Director Olivia Lamasan says ‘Barcelona: A Love Untold’ is KathNiel’s transition film

Gary Ann  Lastrilla

<img src='' alt='090816-OliveLamasan_PUSH.jpg' width='400' height='290' align='left' border='0'>Director Olivia Lamasan said that the Star Cinema movie Barcelona: A Love Untold was able to achieve its goal – to transition phenomenal love team Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla from teeny-bopper roles to mature ones.In achieving this objective, Direk Olivia shared that crafting the story became a challenge for her and head writer Carmi Raymundo. And since Kathryn was well-loved for her sweet and happy-go-lucky role as Chichay from Got To Believe, the director admitted initially thinking of bringing that kind of character back. “Initially, we thought of bringing that back – ‘yung pagka-perky, ganyan, although millennial siya… And then we were doing this look test and we tried it, pina-arte ko sa kanya (Kathryn)… Siguro that was two weeks before we left for Barcelona. And I said, it’s not going to work. Not for the character of Mia so bigla kaming kambiyo ni Carmi. Sabi namin, let’s make her real. Tanggalin natin ‘yung pagka-perky niya… And that worked,” Direk Olivia said during a press conference held on Tuesday, September 6. Consequently, they noticed the transition of KathNiel from their first day of taping. Carmi then recalled that when they did She’s Dating the Gangster and Crazy, Beautiful You, they would just play around the set. This time, after takes, “Nakatabi kay Inang (Olivia), pinapanood ‘yung preview, tinitignan maigi tapos iba ‘yung atensyon sa instructions na binibigay ni Inang,” Carmi said, adding that they would also give their inputs.Saying that she saw the commitment of Daniel and Kathryn, Direk Olivia also shared what happened during the times she disciplined the two on the set.“Siyempre kasi ‘pag bata, may mga habits di ba, as Carmi mentioned earlier, naglalaro. Eh siyempre ako, siyempre Barcelona, you’re talking about a big budget. You’re talking about spending about a million or 1.5 a day. So, we cannot afford to play. Focus. Gawin natin ‘to, tapusin, etc. So there was one time, pagod na rin kasi ‘yung mga bata tapos critical scene. Tapos parang hindi nila mamemorize,” she said, adding that there were also some bad habits in television acting that they would bring to the set. As such, she said that while it is required on television to give big reactions, subtle acting is better for film.She continued, “That’s one very bad habit from TV to film. And then ‘yung ang hilig mag-adlib. Siyempre writers kami, you change a preposition, you change the meaning, you change the context so ako, istrikta ako diyan… So there was one time… 9:30 (PM) na so kailangan ko ng matapos ‘yung eksena so siguro dahil pagod na at saka the sequence before that, sobrang masaya, nahirapan na silang magmemorize. Eh sa akin, walang rason. Di ba ‘pag artista ka, walang rason. Hindi rason na masaya ka o pagod ka, ideliver mo kasi trabaho mo ‘yan.”Although she lectured the two, Direk Olivia said that they became better after. “But in fairness to the two, they took it in. And after that, nary a complaint, nary a time that they got late on my set, nary a time that they were not able to memorize. Anything. And after that, ‘dun kami nag-gel at saka every sequence that we would shoot, there’s going to be a discussion. They’re very much interested to discuss kung anong mangyayari sa character, kung bakit gagawin ng character, kung bakit sasabihin ‘yun ng character. Grabe ‘yung naging commitment. So minsan, di ba may gano’n, may something bad happens in order to give birth to something great.”

Consequently, they noticed the transition of KathNiel from their first day of taping. Carmi then recalled that when they did She’s Dating the Gangster and Crazy, Beautiful You, they would just play around the set. This time, after takes, “Nakatabi kay Inang (Olivia), pinapanood ‘yung preview, tinitignan maigi tapos iba ‘yung atensyon sa instructions na binibigay ni Inang,” Carmi said, adding that they would also give their inputs.Saying that she saw the commitment of Daniel and Kathryn, Direk Olivia also shared what happened during the times she disciplined the two on the set.“Siyempre kasi ‘pag bata, may mga habits di ba, as Carmi mentioned earlier, naglalaro. Eh siyempre ako, siyempre Barcelona, you’re talking about a big budget. You’re talking about spending about a million or 1.5 a day. So, we cannot afford to play. Focus. Gawin natin ‘to, tapusin, etc. So there was one time, pagod na rin kasi ‘yung mga bata tapos critical scene. Tapos parang hindi nila mamemorize,” she said, adding that there were also some bad habits in television acting that they would bring to the set. As such, she said that while it is required on television to give big reactions, subtle acting is better for film.She continued, “That’s one very bad habit from TV to film. And then ‘yung ang hilig mag-adlib. Siyempre writers kami, you change a preposition, you change the meaning, you change the context so ako, istrikta ako diyan… So there was one time… 9:30 (PM) na so kailangan ko ng matapos ‘yung eksena so siguro dahil pagod na at saka the sequence before that, sobrang masaya, nahirapan na silang magmemorize. Eh sa akin, walang rason. Di ba ‘pag artista ka, walang rason. Hindi rason na masaya ka o pagod ka, ideliver mo kasi trabaho mo ‘yan.”Although she lectured the two, Direk Olivia said that they became better after. “But in fairness to the two, they took it in. And after that, nary a complaint, nary a time that they got late on my set, nary a time that they were not able to memorize. Anything. And after that, ‘dun kami nag-gel at saka every sequence that we would shoot, there’s going to be a discussion. They’re very much interested to discuss kung anong mangyayari sa character, kung bakit gagawin ng character, kung bakit sasabihin ‘yun ng character. Grabe ‘yung naging commitment. So minsan, di ba may gano’n, may something bad happens in order to give birth to something great.”

<img src='' alt='090816-OliveLamasan_PUSH.jpg' width='400' height='290' align='left' border='0'>Director Olivia Lamasan said that the Star Cinema movie Barcelona: A Love Untold was able to achieve its goal – to transition phenomenal love team Kathryn Bernardo and Daniel Padilla from teeny-bopper roles to mature ones.In achieving this objective, Direk Olivia shared that crafting the story became a challenge for her and head writer Carmi Raymundo. And since Kathryn was well-loved for her sweet and happy-go-lucky role as Chichay from Got To Believe, the director admitted initially thinking of bringing that kind of character back. “Initially, we thought of bringing that back – ‘yung pagka-perky, ganyan, although millennial siya… And then we were doing this look test and we tried it, pina-arte ko sa kanya (Kathryn)… Siguro that was two weeks before we left for Barcelona. And I said, it’s not going to work. Not for the character of Mia so bigla kaming kambiyo ni Carmi. Sabi namin, let’s make her real. Tanggalin natin ‘yung pagka-perky niya… And that worked,” Direk Olivia said during a press conference held on Tuesday, September 6.

Director Olivia Lamasan also talks about ‘reprimanding’ KathNiel on the set.

Director Olivia Lamasan says ‘Barcelona: A Love Untold’ is KathNiel’s transition film | PUSH.COM.PH