ALDEN RICHARDS and Bea Alonzo are all set to finally start taping their first teleserye together, a local adaptation of the Koreanovela, “Start-Up”.
The original show is set in Sandbox, South Korea’s fictional version of Silicon Valley. It tells the story of young people in the world of start-up companies, business ventures that focus on a single product or service but lack adequate capital to market what they are offering.
The original actress, Bae Suzy, as the lead character, Seo Dal-mi, is very young but ambitious and so passionate about her career.
She wants to be Korea’s version of the legendary Steve Jobs. So Bea will have to do her best to look convincingly young for the role that’s meant for Gen Z audiences.
Alden will play the male lead, Nam Do-san, originally played by Nam Joo-hyuk, a young math genius whose career is now in the doldrums as his business has been going down for the past two years.
They will meet and Bea will mistakenly think that Alden is her first love.
Both Alden and Bea have expressed their excitement for the project, which supersedes the earlier movie that they were supposed to do.
The proposed movie had to be placed on the backburner since no movies are being shown in theaters right now after the dismal flop of the last Metro Manila filmfest. What’s the point of shooting their movie when it will not be shown anyway?
Alden says he really watched K drama and he was able to see “Start-Up”, so he’s thrilled that he’ll now star in its Pinoy adaptation.
“This is my first Koreanovela adaptation and I’m sure local audiences will love it,” he says.
“Very relatable ang story, specially for young people who want to make good in their own careers, at pati yung pagkaka-develop ng love story between the two lead characters. I’m also looking forward to finally get to act with Bea in a show like this.”
“Ako rin, natutuwa ako,” says Bea.
“Kasi even before I signed up formally with GMA, in my first meeting with the Kapuso bosses, na-pitch na nila sa akin ang project na ito and this is really one of the reasons why I decided to move to GMA. And now, it’s finally happening.”
She confesses she is somewhat nervous working with Alden as she knows he’s a very good actor.
“I’ve seen some of his past works and I know magaling siyang aktor. Even in the workshops we did together, I could see he is brilliant and I was so impressed with his performance.
"So now that we are finally working together, sinasabi ko sa sarili ko, ‘oh my God, I have to be on my toes.
"Kailangang galingan ko lagi kasi magaling si Alden’. Kaya I’m sure we’ll come up with a very good show that viewers will love to watch.”
“Ganun din naman ako,” says Alden. “When Bea and I had our workshops, napansin kong hindi niya pinalalampas yung small details.
"Importante yun kasi it’s the small details, the nuances, that count in the effective portrayal of your roles.
"And that’s when I felt na we are a perfect match kasi pareho kaming hands on pagdating sa trabaho, sa pagiging meticulous when it comes to the creative side.”
