‘JoshLia’ ready to do more ‘intimate scenes’ onscreen

Joshua Garcia and Julia Barretto

Young actress Julia Barretto is open to doing more “intimate scenes” onscreen with love team partner and real-life boyfriend Joshua Garcia.

She was quick to say, however, that “intimate” doesn’t mean doing bed scenes.

“I’m OK with kissing scenes if they’re for a film, pero sobra naman ’yung bed scenes!” she told reporters during a recent gathering for their first small-screen project, “Ngayon at Kailanman,” which started airing last Monday on ABS-CBN.

Julia added that she would be “very open to doing more mature scenes, also because I feel that we’re old enough. We’re both turning 22. It’s also good for our career to be able to explore and take risks. I’m sure the creative team will be able to do something about this. I trust that they will come up with something more age-appropriate for us.”

Julia added: “We’re already adults. Josh and I are getting more mature with every project. I will appreciate it if we will be given more opportunities to make our portrayals more realistic. Challenge accepted!”

Another challenge for the couple is how to taper down their public display of affection (PDA). The order did not only come from their Kapamiya talent management team, Star Magic, but also from Julia’s mom, former actress Marjorie Barretto.

“I respect what they say, especially my mom. Hers is the perspective of a mother, and of someone who is looking at us from the outside. Maybe our PDA has become a little too much, don’t you think, Baba?” Julia asked Joshua. (“Baba” is the JoshLia love team’s term of endearment.)

“We are able to control ourselves, but only for an hour. It’s hard to bottle up the love we feel for each other,” he replied, and then proceeded to hugging Julia in front of show biz scribes.

In the series, Joshua plays Inno, whom the actor described as “someone very stiff, strict and reserved. Inno plays by the book. He makes sure he does everything right. He longs for the attention of his mom (played by Alice Dixson), whose favorite is his older brother Oliver (Jameson Blake).”

The toughest challenge for Joshua in portraying Inno is “how to be fluent and spontaneous in English just like him. The pronunciation has to be correct also. The most difficult scenes to make are the confrontation scenes because I have to look and speak English naturally,” he shared with the Inquirer.

He also said it helped that the production team hired for him a speech coach, who would keep reminding him “to be confident, to always have the correct posture—
stomach in, chest out!”

“I’m grateful that everyone is so patient with me. They allow me to work on my scenes no matter how long and repetitive kaya kinakaya naman. Thanks also to Baba who is always helpful,” said Joshua.

Julia, considered among local show business’ most articulate celebrities, said she has no use for her skill in speaking English in this series. She plays the slum dweller Eva. “I’m used to doing characters who are more quiet and subtle, more restrained and not too loud. Eva is different because she is not only loud, she is also bargas (coarse in speech and manner). She is free-spirited, and playing her requires really big movements,” Julia explained.

To prepare for her role, Julia underwent immersion. She said: “It made me realize that these people have more reasons than us to complain about their situation, but they are the ones who smile more often and don’t complain … who are so hopeful and positive.”

“Ngayon at Kailanman,” directed by Mae Cruz-Alviar and Elfren Vibar, also stars Iza Calzado, Ina Raymundo, Dominic Ochoa, Christian Vasquez and Rio Locsin.