Joshua Garcia (left) and Julia Barretto in “Block Z”
He missed her.
That was what Joshua Garcia told reporters who asked how he and ex-girlfriend Julia Barretto are doing, especially now that they’re busy promoting “Block Z,” the last movie they did as lovers onscreen and off.
“We’re OK. When I first saw her again, I realized that I missed her. It’s been a while since we’ve been together. She got busy [with work]. I got busy, too,” the actor told reporters.
Julia agreed: “Yes, we’re OK. That’s one of the things I’m grateful for—we were able to protect the friendship and make sure it remained.”
Peppered with pregnant pauses, she continued: “When I first saw him, it felt familiar … It’s a familiar place … A comfortable and safe place.”
Joshua and Julia, collectively known as JoshLia, broke up in June 2019. Both denied that a third party caused their breakup.Shooting “Block Z” began in March 2019 and ended four months later. The film by award-winning director Mikhail Red features fast-running zombies in the same vein as in the British production, “28 Weeks Later.”
“There’s a lot of running, screaming, fighting and stunts. There’s a lot of challenges,” said Julia.
Joshua, meanwhile, recalled getting hurt while being chased by zombie actors. “Shooting it felt like we were playing the game of ‘taya-tayaan.’ The goal of the zombies was to chase us around. They looked really scary,” he said. “While running, I turned my head to look. I didn’t see the locker that’s in my way, so my shoulder slammed on to it.”
Costar Ian Veneracion said the movie gave everybody so much stress “because the zombies were running at full speed. It’s a good way to motivate us actors. We didn’t want the zombies to catch us, so we ran for real. We ran for our lives!”
The most challenging part for Mariz Racal was “to run up and down the stairs repeatedly while being chased by over a hundred zombies. I was catching my breath and crying with fear.”
Ian said the best scene for him was “slashing with a butcher’s knife the neck of a librarian, who had been super stern and would always cast dagger looks at you when you’re being noisy. That was something you can only do in fantasy land. It was a different experience.”
Yves Flores said he enjoyed being the bad guy in the movie. “It was fun to be able to play with the emotions of all the characters here in the film,” he said.
Dimples Romana, meanwhile, confessed that she had to battle her fear of cats.
She recalled: “For me, the scenes with the cat was scarier than being chased by the zombie actors. Since I love Direk Mik, I did it even though I’m scared of cats. Also, it was hard to run again and again while carrying a real shotgun that was as heavy as a month-old baby, especially when I’m not very athletic.”
For Julia, the best thing about doing “Block Z” was working with director Mikhail. “It was Joshua who introduced me to him. Josh would say good things about him, about his work. That’s why when this was pitched to us, we were so excited. It’s the first action movie I’ve ever done. It’s also the first large-scale zombie movie in the Philippines.”
Josh, on the other hand, like the fact that “Block Z” was something totally different from the projects he had done in the past.
“I don’t always get to do stunts. I’m often seen saying ‘I love you’ to girls on TV or on the big screen,” he quipped. “I was so happy with the idea of doing stunts. There were a lot of stunts here that were so dangerous that Direk opted to get a body double for me. I had wanted to do the stunts myself, but Direk stopped me.”
The actor added: “We were already excited to be part of the movie long before it was pitched to us. We both said we hoped the project would not be given to another love team.”
“Yes,” Julia concurred. “In the years that we’ve worked together, Josh and I did a lot of romantic comedies and dramas. This was a different experience for us. Of course there’s a love story as one of the subplots. Our challenge was how to attack it in a different way, how to give it depth, how to make it edgier. The love in the movie is actually more sacrificial.”
“Block Z,” produced by ABS-CBN Films, will hit cinemas on Jan. 29.