Piolo Pascual shares how Sarah Geronimo impressed him in ‘The BreakUp Playlist’

After doing Starting Over Again under Star Cinema last year, Piolo Pascual is hoping for another blockbuster hit with The BreakUp Playlist with Sarah Geronimo. As one of the most in-demand leading man in the country, Piolo said he cannot pinpoint exactly what makes his chemistry with different actresses so believable and endearing to the Filipino audience. “Mahirap i-define yan eh. Siyempre hindi naman puwedeng sa amin manggaling yun. Siguro ang contribution ko lang talaga sa isang pelikula or sa kahit na anong trabaho is I know my heart is whole to it. Hindi ko iisipin kung sino ako or ano ako basta ako alam ko team player ako and I'll do everything to make things work for the project. Ganun lang po sa akin,” he shared during the grand presscon of The BreakUp Playlist held last June 23 inside ABS-CBN. 

Playing a serious musician named Gino in the movie, Piolo admitted he had to take some intensive guitar lessons to be able to perform his role more convincingly. “Nag-gi-gitara (ako before) pero hindi ko hilig. Lahat (inaral ko) kasi mas madali to play acoustic guitar pero to play rock songs it takes a musician that studied it early on sa buhay niya eh ilang taon pa lang naman ako nag-start mag-gitara. Hindi ako magaling sa gitara so it was a challenge. Sabi ko nga if you can't perform, japorms! (laughs). Unfortunately I will always be perceived as an actor more than a singer kasi ito naman talaga yung forte natin so I guess I'm just fortunate enough to be joining both worlds. But I will never be comfortable singing in a big venue because hindi ko comfort zone yung ako yung magdala ng sarili kong concert and be singing for two hours. Mas gusto ko yata umarte. Pero it's definitely a blessing to be doing something like this na iba sa ginagawa ko,” he said.

For the 38-year-old-actor it was also a dream come true of sorts to get this kind of role. “I'm so happy kasi panagarap ko maging rock star. At least sa pelikula nagawa ko di ba? (laughs) Kaya more than the pressure, more than the challenge is the excitement to be portraying someone na naka-hikaw, may tattoo tapos nag-gi-gitara, pa-poging rock star. Sa pelikula man lang magawa ko sobra na akong happy at na-fulfill ko yung pangarap kong yun, he said.

Piolo said his new film has a lot of  “hugot” scenes. “As cliché as it may sound, it's a love story but this time around it's not a musical but it's music heavy but it's very relatable. What I like about direk Tonet’s (Jadaone) and direk Dan’s (Villegas) work is that it's real, hindi siya make believe. Kumbaga, kung ano man ang pinagdaanan ng bawat character sa pelikula, pinagdadaanan ng tao sa totoong buhay. So yun pa lang, makikita mo na yung mga flaws ng bawat character. For us to fall in love, for us to experience love, you have to go through the journey na masaktan ka, maging masaya ka, ma-in love ka at magalit ka sa isang tao,” he explained.

With his The BreakUp Playlist co-star Sarah Geronimo, Piolo admitted he was very impressed with his newest leading lady. “Unang una, ang napansin ko lang kay Sarah nung gumagawa kami ng pelikula mahilig siya kumanta. And alam naman nating lahat na mabungisngis siya, mahilig siyang tumawa. But what I can say about Sarah is she's very simple. Napakabait na bata, napakabait na kasama sa trabaho and she loves what she does. She has respect for her craft as well and marami pa siyang puwedeng ibigay. Nakikita kita ko naman talaga working with her, I didn't realize na aabot kami sa punto na magkakatrabaho kami pareho finally. It was a good experience working with her kasi ngayon ko lang siya naka-trabaho as a co-actor. Sa ASAP nakikita ko siya how she transforms on stage. Once nakikita mo na nag-perform na siya wow talaga, ibang klase. Dito sa pelikula, since it's a more mature Sarah that you will see, I can attest to how she gave justice to the role. Talagang makaka-relate lahat ng mga babae, especially yung mga girls na dumadaan sa ganung pagkakataon. Talaga namang nandun siya 100% so masaya ako dun sa nagawa namin,” he added.

In his own personal music library, Piolo said he also has a breakup playlist as well as many different other kinds. “Kahit na anong pinagdadaanan ko sa buhay may playlist ako, meron akong scoring kaya masarap lang talaga makinig sa music. Masarap damdamin yung experience so sa kahit ano may tugtog ako,” he said.

In the movie, Piolo and Sarah play a couple whose lives have music as a central element. “Kami talaga ni Sarah yung nasa banda kaya mas mahirap kasi hini niyo ma-ri-realize na kayo pala yung magkakaroon ng conflict, yung taong akala mong sasalo sa iyo, magiging savior mo pala ang magpapa-realize sa iyo ng problema mo sa buhay. Kaya mas mahirap. Kasi nga more than musicians, we're human beings first,” he said.