As Marissa Pineda, Jodi Sta. Maria is a perfect foil to Iza Calzado (as Ellice Ceñidoza-Villarosa) in “Ang Sa Iyo Ay Akin.” The two characters engage in catfights in the series, and Sta. Maria shared how they do these scenes.
“Siyempre, guided naman kami ng aming director noong ginawa namin ang eksena. Nag-usap kaming dalawa kung paano namin itatawid ‘yung eksena kasi hindi talaga siya madali. Oo, puno ng galit ang eksena pero andami niyang mga layers na kailangang mong palabasin,” Sta. Maria explained during the online conference on Nov. 6 for the soap opera’s book two.
(Of course, we were guided by our director when we were doing the scene. We talked about how we will do it because it is not easy. Yes, the scene is full of anger but there are so many layers which need to be shown.)
Doing a catfight scene is not easy, for one, because an actress runs the risk of inflicting physical harm on her co-actress.
“Nandoon ang pressure kasi parang nakakatakot kasi alam mong nagbibigay ng 100% or more than 100% ang kaeksena mo. Dapat hindi ka magkamali,” Sta. Maria stressed.
(There’s pressure because you’re afraid, because you know that your co-actor will give you 100% or more than 100%.)
Sta. Maria professed that she always has to be on her toes when doing a scene with Calzado.
“Pero I am glad na si Iza ‘yung klase ng kaeksena na very generous. So napagtagumpayan namin lahat ng mga eksenang iyon,” she said.
(But I am glad that Iza is my co-actor in that scene because she is very generous. With that, we have become successful in those scenes.)
In keeping up with her character, Sta. Maria always reminds herself to be consistent. That can be achieved by going back to her character’s core.
“Kailangan naiiintindihan mo. Hindi ka nawawala doon sa overall objective ng character mo. Ano ba ang gusto niya? Saan ba niya gusto pumunta? Ano ba ang gusto niyang gawin?” she said.
(You should understand. You should not be detached from your character’s overall objective. What does she want? Where does she want to go? What does she want to do?)
Sta. Maria also stressed that it’s not only the actor who contributes to the development of the character, as she acknowledged other members of the production team.
“I would also say na siyempre hindi lang ito sa actor, eh. Nandiyan ‘yung napakaganda ng pagkasulat,” she said. “Nandiyan ‘yung kung may mga araw man na sabihin mong off [ka], nandiyan ‘yung aming mga director para ibalik kami doon sa aming objective kung may mga bagay kaming nakakalimutan tungkol doon sa aming mga character.”
(I would also say that it is not only about the actor. There’s the beauty of how it is written. When you are having an off day, there’s our director who leads us back to our objective, if there are things that we forget about our characters.) JB
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