What makes Elijah Canlas-Miles Ocampo relationship click despite 4-year age gap

Scene from “Blue Room”

“She doesn’t feel like an artista, but a real human being. I guess you will naturally find a connection if you’re both honest and true,” said actor Elijah Canlas, who claimed to have never really imagined himself dating a fellow actor until he met Miles Ocampo.

In 2020, Elijah and Miles worked on the TV5 teleserye “Paano ang Pangako?” Elijah insisted that he didn’t court Miles while they were working on the show, but afterwards, “because I wanted to stay professional.”

“We hardly talked on the set even though we were romantically paired in the story. We were comfortable with each other pero may kanya-kanya kaming mundo. I didn’t think of her until we shot the whole thing. I swear on this! Just ask the people in my life. I’ve long been saying that I’m not interested in dating artistas, but for some reason, Miles is more than that,” Elijah told Inquirer Entertainment in a recent virtual chat.

Elijah has just stepped out of his taping bubble in Baguio City for the TV series “Suntok sa Buwan,” which is currently airing on TV5. He said Miles is so supportive that she even drove up to Baguio to see him a couple of weeks ago. “These days, she’s busy with ‘Eat … Bulaga!’ because it’s a daily show. I drove her to work this morning,” the actor said.

Old soulsWhen asked what he thought makes him and Miles click, the 21-year-old replied: “We were discussing this only recently—why we think we are compatible—and we realized that it’s because of a lot of reasons. One is that we’re both old souls. On the negative side, we both tend to overthink. We’re also very passionate about what we do. We find a lot of things funny about each other. For some reason, even if I’m really taking myself seriously, she would laugh really hard at me. I’ve never done comedy in my life, but I feel like I’m a comedian in front of her. Miles is naturally bubbly and funny.”

Elijah Canlas as Troy

Elijah also swore that his four-year age gap with Miles, 25, has never become an issue. “I’m turning 22 in a couple of weeks, but you ask her who the real boss is between us,” he said, laughing. “It’s never an issue for us because we’re always on the same wavelength. It’s also weird that we’re not super close with people our age. We hang out with friends who are older than us.”

Elijah said he hoped to work with Miles again soon. “That’s one of our wishes. I hope it happens soon. If there are filmmakers out there who will trust us and make a story with us, we promise that we won’t let you down,” he declared. “Since we both studied film, we can also write something on our own and just make it by ourselves, but at this point, we both lack the time to do this.”

“We’re really excited to work together again. We feel that we will be able to bring out the best in each other because even now, while working on different projects, we’re very involved in helping create each of our characters,” he pointed out. “We discuss work a lot. I changed my hair color for ‘Suntok sa Buwan’ and suggested that she change hers, too. For a while, she had orange hair. I would also get a copy of her script and write my notes and observations for her. She does the same for my script. We’re like that as a couple.”

“Blue Room” director Ma-an Asuncion-Dagñalan with actors (from left) Harvey Bautista, Keoni Jin, Canlas, JK Labajo and Nourijune

The recent Zoom chat with Inquirer Entertainment was to promote his latest film project, Ma-an Asuncion-Dagñalan’s “Blue Room,” which is an entry to the 18th Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival.

The film tells about how a progressive rock band composed of privileged teenagers get arrested for drug possession, and are brought into the “Blue Room” where they must make the difficult choice between freedom or standing up for what they believe in.

Blue Room

According to Ma-an, there is an actual Blue Room in most police precincts, which functions as a holding room for VIP detainees. “For the film, it’s where the band members were detained while negotiating for their release,” the director explained.

The movie features JK Labajo, Harvey Bautista, Nourijune, Keoni Jin and Elijah as the members of the band called Rebel Rebel.

Elijah described his character as “probably one of the more serious ones in the group.” He explained: “We all have drama scenes but Troy’s past is going to get dug up. The incident will cause his past to unravel.”

Canlas and girlfriend Miles Ocampo during a recent road trip to Baguio

“When people watch it, I want them to know that while it’s not 100 percent based on reality, it’s based on factual evidence and that stories like this happen to a lot of Filipinos. The abuse of power is real, not everyone gets due process. That’s one of the highlights of this film. Yes, it’s a fun film, but it also has a lot of important things to say,” said Elijah.

Ma-an added that “Blue Room” is a reflection of her view, both as a filmmaker and a Filipino. “Everything is in the film. We know that inequality exists as long as people with prejudice are still in power,” she explained. “However, having power has its pros and cons. In the movie, for example, the band has the power to influence other people with their music. At the same time, my power is the story I wrote that was later translated into a film.”

“Blue Room” is being screened in selected cinemas until Aug. 17; and in several regional communities from Aug. 22 to Aug. 29. INQ