Here’s what Alden Richards and Barbie Forteza said about their new series
Kapuso stars Alden Richards and Barbie Forteza talked about the trauma of their characters in the new series Pulang Araw.
Barbie and Alden are among the lead stars of the new historical fiction drama on GMA. The timeline of the series happened during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines. They play the characters of siblings, Adelina and Eduardo.
That era brought nightmares to many Filipinos and their characters were not spared. During a recent interview based on the article in The Philippine Star, Alden and Barbie shared that it is not easy for them to let go of the trauma that their characters experienced.
The character of Alden Richards becomes a guerilla who fights against the Japanese soldiers while Barbie Forteza’s character is a Bodabil artist who performs on stage to give entertainment to the people despite the crucial time.
Alden shared that being an actor, he has a process that he goes through before filming a scene. However, when it comes to Pulang Araw, he said that it was difficult for him to separate his life in front of the camera and his real life.
He said that the series has a reality aspect as many Filipinos experienced torture and abuse at that time. The actor shared that in his characters before, it was easy for him to switch the on and off but in this series, questions lingered in his mind.
“Dinanas ito ng mga kapwa nating Pilipino. It’s very emotional, it’s very disturbing and even kahit inaarte lang namin siya, nararamdaman namin ‘yung trauma,” Alden Richards shared, adding that their set created that certain “reality” that they are in a dungeon where they were being beaten by the Japanese.
The actor shared that there were times that he caught himself staring blankly in his car because of the torture scenes they filmed.
Barbie Forteza can relate to this but she shared her story with jest. She said that doing this kind of scene gave her a heavy feeling in her heart. However, she had to get away from the intensity of the emotion after filming a scene because it was already lunch break and she needed to eat.
It is her first time having this experience in a show. She unintentionally brings her character off camera. “So kailangan mo talaga a few minutes to really shake it off e,” Barbie Forteza said.