ARIELLA ARIDA plays Joanna, a woman torn between two men in Vivamax’ sexy drama, “Breathe Again”, to start streaming on June 3.
“I’m in a long term relationship in the story with Ivan Padilla as Paolo, so you can see in us the kind of intimacy that long time partners have,” she says.
“He proposes marriage to me then takes me to the beach, knowing that I love swimming. But that’s where complications occur.”
Ivan encourages Ariella to go free diving while he joins his friends for an exciting ride in his newly acquired heavy bike.
One of the riders happens to be a very seductive, sultry woman named Vivien (Jela Cuenca) and Ivan is quickly attracted to her.
In turn, Ariella takes free diving lessons from a hunky diving instructor named Robert (Tony Labrusca).
He tempts her and her repressed sexuality is awakened. Soon, she’s playing beautiful music with Tony.
“The movie examines the dynamics of the relationships I have with two different men,” says Ariella.
“Iba rin kasi yung spark na bigay ng bago pa lang na relasyon na nag-ignite agad. Yung intimacy na hinahanap ko, naibigay nung bago kong partner. Yung kulang doon sa isa, natagpuan ko doon sa kanya.”
Why is the movie’s title “Breathe Again”?
“Kasi the movie is about finding yourself, finding your breath again. You can see it in my character, si Joanna. After being in a relationship that has lost its magic, ayun, she finds her mojo in a new love.
"We shot in Mabini, Anilao in Batangas at nakatulong nang malaki na ang location namin sa beach, dahil ang sarap lang ng feeling. Very relaxing kasi ang vibes na ibinibigay ng dagat.”
For the diving scenes, they were first trained by an expert diving instructor.
“Tony and I had to do training for diving kasi we have several underwater scenes.
"I did scuba diving before, but it’s so different from free diving. Akala ko nung una, it’s easy.
"Parang sisisid ka lang, but you have to know the right techniques pati sa breating and you cannot do it without proper training.
"We had no doubles, kaya nakababad talaga kami sa tubig for hours. And the underwater scenes are really so impressive on screen. So with this movie, we got a free course in free driving.”
How is it working with Tony?
“He’s fun to work with. Doon pa lang sa diving lessons namin, naging close na agad kami. Sobrang chill lang katrabaho ni Tony.
"We did steamy love scenes and you will see that our director, Raffy Francisco, really pushed the boundaries when it comes to sexiness.”
