Julia: No need to ask bf Joshua’s permission to do daring scenes with Gerald

Julia Barretto (left) with Gerald Anderson in “Between Maybes”

You don’t ask permission from anybody. If you feel like it’s something good for you, go with your instincts,” said actress Julia Barretto when asked whether or not she first had to consult boyfriend Joshua Garcia before agreeing to do intimate scenes with Gerald Anderson, her leading man in the romantic drama “Between Maybes.”

“If there’s one thing that I learned from my mom (former actress Marjorie Barretto), it’s that you control your own life. The decision you make, be it about your career, love life or making friends, is your own,” the 22-year-old pointed out. “I didn’t ask his permission. It was more like I informed him, out of respect for him.”

For the first time on the big screen, Julia and Gerald are paired up in a film by Jason Paul Laxamana that was shot on location in Saga, Japan. It will hit cinemas on May 15.

Julia, however, admitted that it took her some time to tell Joshua about the project because she first wanted to make sure who her leading man would be. “He was happy it was Gerald, that it was somebody who is a couple of years older than me, rather than someone my age,” Julia said, adding that she thought the project was also a good career move.

“Being in a love team can do a lot for your career. It can take you to so many places where you will learn a lot but Josh and I know that in our journey together, we will eventually have our own separate projects. We love what we do and we know that it’s what’s best for us,” the actress explained.

She said Joshua had been very supportive. The couple is currently shooting their new project, “Block Z,” by director Mikhail Red.

Asked how the Julia-Gerald pairing came about, Kriz Gazmen, creative head of producer Black Sheep, explained that “the material (written by Jason Paul) isn’t really made for a love team but for an edgy casting combination. You would understand it if you see the film.”

Joshua Garcia

Kriz said they have tapped Jason Paul to do a project for them in Japan after the Saga Film Commission offered them to do a movie there. “Black Sheep is not really casting-driven. We respect the story and director. Of course we knew that the JoshLia fans would react, but there’s really no other person we thought of to play Hazel but Julia,” Kriz pointed out. “As for Gerald, we looked for a guy with quiet confidence. Ge (Gerald’s nickname) is the type who is secure and at ease with himself. He never had to seek recognition for his accomplishments. We needed to match the cast perfectly because we knew that it’s a difficult script to pull off.”

When asked to describe how it was working with Gerald, Julia said: “Ge is such a good energy to have around. I would simply absorb some of that energy from him. I feel that we were both open to friendship so it was easy for us to feel comfortable with each other. I learned to trust him also while we were in Japan. I got to share a lot of things with him that I couldn’t easily share with anyone. It made working together easy for us.”

Julia also said she immediately fell in love with the story and really made sure that her character, Hazel, would not be offered to some other actress.

In “Between Maybes,” Hazel is an actress experiencing troubles in her career and not having control of her life. Feeling lost and wanting to escape, she books a random flight and eventually ends up in the secluded prefecture of Saga. There she finds an unexpected confidante in Louie (Gerald), who isolated himself after experiencing heartbreak from his family.

“I relate to her in so many levels,” Julia said. “When Hazel came into my life, I was going through the exact same thing.”

For Julia, however, she said it wasn’t “wanting to escape from the industry, because I like what I’m doing very much and I don’t see myself quitting anytime soon. I think it’s more like moments when you need to catch your breath, when you need clarity or when you need to find yourself.”

On what she does when it gets too overwhelming, Julia said: “I would go to the beach. I’d always fly to Cebu alone. Sometimes, it gives me … that peace,” she said.