Kapamilya stars Piolo Pascual and Lovi Poe admitted they enjoyed working together for the Philippine adaptation of South Korea’s thriller drama “Flower of Evil.”
"All the action scenes, all the drama, alam mo 'yun, she’s a trouper," said Piolo, on his working relationship with Lovi, during an exclusive interview with select members of the entertainment press at the ABS-CBN compound in Quezon City recently.
On Piolo, Lovi commented: "You know, someone’s character is very contagious, 'yung energy niya nakukuha ko rin."
"Flower of Evil" follows the thrilling story of a man who successfully changes his identity in order to hide his scandalous past. He then marries a police detective, who will, later on, be tasked with investigating an unsolved serial murder case that will lead her back to him.
The cast also includes JC de Vera, Agot Isidro, Denise Laurel, Joem Bascon, Epy Quizon, Rita Avila, Jett Pangan, Pinky Amador, Joross Gamboa, Joko Diaz, and Edu Manzano.
"Flower of Evil" is Lovi's first Kapamilya drama series with Piolo. It is her second ABS-CBN project over-all, after she starred in the 2020 iWantTFC original movie “Malaya,” for which she clinched a Gawad Urian Best Actress nomination.
Here, Piolo and Lovi talk about preparing for the series, their working relationships, and the difficult scenes in their latest project together.
Manila Bulletin Entertainment: Have you finished shooting “Flower of Evil?”
Lovi Poe: “Actually we are done shooting 4 cycles na.”
Piolo Pascual: “Four cycles for about 6 months na, since last year.”
Lovi: “Yes, kumpleto na po.”
Piolo: “More way to go.”
MBE: Will there be surprises for the viewers?
Lovi: “Oh yeah. Hahaha! I’ve been controlling myself.”
Piolo: “It’s kinda hard to keep some things, especially when you’re always doing scenes, you’re not supposed to see.”
Lovi: “Yeah.”
Piolo: “I think we were able to keep some stuff hidden.”
Lovi: “We have like major surprises coming.”
MBE: Have you seen the Korean series?
Lovi: “Yes po.”
Piolo: “Ako, when I saw it, when it was pitched to me, of course I had to see it for myself. So, I realized that I was getting ahead of myself because it was different series that got to hold together. Got me at first excited and afterward, as I was getting to the ending, I said 'Man, what did I get myself into. It’s really hard.' ”
Lovi: “It’s hard work for you, di ba? It’s one of my favorites. I watched it at the beginning of the pandemic and I remember watching it, and I was obsessed. And then suddenly this offer with Piolo.”
Piolo: “You know, when it was pitched to me, they didn’t tell me it was you.”
Lovi: “Yeah.”
Piolo: “Then when I said yes, and they told me it was you. I said yes.”
Lovi: “Yeah!”
MBE: Tell us about your characters in the series.
Lovi: “Well, yeah, I play Iris, she’s a detective and wife of Piolo.”
Lovi: “The wife of Daniel.”
Piolo: “Jacob”
Lovi: “Jacob. I’m so confused. Parang kinabahan ako, parang nagsabi ba ako ng secret? But anyway, no I didn’t. Anyway, she’s like in the middle of this dilemma where she’s going to choose between her career and her husband’s life or family. Kasi parang it’s either yung prinsipyo niya bilang isang police officer para tulungan ang asawa niya. It’s kind of a struggle in her character. Very complex.”
Piolo: “My name is Jacob Del Rosario, the husband. He’s actually hiding something, an intriguing past.mAnd you know, he loves his family, his wife, and his kid. His very adorable. But beneath that, there are some things that he never told his wife. The life that he lives now is actually different from how he was growing up, that’s why there was a mix-up on his name because he's going to be revealed and a lot of people know about that reason. It was really hard to kinda regulate, you know the way you approach your character because everything has perimeters, you know how far you can go or how you can take it. So it was a bit of a challenge for me because I had my borders as a character, some shifting, you know along the way.”
MBE: How did you prepare for the series? Share with us the scenes that were difficult to shoot.
Lovi: “We have workshops together before we start, but then as time went by, I feel like it was more the job itself that brought us in to our characters, more than anything. Kasi we got to spend time together every day, we learned so much from each other in every scene. And so, it’s like everyday we like to unfold a different layer of ourselves. And I also learned a lot from him sometimes, so yeah. If there’s a difficult scene like every day, because nga it’s not the type of usual love story. Yun yung sinasabi ko, like I’m a huge K-drama fan, but this is the first time, that I’ve ever seen this kind of story, where there’s a psycho story, suspense, thriller, and psychological thriller. It’s great because, you know when you put so much work into it, you just know that you’re about to do something great. Eto na yung nagawa naming dalawa.”
Piolo: “The only thing that I can share about this whole experience is, you know, since we’re playing as husband and wife, it was very satisfying to me. We were into the character. We would just look into each other, you know, it was fun. There was so much creative process that we had to go through, but we were able to take away the insecurities beforehand in the workshops with Nonie Buencamino. And it was just really all about commitment, so we enjoyed the creative process. It was just great.”
Lovi: “I just wanna add, I’m really grateful because you know, Piolo let me go through that process, so the process that we have to go through and there are a lot of twists and turns, emotionally, that we have to get there. I’m just so happy that he’s that kind of actor who lets you go all through that.”
MBE: I was going to ask about the working relationships on the set.
Piolo: “The energy that she brought into the set was amazing because it pulled us away from our
comfort zone. We had to step up because, you know, It’s also hard because it’s her first series for ABS-CBN and to do an adaptation, there’s pressure. So much pressure all around us, but we stuck to what we believed in, in terms of how we wanted to approach our characters in the story, and it’s good that we had the story of the series in mind. And we were able to watch the Korean version of it. So I know where we were coming from, just to get there. In terms of chemistry, it was just really nice to work with Lovi, because she loves it. She enjoys it. All the action scenes, all the drama, alam mo yun, she’s a trouper. I was telling her a while ago, that it’s because of that, that it became more exciting for us to be on the set. It was never, as much it was exhausting physically and emotionally. But being there, you know, enjoying every minute of it, every sequence every day. She made it more fun, she made it more relaxed, even it was really hard to do.”
Lovi: “Thank you and yeah it’s true. I mean like, it makes a huge difference like yung mga katrabaho
mo. I feel like he’s caring in every way around, his energy, and the type of person he is on set. And you know, you get influenced by that. You know, someone’s character is very contagious, ‘yung energy niya nakukuha ko rin. Same for everybody like everyone on set, the production, our director. We knew exactly what we wanted to do. And then doon mo nakukuha yung ganung klase ng energy.”
MBE: How would you describe the whole experience of being in ‘Evil of Flower?”
Lovi: “I always say it’s a rollercoaster ride, but this time it is really a rollercoaster ride. Iba talaga
siya.”
Piolo: “A lot of twists and turns, a lot of conflicts, and It’s just very complex, and it’s just really nice. We can say that it’s heavy, in terms of execution, in terms of emotion, and physical as well. So there are a lot of different things that we had to do up to the end. But it was fun because we’re in a bubble, so it wasn’t easy to shake off the character, but you just have to deal with it. It was hard, actually, it was easy when you’re in the bubble, but afterward, you just kinda wanna shake it off.”
Lovi: “You have to!”
MBE: Are there any intimate scenes?
Piolo: “Yes, there is.”
Lovi: “You don’t even let me savor the moment, I’m doing a love scene with you. I should be savoring this moment, but he was saying it already. And so I’m like levitating at the moment, instead of playing a love song in my head. I’m just levitating.”
MBE: One of the impressions about the series is that it carries a theme, ‘nothing is what it seems.’ Your thoughts about it.
Lovi: “Nothing hurts is what it seems. Sometimes it seems, di ba?
Piolo: “It’s true, it’s true. My takeaway is that, just like what you’ve said, nothing is what it seems. But then love is love and in the end, you gotta fight for it. With everything that has come out, and everything that has been dealt with, at the end of it all. You have to transcend that and the conflicts that you deal with. Then you continue to live, either you accept the person or let go of the person, but I guess the overbearing truth of you being with the person you love, and that’s my take on it. The story is about crime, love, obsession, passion, and everything but overall you don’t have that kind of love, then it will never flourish. What we had to go through, we just held to our love for each other as characters. And I think that’s the thing that got us through.”