Janella Salvador as Valentina/Regina Vanguardia. Image: screengrab from YouTube/ABS-CBN Entertainment
Playing Regina Vanguardia, a lawyer and alter ego of Valentina in “Darna” is a source of inspiration for Janella Salvador.
“Si Regina naman talaga ay hindi masamang tao. (Regina is not a bad person). She’s also a victim so I feel like ang pinakagusto kong dalhin sa kanya ay ‘yung (what I really want from her is her) confidence niya to stand for what she feels is what is right. ‘Yung kaya niyang ipaglaban ‘yung feeling niyang tama,” she said during the finale mediacon press for the series.
“Darna” is on its last week of airing, and the face-off between Darna — played by Jane de Leon — and her main nemesis is very much-anticipated.
In the last episode, Valentina was killed in an explosion right after Narda revealed herself to her as Darna, and their previous interaction as humans and as friends returned to her. However, Valentina is expected to come back to the series more venomous than ever.
Thinking back on her role as villainess, Salvador said playing Valentina is really an effort as the prosthetics that she had to wear, such as her head of snakes and the contact lenses for her snake eyes, is “restricting”.
“’Yung snake contacts, umiikot siya.’Di ba slit siya, hindi ko alam na umiikot siya. Magkaeksena kami ni Jane and then bigla siyang tatawa. Sabi ko,’bakit?’ ‘Banlag ka na kasi.’ Nababanlag ako kasi nakaganoon na ‘yung isang mata ko,” Janella recalled. (The snake contacts spins; it’s supposed to be a slit. I didn’t know that it spins. I had a scene with Jane and then she burst into laughter. I said, ‘Why?’ ‘Your eyes are misaligned, that’s why.’ I squinted because my eye contacts went that way.)
She recalled that it happened many times and what made it difficult for her was that she needed to adjust her contact lens during an emotional scene.
But Salvador said she has no regret at all as she feels playing an iconic characteris far more important than the bashing she gets online for playing Valentina.
“Playing an iconic character to me is important kasi ‘yung bashers, hindi naman mawawala ‘yun. Actually, konti lang naman (ang bashers). For this role, wala naman akong na-experience much. I am just really honored to be able to play an iconic role considering the people who played Valentina before like Ms. Cherie Gil and Celia Rodriguez at madami pang iba. Mas doon ako nagpo-focus. Sana nagawa ko siya with my own style. Sana nagawa ko siya successfully,” she said.
(Bashers would never go away. Actually there’s just a few of them. For this role, I have not experienced much [bashing]. I’m just honored to play an iconic role considering the people who played Valentina before, like Ms. Cherie Gil and Celia Rodriguez, and many others. That’s where I focused. I hope that I was able to do it with my own style successfully.) EDV