Vilma Santos says ‘professionalism’ helps in ‘magical chemistry’ with Christopher de Leon

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Vilma Santos and Christopher de Leon. Image: Facebook/When I Met You in Tokyo

Forty-eight years since Vilma Santos and Christopher de Leon’s first film together, “Tag-ulan sa Tag-araw,” the veteran actors are grateful they have maintained their professionalism and respect as longtime onscreen partners.

Santos and de Leon are the leads in the Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF) entry “When I Met You in Tokyo,” which revolves around Joey who’s reeling from the pain of his divorce before meeting Azon. The movie proved to be a hit and emerged as the Fourth Best Picture during the awards night.

“We were fortunate to do movies together and became a love team. We [did] movies that are worthwhile and nakasama namin ang (we worked with) national artists and great directors,” de Leon said during a press conference for the movie.

The MMFF entry marks the screen veterans’ first film together since 2004, where they took on the role of star-crossed lovers in “Mano Po III: My Love.” Despite this, Santos said the mutual respect she and de Leon have for each other is what maintained their strong friendship and onscreen partnership.

“Inirerespeto nga namin ang isa’t isa. Ganyan ang pagsasama namin ni Yetbo,” she said, referring to de Leon using his nickname. “Who would think na after more than 40 years, we’re both still here. Hindi naman mawawala iyong attraction mo sa isang tao, part ‘yun eh. Hindi mawawala ‘yun. But the thing is binigyan namin ng importansya ang respeto.”

(We respect each other. That’s how my relationship with Yetbo has been. Who would think that after more than 40 years, we’re both still here. The attraction will always be there, it’s part of it. It will never go away. But the thing is, we put importance on respect.)

Santos also noted that one of the ingredients in maintaining their respect is keeping out of each other’s personal lives, as a way of asserting their boundaries.

“Hindi namin ginugulo ang buhay ng isa’t isa. And ‘yung boundaries namin is respeto and ayaw nga namin guluhin ang buhay ng isa’t isa (We don’t mess with each other’s lives. And maintaining our boundaries is a form of being respectful, since we don’t want to meddle in each other’s life),” she added.

Vilma Santos and Christopher de Leon. Image: Facebook/When I Met You in Tokyo

Santos shared that what drew them to the MMFF entry is the love story that suits their age, which made the veteran actress excited about the possibility. “When I learned that they are trying to get me for Christopher de Leon, a love story na sa edad namin, ito ang inoohan ko at ito ang ginawa ko. Walang umay, excited nga.”

“We made it a point that itong movie na gagawin namin it’s more of a love story about our age. People our age,” she continued.

(When I learned that they are trying to get me for Christopher de Leon [to do] a love story for our age… this is what made me say yes to doing so. There’s nothing that makes me tired. I’m excited. We made it a point to do a love story about our age. People our age.)

Meanwhile, de Leon hoped that audiences would appreciate the beauty of love apart from having a busy life.

“‘Yung mga taong just forgot about loving, and just working and you know may mga ganyang situation or never fell in love or whatever. So noong nagustuhan yata niya nagustuhan na niya (People who just forgot about loving, and just working, you know those kinds of situation happen. People never fell in love or whatever. If she likes it, I like it too),” he said.

Christopher de Leon and Vilma Santos. Image: Facebook/When I Met You in Tokyo

The Rado Peru and Rommel Penesa-helmed MMFF entry also stars Cassy Legaspi, Darren Espanto, Kakai Bautista and Gabby Eigenmann.

At the MMFF Gabi ng Parangal, “When I Met You in Tokyo” bagged four awards including Fourth Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Float and Fernando Poe Jr. Memorial Award for Excellence.