Alden Richards (right) and Jasmine Curtis-Smith
In his first acting project since the start of quarantine, Alden Richards couldn’t help but note how different current shooting conditions are from how things were prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s my first project shoot since March. It’s very different. The workforce wasn’t cut off only by half, it was more than that,” he said of his recent taping for GMA 7’s upcoming drama anthology, “I Can See You,” which starts airing on Sept. 28.
The new series’ pilot episode titled, “Love on the Balcony,” will have Alden portraying a wedding videographer who falls in love and helps a frontliner nurse (played by Jasmine Curtis-Smith) cope with life in the “new normal.” It also stars Pancho Magno, Shyr Valdez and Denise Barbacena.
“Preparations prior to the taping are also different—there’s swab testing, health monitoring, etc. On set, there’s still health monitoring. And then we have to have an antigen test after the taping,” he told “24 Oras.”
“And you don’t get to see everyone’s face, because of masks and face shields,” added the 28-year-old actor.
Alden (left) and Jasmine
Aside from “I Can See You,” Alden will also host “Lockdown: Food Diaries,” a new GMA Public Affairs documentary that delves into the impact the pandemic has had on the food industry.
The topic hits close to home, Alden said, because he himself owns food businesses that are trying to stay afloat.
“The show is very compatible with me because we have restaurants. And I can speak from firsthand experience, about the things we go through,” he said, adding that his main goal right now is to make sure that, at the very least, his establishments’ expenses get covered.
“It doesn’t matter if we don’t earn anything. All businesses are currently on survival mode,” he pointed out.
Alden
Maintaining a healthy lifestyle has never been more important. And Alden makes sure to stick to his regimen to keep himself fit and maintain his physique.
“I work out first thing in the morning … I also do intermittent fasting, which I started two years ago. I’m used to eating after 12 noon and not having any more food after 8 p.m.,” he said in a virtual conference for his Cosmo Cee endorsement.
But just because he can eat anything and everything during his eight-hour window, doesn’t mean he does. “What I have learned is that there are not-so-good after effects when you eat unhealthy food. You actually end up gaining weight at times. You still have to eat a balanced diet,” he stressed.
And he doesn’t really need a professional chef for his meals. “I look up recipes on the internet,” Alden related.