How Nag-Aapoy Na Damdamin cast members cool down after intense scenes

MANILA, Philippines — The four main characters of the afternoon drama series Nag-Aapoy Na Damdamin assured the viewers of more intense revenge scenes as Jane Oineza’s Olivia/Claire, JC de Vera’s Philip, Ria Atayde’s Melinda, and Tony Labrusca’s Lucas get to confront each other in the upcoming episodes.

“Pa-intense pa ng pa-intense (scenes)…. Ito na yung tapatan naming apat and the other characters. The revenge will come, andiyan na yung sagad na gantihan and basta pa-intense pa ng pa-intense,” teased Jane in a press conference.

“What’s lay low? Haha!” Ria quipped and added, “Please watch out for more revenge.”

On what to expect from their characters as the story unfolds, especially with Lucas finally meeting Claire as the wife of his mortal enemy Philip, Ria shared that it’s the scene that her character Melinda dislikes the most. “Melinda will try to do whatever she can to preserve her marriage with Lucas. So it’s really intense but how? Where will I place myself?”

Tony noted how his character made the effort to forget Olivia. “That’s why I bought the house to forget her (Olivia). But sakto dumating si Claire and ayaw ni Melinda na magkita kami. But it happened. So mawawala na naman si Lucas sa sarili niya even though he doesn’t want to intentionally hurt Melinda,” he said.

JC said his character Philip’s story started with an intention of him getting revenge against the Buencaminos because he believed that they are the suspects in his father’s sudden demise. “So I really want to avenge them and ang pinakauna at ang pinakamalakas na ganti na ibibigay ko against the Buencaminos is in my hands. Hawak ko siya and that’s Claire. As in I really made her character.

“I’m the one who really wrote her whole life story. But sa lahat ng paghihiganting ginawa ko na yun, I deeply fell in love with Claire. I don’t know what will be my priority – to get the revenge that I want from the Buencaminos or continue my love for Claire.

“Either ilayo siya (Claire) sa mga Buencamino and for us to start all over. So Philip right now is caught in the middle. He doesn’t know where to go, what will he do first, and what will his priority be. So far, in the story, he is really showing his love for Claire,” he continued.

Jane added, “Connected also for the longest time that I don’t know who I am. All the information that I have come from him (Philip). But what’s exciting is my memories are getting back gradually. I’m starting to remember my past and that’s what I’m trying to understand and decode because it’s not yet clear.

“The memories are slowly coming out and I’ll be able to piece together the puzzle and lalabas na rin yung pagiging palaban ni Claire as a person,” she continued. “Because for the longest time she was just in the house. Lagi lang siya sumusunod kay Philip pero yun na papasok na yung mga pagdududa natin. (She will start asking), ‘What really happened? Are the things Philip said true or not?’”

Since the show is loaded with heavy scenes and every character provokes strong emotions, The STAR asked how do the actors cool down or recover after delivering those intense scenes and emotions?

JC said, “It is important for us that right after ma-cut yung scene na mag-break away kami sa scenes because the next scene ibang emotion na naman yung ipapakita namin. It is still heavy but it is not the same as the last scene that we did. So it’s really hard because we juggle from one emotion to another.

“And then the biggest challenge right after breaking down kung paano mo pipigilan yung sarili mo umiyak, on how you will regulate your breathing again to calm yourself and be normal again,” he added.

Jane shared, “We were friends naman so nakaka pag-debrief naman.” She and Ria added that they just keep it “chill” and sometimes they would bring and eat (comfort) food on set to de-stress, “Food is life, pampa-happy.”

Ria furthered that they exert “conscious effort” to separate their real-life persona from their character in the series. “Kasi kung hindi baka mabaliw kami ng de oras. Parang intense na masyado so as much as possible conscious effort for all of us na ipagpag talaga at the end of the day. Yung parang pag nakabihis na kami na pang-kami (as ourselves) OK na.”

(Nag-Aapoy Na Damdamin streams Mondays thru Fridays in its new timeslot at 3:45 p.m. on Kapamilya Channel, Kapamilya Online Live, iWantTFC, TFC, A2Z, and TV5.)