LOVI POE is so glad to be back working again since the lockdown began seven month ago. This is in “High Rise Lovers”, the featured story this week in GMA-7’s hit drama anthology on primetime, “I Can See You”. So how is it taping for the new normal?
“I was really looking forward to going back to work kahit noong kasisimula pa lang ng lockdown,” she says. “I was curious how things will be handled while taping with the threat of the virus around.”
Didn’t she get worried that she might catch the dreaded virus? “No. Kasi buo ang tiwala ko sa production ng GMA. Ever since naman, kahit sa iba pang shows na nagawa ko sa GMA, safety comes first, so I know they’ll take all the precautions to put everyone on the set on the side of safety.
"Noong una, medyo I was a bit scared but the fact that I’m excited to work and act again got the better of me. I want to see my co-stars again, my friends sa production team, and everything went well naman so, no problem.”
In the story, she and Tom Rodriguez play Luis and Samantha, husband and wife whose marriage is put into a test. They just moved to a high rise condominium and she’s so busy with her work while Tom, an engineer contractor, has no job because of the lockdown.
A neighbor of theirs asks him to renovate her condo unit, Winwyn Marquez as Isabel, a singer, and since Tom feels his busy wife is neglecting him, he falls for the charms of Winwyn.
“The story is about infidelity and love triangle kami rito nina Tom and Winwyn,” she says. “Lock in taping kami so matagal din kaming nagkasama sa location nang walang uwian. It helps that Tom and I have played husband before in another soap, ‘Someone To Watch Over Me’, so things were much easier for us.”
She’s glad to be a part of a show that viewers will truly find entertaining.
“We live in uncertain times at kung seseryosohin mo lahat, you’ll just get depressed so I’m glad we’re able to come up a great story and I’m proud to be part of ‘High Rise Lovers’. Hindi madali mag-taping ngayon ha. Kasi as part of the new protocol, bawal yung touching each other, kahit mag-asawa pa kayo.
"Medyo challenging siya because of the limitations, so you have to be creative and think of new ways na lang to communicate with your husband. So, kahit walang touching, bawal maghawakan, I think, emotionally, we were able to get there naman and deliver our feelings.”
"High Rise Lovers" is directed by Monti Parungao and starts airing tonight after "Encantadia".
Lovi is supposed to start a new TV series but it was disrupted by the lockdown. Hopefully, they still get to do it later. This is the romantic-comedy, "Owe My Love", with Benjamin Alves.
On the big screen, she still has a completed new film, "Latay", will Allan Dizon, which got good reviews when it was premiered at the Asian Filmfest in Rome, Italy last August. Too bad Lovi was not able to attend it due to the travel restrictions imposed by the lockdown.
