Stories by Bea and John Lloyd
working in front of me — I want to be just as good an actor as he is; I want to learn from him; I want to prove myself worthy of being in the same frame with him. I guess this is where the nerves come from.
The calm I now feel with Lloydie, his nickname, also comes from the same place: I know that he will bring out the best in me. But more than that, our partnership has transformed into a friendship that allows me to be both brave and honest, on camera and off it.
Looking back at where we started 13 years ago, however, tells you a different story.
It was, among other things, awkward.
Imagine this: I was a 14-yearold newcomer eager to pursue my lifelong dream of becoming an actress. I felt lucky and grateful to have been included in the
teleserye Kay Tagal Kang Hinintay, which was going to be Lloydie’s big break on primetime. When I found out that I was going to be paired with Lloydie, who by then was already a household name because of Tabing Ilog, I was intimidated.
Adding to the awkwardness of the working relationship is Lloydie’s introverted nature. He was also so intense in his approach to his work that I often felt that he would rather be partnered with someone else, maybe an actress who had more acting experience. He barely spoke to me, except when in character, using dialogues from a script. Tracking scenes with just the two of us in a car were unbearable torture — there I was, confined in a small space for hours with someone who probably thought I was undeserving of receiving even one word from him. I was suffocated by his silence.
At some point, I had begun to think that God had a strange sense of humor for allowing me to have my dream and yet burdening me with an acting partner who seemed so unhappy to have me around.
This “cold” (and “cold” is an understatement) offscreen relationship continued until halfway through the shoot of our second movie Now That I Have You and our second soap It Might Be You. That time, our film director, direk Lauren Dyogi (who also directed us in Kay Tagal) found it odd that Lloydie and I still had not become friends after two years of working together. Direk Lauren knew that on the big screen, no amount of great acting and direction could hide our obvious discomfort with each other.
So, direk Lauren forced us to become friends. It took several small talks before Lloydie and I became comfortable with each other, comfortable enough for me to call him Lloydie.
I discovered that he’s not always so dark, quiet and brooding. He loves to laugh, too, sometimes at my expense. He could be very free-spirited and childlike as well. And I related very much to his devotion to his family.
The friendship was easy to maintain in the beginning as we were always working together. But after One More Chance in 2007, we were paired with other
I was given a chance to prove myself through And I Love You So. In a way, that movie, which is about a young widow learning to live life on her own, mirrored my professional journey as well. I was, so to speak, finding myself and finding my way without Lloydie.
I was touched when Lloydie expressed his positive reaction to the work I had done in that film. To this day, I welcome and appreciate his feedback on any of the projects I do.
After One More Chance, my friendship with Lloydie has grown deeper and more complex. There have been long stretches of unease and disagreement; there have been many moments filled with laughter and comfort.
But our friendship has never crossed the line to romance.
I know that this makes a lot of people, our fans especially, wonder why the love stories we act out onscreen don’t translate for us in real life.
This remains an unanswered question even to us, but maybe, it’s a blessing, too. Because that’s what makes my team-up with Lloydie unique — we have never been and do not have to be romantically involved offcam to be romantic oncam.
Some people say that that is the “magic” of our loveteam. I am usually dumbfounded, and I am sure Lloydie feels the same way. Ano nga ba? Magic nga ba ang tawag du’n?
The easiest answer I could give is that our so-called “magic” is a combination of sincerity, mystery and commitment.
Sincerity because we have remained true to ourselves and honest with our fans. We never pretended to be in love with each other just for the sake of the team-up.
Mystery because our chemistry is a gift that remains unexplained and rare. Even I do not know why Lloydie and I just click onscreen.
Commitment because if there is one thing that Lloydie and I have been consistent about these last 13 years, it’s our dedication to our craft. That has always been our primary focus. More than our personal feelings for each other, what’s more important for us is how special our projects are. We are committed to always give justice to the stories and characters that we have been given.
I hope that “magic” comes across stronger in our latest movie A Second Chance. Eight years ago, One More
Chance reinvigorated me to commit to acting as my calling as an actor, in the same way that my the strong support of our producer Miss Elma Medua, and the steadying guidance of the management of Star Cinema led by Tita Malou Santos and Inang
direk Olive Lamasan. I am truly thankful to them, and to all those who worked behind-the-scenes, for making this project possible.
But special thanks goes to the man who is Popoy — Lloydie … my friend Idan.
Yes, I now call him Idan, his true nickname. I used to feel undeserving of the privilege to call him Idan. For years, I felt like a stranger thrown into absurd situations of involuntary intimacy with another stranger. Then we became very good workmates, acquaintances comfortably crossing paths within the same social circles. After what we’ve been through this year though, I can confidently declare that we have become friends in the truest sense of the word.
Idan, I’ve said before that our loveteam is my professional Twister Fries: We rarely work together now, but when we do, we always want to give the public something special. And A Second
Chance is many kinds of special not just for our audience, but also for us.
Idan, I am happy to have been challenged and changed for the better by you once again. I am grateful that our friendship has been enriched and transformed by this project. I am hopeful that the next time we meet again, that you will still make me nervous and calm at the same time because that’s how we make something so unforgettably, wonderfully beautiful. the project, we committed to it. The journey towards A Second
Chance was hard and tough simply because it’s a sequel. And it’s a sequel to such a beloved movie. How do you top what they call a “modern classic”?
This is, after all, not just any other movie. This is the story of Popoy and Basha. Popoy and Basha who seem to have taken a life of their own outside of these two films, beyond me and Bea. Popoy and Basha — the cinematic patron saints of enduring love.
Since the expectations were high, the project demanded more from everyone. In A Second
Chance, we bared our hearts and souls, gave the best of ourselves, and sometimes brought out the worst in each other in the process. But we were all in this together, answering “what if” and embracing “what is” about the work we produced.
It is, undeniably, one of the most trying projects for me. But seeing the audience’s very warm reception to it makes all the stress, sleepless nights and hard work worth it. I am moved by the public’s love for Popoy and Basha, and for their appreciation of a film that tries to truthfully depict marriage with all its delights and difficulties.
Bea and I did our best to take good care of these characters, and we appreciate that the audience took time off to show their love for their story, and for our work.
Thus, my heart is full of gratitude. My heart is full of hope. My heart is full of joy.
And joy is one of my favorite words as it is a word I will always know. She sees goodness and beauty in people and situations that seem to offer very little of that. I see how her loved ones, fans and co-workers are drawn to her warmth, how she manifests concern for anyone and everyone. Many times, over the course of the last 13 years, she would see good in me that even I am not aware I possess.
Maybe that’s why our partnership has lasted this long — Bea’s cheerfulness and kindness have made her resilient, capable of putting up with me through all my dark periods and seasons of crazy. That has endeared her to me even more.
I’m saying all these positive things about Bea now but I’m sure she’ll be the first to say that I haven’t always been like this. We haven’t always been like this.
Every time we are asked about the evolution of our relationship, I am amazed by how Bea always talks about our beginnings with extraordinary detail — our first meeting; how awkward we were; specific moments in time when I made her feel intimidated, insignificant, incompetent. She even remembers when exactly we exchanged phone numbers in an effort to finally be friends offcam.
Then, I try very hard to remember everything. Bits and pieces of the past flash through my mind, but they are all a blur. I sometimes wonder if I should have paid more attention to these moments in the past.
But what is clear to me is the kind of partnership that we have now — it is one of mutual respect and support, and one full of possibilities.
I recently heard Bea say that she felt that in the early years of our team-up that I would have preferred a different partner. I was quick to counter her simply because it wasn’t true, at least on my end. Just like her, I was also a relative newbie then. I was just 19 and had only been a working actor for five years. I was still learning the craft, just like her.
More than her talent, I was impressed by her grit and daring. She was only 14 or 15 then and yet she was willing to tackle the role of a 21-year-old law student. Did this kid know what she was getting herself into?
I did not want to act opposite another leading lady, especially after I had seen what great work we were doing and how the fans loved it. Despite our success though, I barely made an effort to reach out to open to having conversations and hanging out with Bea who brought out the kid in me. With her, I was just a kid, growing up alongside her, discovering who I really am.
And with her, I found a partner who cared about the story and our characters as much as I did. She and I both acknowledge that our success is hinged largely on the great material we’ve been blessed with over the years.
Our relationship has not always been smooth-sailing. We’ve had our share of disagreements and disappointments. But still, I find that I work best with Bea, and most of my best work has been with Bea. There are materials that I know I can pull off only with her by my side. She is a big part of my life as an actor and for that I am truly thankful to her.
To be honest, working with her makes my job both easy and challenging. Our time apart has made Bea a more intelligent and capable actress. I remember observing her during The Mistress and feeling overwhelmed by how quickly she can get in and out of character, and still manage to deliver an authentic and emotional performance. I remember thinking, “She’s become so good at this and I still don’t know what the hell I’m doing.”
I am always happy to give her praise whenever I am amazed by her performance. I thought she did some sophisticated work in Four Sisters and a Wedding. Her role was so layered and complex and I couldn’t think of any other actress who could pull that off. Bea’s handling of that confrontation scene towards the end of that movie was just spectacular.
I am also unafraid to call her out on interests that I feel will distract her from mastering her craft. Earlier this year, she told me about her desire to pursue an activity that I felt actors just do not and should not do. I felt that it would be a waste of her talent and time to go down this path, especially since there are already so few actors who are as passionate about the craft as she is.
When we were younger, I used to have ready and smart explanations as to why Bea and I never became romantically involved. “She’s too young.” “It’s the work that matters.” “It hasn’t happened yet, or it might never happen and that’s fine.” Now, Bea and I are just both in agreement that had we been a couple offscreen, we might not have been as successful because a failed romance would not have allowed us to work effectively with each other.
Our loveteam is a forced marriage of sorts — we did not choose to be paired with one another, but we chose to make it work. Of late, I have pondered how both our lives are constantly connecting, disconnecting and reconnecting, our individual destinies intersecting and influencing each other. By fate and by choice, we have become inextricable parts of each other’s lives.
And I would not have it any other way.