Alfred Vargas (left) and Shaina Magdayao
As lead actor of the romantic drama “Tagpuan,” one of the things that Alfred Vargas said he “enjoyed” doing was shooting each of his intimate scenes with Shaina Magdayao and Iza Calzado.
When asked to compare his sexy scenes with the two actresses, Alfred said: “The one I did with Shaina’s character, Tanya, was more liberating. It was a means of catharsis for my character Allan. It was all about being free.”
He added: “Iza’s character Agnes is my character’s wife. They had been estranged for five years, so it was more like reconciliation sex for him. It was like finding himself again after being lost for a long time. For him, it felt like nothing has changed after all the years of being apart.”
Alfred explained that doing the intimate scenes were “necessary” because the film “is all about Allan trying to find himself. In order for him to do that, it’s not enough that he knows what his heart and mind want, he has to know how his body reacts, too.”
“You’ll be surprised to know that there are a lot of people like Allan. He is a successful businessman, but he is confused emotionally. People like him are always busy, but they never seem to finish anything. This is because they are in search of meaning in the relationships they have,” Alfred pointed out.
Allan met and fell in love with Tanya while traveling in Hong Kong; Agnes, he reconnected with when he went to New York, Alfred explained.
“You will not see the usual places you know in Hong Kong and New York in this film,” Alfred said of the film helmed by McArthur Alejandre.
He added that they shot the film in Hong Kong in August 2019, at the height of the statewide protest against the fugitive offenders amendment bill introduced by its government.
From left: Shaina, Alfred and Iza Calzado
“As the film’s producer, I was very nervous when we landed in Hong Kong. Luckily, we never felt we were in danger during the five days that we were working on the film. This was because we first coordinated with our contacts there,” he recalled. “What’s good was that even protests there were well-organized. They only have a specific area where they could mount rallies, and you know their schedule a week or two ahead. And since we already knew this, we simply avoided those places.”
Their trip to New York had been equally fun, he added. “Our work ended smoothly, because people there are used to seeing film shoots. They didn’t mind us at all. The weather was also perfect, as well as the scenery. We could’ve shot the scenes here in Manila, where it’s cheaper, but we didn’t. It brought out the soul of the film.”
There are scenes that were shot in Binondo, Manila, as well, he said.
Working with Shaina, Alfred said, had been so refreshing. “You’ll really see her transform into her character. She was amazing to watch. Nadadala ako! I could really see her commitment to the role. She had no qualms about doing sexy scenes. She would say, ‘Game! This is what the script says.’ With Iza, it was easy since we’ve already worked together in ‘Encantadia’ and a couple more teleseryes.”
“Tagpuan,” which Alfred produced under his Alternative Vision Cinema, is an official entry in the first Summer Metro Manila Film Festival, which has been postponed due to the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19)pandemic. INQ