Angelica, Guy share Gawad Tanglaw: ‘Walang himala!’

JM de Guzman and Angelica Panganiban in “That Thing Called Tadhana”

“Ate Guy, walang himala—this is for real!” exclaimed Angelica Panganiban, when asked for a message to Superstar Nora Aunor, with whom she shares this year’s best actress award from the 13th Gawad Tanglaw (Gawad Tagapuring mga Akademisyan ng Aninong Gumagalaw).

Panganiban, 28, won for her performance in Antoinette Jadaone’s romantic comedy, “That Thing Called Tadhana”; Aunor, for Perci Intalan’s psychological thriller “Dementia.”

“I worked with Ate Guy (Aunor) in ‘Whistleblower’ (2015),” Panganiban said. “She’d always tell me, ‘Magpatawa ka nga!’

Second for same film

The Gawad Tanglaw is Panganiban’s second for “Tadhana.” The first was from the 2014 Cinema One Originals Film Festival, where the movie debuted.

She didn’t expect to win even then, she said. “I [was up against] Ms Shamaine (Buencamino for ‘Lorna’). That was like competing with Meryl Streep. John Lloyd (Cruz, her boyfriend) broke the news to me. We were in New York and he woke me up, saying friends were congratulating me on Facebook. I was like, ‘How was that possible?’”

In “Tadhana,” Panganiban plays Mace, a heartbroken girl who meets a guy (JM de Guzman) in a Rome airport. The movie will be released in theaters nationwide Feb. 4.

It is Panganiban’s second project with Jadaone. They did the 2014 comedy flick “Beauty in a Bottle.” She related, “This second time with Direk was more casual and relaxed.” For her part, Jadaone said, she used to be intimidated by Panganiban. “Everything changed when we did our first movie. I was amazed at her comedic timing. I became an Angelica fan.”

The actress wasn’t too excited about “Tadhana” when Jadaone gave her a copy of the script to read. “I was preparing for a trip to Norway and promised to read it in the plane. I forgot. When I found the time, I was so moved, I couldn’t put it down. Afraid that she might have found another actress, I immediately sent her a message through Instagram.”

She drew parallels between Mace’s heartbreak and her own: “I would cry all day, fall asleep, wake up and cry again. Eventually, I got up from bed, went out of the room, took a shower and had something to eat.” She remembered singing “Where Do Broken Hearts Go?” all night with another broken-hearted friend.

Did she think Cruz was the one? “I really hope so,” she replied. “You try to make a relationship work because you want to spend the rest of your life with that one.”