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| jennylyn and gabby |
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| jen and gabby with shaira diaz |
JENNYLYN MERCADO is happy to be back on primetime TV after the thriller, “The Cure”, which ended in July of last year yet. Her co-star in that show, Ken Chan, has since been quickly given “My Special Tatay” and it has also ended. It took almost 8 months before Jen is given a new show, “Love You Two”, which pairs her for the first time with Gabby Concepcion. How does she feel about it?
“Well, I’m really happy to be doing a romantic comedy again kasi bahagi ito ng comfort zone ko as an actress,” she says. “Even sa movies, andami kong nagawang romcoms. But I must admit that during the start of our taping for ‘Love You Two’, kabado ako kasi first time ko to work with my leading man, and let’s face it, Gabby Concepcion yan, ano? Medyo starstruck ako noong una at sa pictorial pa lang, parang nahihiya ako sa kanya. Sa taping naman, nabubulol ako, nalilimutan ko ang lines ko sa first few scenes namin. Sir Gabby pa ang tawag ko sa kanya kasi I didn’t know how to address him. Pero sabi niya Kuya na lang. And very friendly naman siya, approachable, laging nagjo-joke, so naging comfortable din ako agad sa kanya. It also helps that our director, Irene Villamor, na first time ko rin to work with, ang gaan katrabaho so enjoy lang kami sa taping.”
So what occupied her time while she’s not busy acting? “Di ba I started some businesses? Isa roon yung pagbe- bake ng cookies. Kasosyo ko si Dennis (Trillo, her inamorato) at kung minsan, he joins me in baking cookies na talagang nakakaaliw naman and it’s doing good business.”
But she quickly clarifies that the speculation she and Dennis are living in are not true. “Hindi po, hindi po kami live in. Nagpupunta lang siya sa’min to help me, but may sarili naman siyang bahay. May bago rin kaming business that will be launched soon. Malalaman nyo later kung ano. It’s something really big.”
In “Love You Two”, Jen plays Raffy, a successful career woman who takes good care of her two siblings, Jerald Napoles and Shaira Diaz. She’s hoping that her boyfriend, Clint Bondad, the ex-BF of Catriona Gray in his first TV series, will propose to her after they’ve been on for 8 years, but it turns out that he will dump her to go abroad. She then meets Gabby, as Jake, the rich and charming owner of a hotel, but their relationship starts on the wrong foot as Jen becomes antagonistic towards him and Jen’s sister, Shaira, also falls in love with him.
Also in the cast are Solenn Heussaff as Gabby’s ex-girlfriend, Sheena Halili as Gabby’s executive assistant in the hotel, Nar Cabico as the hotel’s resident manager, Kiray Celis as Jen’s best friend and neighbor, Yasser Marta of One Up as Gabby’s nephew, Michelle Dee (daughter of Melanie Marquez and Derek Dee) as Shaira’s best friend, Freddie Webb and Mads Nicolas as Gabby’s parents, and Joshua Zamora as Gabby’s friend.
“Love You Two” will start airing on April 22, replacing “Toda One I Love” and will be seen right after “Sahaya”.