Cathy Garcia-Sampana shared this about ‘Hello, Love, Again’
Prominent director Cathy Garcia-Sampana said that there is pressure on them to at least achieve the same success that Hello, Love, Goodbye had.
Direk Cathy has done a lot of blockbuster films throughout her career as a filmmaker. The movie she directed in 2019 which featured the unexpected tandem of Kathryn Bernardo and Alden Richards became the top-grossing film that year until early 2024.
Now that a sequel happened after five years, there is somehow pressure on them to have a successful movie result as well.

In an interview, based on the article in ABS-CBN News, Direk Cathy Garcia-Sampana shared that HLA is more difficult to do. “It’s a lot harder. I cannot explain why, in terms of the story. In terms of treatment, I have more cast now. So it’s a lot harder to cover everything,” the filmmaker shared.
She first explained the story. There is a question of what story they would tell for the sequel. They don’t want to fall short of the people’s expectations with the concern of what could be the thing they could correct and make it perfect.
Then, the technicals were also something to worry about. There was a different technical requirement for Hello, Love, Again. “I am using anamorphic lenses now. May kakaibang framing siya. I tried that in ‘Toss Coin’ with KDLex, so may medyo iba ang composition ang kailangan. I wanted a different storytelling with the lenses and the camera. Maraming bago,” Direk Cathry revealed.
In the first movie, she used handheld cameras to capture the busyness in the lives of people in Hong Kong but for the sequel, she wanted to capture the quietness and calmness of Calgary, Canada. She had to be more careful with the camera framing and she needed it to be more static.
The third concern was the crowd control as there are so many Filipinos in Calgary who are fans of Alden and Kathryn. “Iba talaga sila dito eh, tahimik talaga sila. So everytime we disrupt that peace and quiet neighborhood, siyempre we get calls and reports and I really hope that Filipinos would understand,” she shared.
Direk Cathy Garcia-Sampana also shared that in HLA, they have a larger cast. They also took an extra effort to bring back the characters of Joy and Ethan which felt like they gave birth again.