Playing a guy who worked his butt off to help his family is something that newbie actor Anthony Jennings has learned a lot from in “Love at First Stream,” one of the official entries in this year’s Metro Manila Film Festival.

His character, Tupe, who is so committed in the tasks he does, has so inspired Jennings.

“Sobrang committed niya sa lahat ng bagay, lahat ay minu-multitask niya. Ako ‘yung tao na kapag gusto kong mag-focus, sa work lang talaga ako naka-focus. Pero si Tupe ay nasasabay niya ang relationship niya, family niya at the same time ang dami niyang work na ginagawa. Nakaka-inspire ‘yung ganoon. Sana nabitbit (ko ‘yun),” he said during the online conference for the movie last Dec. 14.

(He is so committed in all aspects, he does multi-tasking. I am that person who if I want to focus on work, I focus only on work. But Tupe, he is able to simultaneously work on his relationship, his family and at the same time he has so many works to do. That is very inspiring. I hope I can do that.)

Anthony Jennings (Image: Instagram/@anthonyjennings)

This is the second time that Jennings worked with director Cathy Garcia-Molina, but he feels like it’s always a first time. The first time they worked together was in “Hello, Love, Goodbye.”

“Feeling ko lagi pa ring first time lalo na iba-iba ang nakakasama namin. Parang bago ka pa din pero at the same time parang nandoon pa rin ang turo ni direk sa akin, sa aming lahat,” he said. (I feel like it’s always the first time, especially since we have different co-actors. It’s like you’re new at it, but at the same time there is direk Cathy’s teachings to me, to us.)

Since it’s his first major movie, Jennings admits he is pressured a bit.

“Oo naman po, merong pressure sa una. Pero noong na-build namin ang trust sa isa’t isa parang doon na nag-gain ‘yung, ‘kaya natin ‘to. Malalampasan natin ‘to,’” he said. (Yes, there was pressure at first. But when we built the trust in each other, it’s like “We can do this. We can overcome this.”)

Jennings is honored to be cast in the movie.

“Manalo man o matalo, masaya kami na naging parte kami ng proyektong ito. Parang iyon po ang lagi naming sinasabi sa isa’t isa,” he said. (Win or lose, we are happy to be part of this project. That is what we always say to each other.) /ra

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