JLC: Is there a second chance at love?
Having experienced the joys and pains of falling in love, John Lloyd Cruz didn’t think long and hard on the subject of taking a second chance at love.
At the grand presscon for his and Bea Alonzo’s latest movie
A Second Chance under Star Cinema held Thursday night at the Dolphy Theater, John Lloyd spoke seriously without any hesitation. “I believe that we all become victims when it comes to love. I mean, we thought we are the ones who decide or choose the ones we love but unknowingly, it is love that decides for us.”
John Lloyd said that he is doing his best for his romantic relationship to keep sailing on smooth waters for a long time. Still, he cannot exactly tell whether he is the giver of second chances or the recipient whenever conflicts arise between him and his ladylove.
“In real life, it is always nice to know if you are the ‘martyr in the relationship’ or always the one who needs some understanding. Me, I cannot really say if I’m the giver or receiver because most probably, we have different love stories, medyo hindi lang isang kwento ng pag-ibig ang
pinanggagalingan natin. There are instances where I have to give in at meron din na mas gusto natin na ikaw ang maintindihan.”
It really depends on the situation, he added, and from there he would start weighing things before coming up with a decision. “It (situation) makes love exciting, I really don’t want to know if I’m the giver or not. Sometimes, masarap rin na pinaglalaruan ka ng pag-ibig.”
On second thought, John Lloyd would always want to be the giver “pero di ko binibilang kung ilan beses na ko nagbigay.”
In the movie, John Lloyd said that his character Popoy has matured in a lot of ways, far different from the Popoy of eight years ago. By the way, A
Second Chance is the sequel to 2007’s box-office hit One More
Chance where the love story of Popoy and Basha (Bea) captured the hearts of most, if not all, people, especially the young generation. It is also directed by Cathy Garcia-Molina.
In A Second Chance, Popoy and Basha are married but not everything seems to be coming up roses for them living under one roof. Direk Cathy revealed that John Lloyd and Bea had a tough time acting out their parts since both of them are clueless how does a married couple interact or argue.
“If I were to compare their acting then and now, of course, they have improved; mas malalim
sila ngayon. Maybe it comes with age and maturity. They take the roles differently although I know it’s really tough for them since both are never married yet so we need a lot of kwentuhan for this,” she said.
Obviously, John Lloyd and Bea succeeded on losing their real personas to the roles. “Si John Lloyd, di ko na halos mino- motivate. He was able to handle his character well after giving him some details regarding married life.”
John Lloyd admitted that in past interviews, he said that he was hesitant to do the sequel. But he had a change of heart after the whole concept was laid out before him.
“There’s too much potential in the story of Popoy and Basha. That’s why I wasn’t surprised at all why the sequel came after eight years. A lot of people were able to relate to their love story so hindi nyo ba gustong malaman what happens to Popoy and Basha eight years later?”
Asked how is it working with Bea again since their last big screen pairing The Mistress in 2012, John Lloyd said it is always a pleasure to work with Bea, especially now that they have both matured as actors.
Although he insisted that portraying Popoy again after many years posed a greater challenge to him as an actor.
“The gap is so long that’s why I really have to find the heart of Popoy again; kung paano ba ito
tumibok noon. So basically, that’s the biggest challenge for all of us.”
Luckily, John Lloyd shared a lot of similarities to his character. “Definitely, the Popoy in me has evolved because eight years is a long time so it would be impossible to say that nothing has changed in my character but what is important for us is to tell what is now happening between Popoy and Basha.”
( A Second Chance, written by Carmi Raymundo and Vanessa Valdez, also stars Dimples Romana, James Blanco, Bea Saw, Janus del Prado and Ahron Villena. It will open on Nov. 25 in cinemas nationwide.)