Kathryn Bernardo, Alden Richards closer after filming ‘Hello, Love, Again’

(From left) Kathryn Bernardo and Alden Richards. Image: Instagram/@aldenrichards02

While Kathryn Bernardo and Alden Richards have always been friends off-screen, they shared that filming their upcoming film “Hello, Love, Again” gave them a chance to become closer.

Richards credited their “more effective acting” to the fact that they have gotten to know each another better during filming.

“We’ve been talking, and are just getting to know each other well, because before (while shooting ‘Hello, Love, Goodbye’), we really didn’t have that chance to talk,” he said in an interview with  ABS-CBN’s “On Cue,” which aired on TV Patrol and posted on the network’s YouTube news channel.

“We became more comfortable with one another, more familiar. That was our way to make this film even more effective than when we first met in the first film.”

Meanwhile, Bernardo said the change of work environment from the 2019 hit film, allowed them to be more comfortable with each other.

“We’re different from how we were before. And I got to know him better over the years. If we’re talking about comfortability, we’re in the stage where we’re very comfortable. We can talk about anything like friends. It just so happens that we have a movie project,” she added.

And had “Hello, Love, Again” not push through, Richards and Bernardo said their friendship would still have endured as it has always been there from the start since “Hello, Love, Goodbye.”

“It hasn’t gone away since. We were just busy with our own projects and work commitments but it has always been there),” the Kapuso actor said.

Citing her intimate 28th birthday as an example of their bond, the actress pointed out that the cast of “Hello, Love, Goodbye” has always been close behind the scenes.

“Imagine, my birthday celebration (last March) was very intimate, and ‘Hello, Love, Goodbye’ was part of that. Even Joross and I talk. So, it’s not just Alden and I,” she said.

“Hello, Love, Again” is the sequel to the 2019 film “Hello, Love, Goodbye,” which was the top-grossing Philippine movie until it was toppled in the tills by “Rewind” starring Marian Rivera and Dingdong Dantes in January 2024.

The sequel follows the thwarted romance between Joy (Bernardo) and Ethan (Richards), who will reunite in Canada. The movie trailer, however, showed the seeming distance between them, as Joy now introduces herself as Marie.