Derrick and Elle look forward to book two of ‘Makiling’

MANILA, Philippines — “I am super ready.”

That was the resounding response of Elle Villanueva, the lead star of GMA’s “Makiling,” which is now in its finale week, to The STAR’s inquiry regarding a possible book two for the revenge drama, during a recent virtual press conference.

Her leading man, Derrick Monasterio, chimed in with the question, “Is the production team ready for it? Because we’re ready.”

Elle added that it’s actually their wish, especially when the path leading to the conclusion became clearer.

“We don’t really want this to end because a lot of stories could be injected (in the existing ‘Makiling’ narrative and added to it),” said she.

But endings are inevitable in any form of storytelling. That includes the tale between Derrick and Elle’s characters, Alex and Amira, who, at the onset of “Makiling,” have been established to represent the voiceless and the powerless — and have a helping heart.

“We would always review each other’s (performance) every day after taping” said Elle, looking back on her and Derrick’s working routine. “We would finish our work almost at the same time. It has become our routine on our way home to make comments on our acting (or swap stories on how our day went).”

The Sparkle GMA artist shared that “Makiling” has helped them become better actors because the director Conrado Peru pushed them to go beyond what they thought they could do.

“Hopefully, we did justice to our characters because I could say we gave our 101 percent in ‘Makiling,’” said Elle. “(We’ve realized that) having the drive is important when you’re doing something. You really have to be passionate about what you do.”

Derrick, on the other hand, recalled that he was already invested in his first scene, which allowed him to get to know Alex, the character.

“Siyempre, as the show goes by, nagkakaroon na ng layers (of course, new layers have been revealed about my character),” said he, who also took the time to watch “Makiling” and his and Elle’s performances on TV. If their schedule didn’t permit, Derrick and Elle would catch it on YouTube.

“Siguro ang technique dito is ibigay mo yung tiwala mo talaga sa tao, tiwala sa director mo, sa mga co-actors mo (perhaps the technique is to give your trust to people you’re working with, like the director and fellow actors),” shared Derrick about his craft. “What we’ve really done is to connect with them on a personal level, off-cam, and while doing the scenes (on-cam) kaya naging successful yung show (that’s why the show has become successful).”

Derrick continued on by saying that all talents did collaborate, and good things came out of it, such as creating iconic scenes that kept followers engaged and entertained.

“Lahat ng mga scenes sa Facebook (sa) sobrang konting hours pa lang, ang dami na ng views (in a few hours after uploading the scenes on Facebook, they would get many views already),” said he. The viewers, who also seem to follow the show on social media, tend to create groups that root for this team of characters or that team. Derrick was glad with the level of engagement between the show and the fans.

Through “Makiling,” Derrick and Elle are able to further show what they’re made of as a love team and as lead stars.

“I’m very lucky because of the team also,” said she. “Pinapakinggan po nila kami (they would listen to us). In accepting this project, hindi ko rin po akalain na ganun kalalim yung role ko kasi synopsis pa lang naman po yung nababasa (I never thought how meaty this role was because initially I would just have a synopsis).”

It’s safe to say that Elle, who has shown her knack to portray a dynamic, bida-kontrabida (protagonist-antagonist) and handle the demands that come with it, considers “Makiling” a memorable acting journey.

As a young actress, she has definitely discovered a lot about her profession.

A piece of information from the “Makiling” team says that the show is “GMA Public Affairs’ most successful afternoon prime drama series to date” and the network’s third highest rating third-slot afternoon prime daily drama since 2017.”

From broadcast to online, “Makiling” becomes the second “most watched Kapuso program” on GMA’s YouTube channel. Week after week, its trailers would get over one million views within 24 hours on social media platforms.

(Watch the finale episodes of “Makiling” this week at 4 p.m. on GMA Afternoon Prime.)