatch at first turns out to be two strangers with some shared history, making them believe that their paths were bound to cross in one way or another. In the course of the wedding, they build their connection through almost uninterrupted conversation, from the fake meet-cute story they furnished to skeptical friends, to ruminations about life, family backgrounds and failed relationships when it’s just the two of them. The dialogues were so natural that it’s not hard to imagine both actors exchanging those lines in real life. Anyway, the film premieres in theaters today.

Directed by Derick Cabrido, it’s the filmmaker’s first foray into the romantic-comedy genre after helming mostly horror movies. And if this film is any indication, this won’t be his last.

Bela and JC were first paired together in 100 Daang Tula Para Kay Stella (2017), followed by more projects together such as The Day After Valentine’s (2018), On Vodka, Beers and Regrets (2020), Miracle Cell in No. 7 (2020) and 366 (2022), which the actress also wrote and directed.

Wish You Were The One is their tandem’s first-ever romantic comedy, and in an interview with this paper, both Bela and JC felt that it was the implausibility of the plot that drew them to the film.

“We both don’t believe in the idea that people can fall in love in 24 hours because knowing JC, or at least how I know JC, parehas kasi kaming segurista and meticulous sa ‘pag check ng everything. So how much more with a life partner? It’s not possible na 24 hours lang. Maybe, like, if a miracle happens, pwede,” said Bela.

“So, I think, the idea of this being so ridiculously impossible also attracted us to this project. Like how can we do this, how can I make myself believe that this can actually happen? Because when we shot this, constantly, we would ask each other, is this possible? Nangyayari ba talaga ‘to? Nakakatuwa,” she added.

The same goes for JC. When he first read the script, he also wondered how they could pull off the storyline and make it realistic.

“Actually, we question that here. Pinakita namin sa pelikula the possibility of getting ‘The One’ in 24 hours. We answer that possibility in the film. So, you have to watch out,” the actor said.

The STAR also asked the perennial onscreen partners on what they do so as not to get tired of each other, as we also learned that their teamup will soon star in another project.

“It’s as exciting and as challenging na lagi kaming magkasama ni Bela. It’s exciting because… we’re still going to continue to surprise each other. Lagi kaming may bagong pinapalabas. Challenging siya dahil din I know we’re going to be challenging each other again,” JC said.

“Conscious effort kami na kailangan namin baguhin ito and we’ve reached that point where we test each other’s acting skills…to the point of improv or improvisational skills.”

For Bela, this is where the beauty of having a real-life friendship over romance comes in.

“Kasi lagi kaming tinatanong sa lahat ng interview namin na parang ‘di niyo ba na sabi na Wish You Were The One or bakit hindi naging kayo? I think dito yung malaking advantage na hindi naging kami and dahil imbes dun kami mag-focus, we focused on building a solid foundation with each other as friends. Now that really helps when we work. There’s an advantage of, I guess, mas pinili namin na magkaroon ng friendship more than anything else,” she said.

“In 2017, I wouldn’t say that we knew we’d do six films together. But when you work with someone so well, you don’t want that to change, so I think, it was a conscious effort also on our ends that, okay, our tandem works, so we have to keep on working together. So, let’s maintain whatever we have now and do it well.”

Bela also shares JC’s sentiment that it will be a great disservice to their craft as actors if they still needed to date in real life just to prove they have chemistry.

“As an artista, if my role is a manananggal, do I need to be a manananggal also in real life?” she joked. “That’s why we’re performers and actors because we’re supposed to be able to pull off these scenes and make you believe that there’s something going on even when there’s nothing.

“But it doesn’t have to always come from a point of nothing. I would say now, after six years, JC and I genuinely care for each other that even though we have other projects (we make it a point to tell each other), ‘Uy ang ganda ng ginawa mo dito, ang ganda ng performance mo dito (You did great here or your performance is great here).’ We’re mature enough now,” Bela added.

“And also, we’re both very stable in our careers and our own personal lives that we can be happy for each other when we do other things. I think that’s more beautiful than dating someone for two years, tops, because that’s the trend in showbiz, ‘di ba?

“We are not like KathNiel na 16 years old pinagsama na kami. I was 26 when JC and I first started acting with each other. (Meaning to say) buong tao na kami dalawa, we didn’t need each other to survive the industry. We already had been through a lot on our own when we first met each other.”

For his part, JC considers himself very lucky to have found the co-actor that “complements whatever I’m able to give.” Even from the get-go, he found it so easy to try and do things on screen whenever he was with the actress.

“Me and Bela on screen, I think we have the right amount of everything. Nagko-complement yung itsura at saka yung feelings na nangyayari. Nakahanap ako ng partner talaga na kumbaga sa painting, ito yung tamang timpla na binibigay namin sa audience. I think, I was able to test it in On Vodka, Beers and Regrets where we had no lines and we were just asked to go in front of the camera,” said the actor.

“And yet, we were able to complete the scene where we didn’t even need actual lines. Tutukan niyo lang kami ng camera, may makukuha na kayo na something na pwede namin ibigay. That’s our strength as a performer. Alam namin ano ang maging direction ng isa’t isa ‘pag nagtinginan na.”