The role that challenges Iza

MANILA, Philippines - Iza Calzado has been in the acting scene for quite some time now. Still, there are roles she finds too challenging to portray. One such role is portraying Grace in the latest ABS-CBN primetime series A Love to Last that is set to premiere on Jan. 9, 2017. Iza often finds herself in deep thought as to how she would be able to give life to Grace, which she describes as “a grey one.”

Iza says Grace is far different from the past characters she had done before and there is even nary a semblance to her real persona. “I am the career-driven (type) and Grace, because of circumstances, became a housewife and a mother. From there, you can easily see that our lives’ paths are not the same. So, it’s really hard that there are times I seek the help of our director (Jerry Sineneng).

“I ask him where will I come from; you know that when it comes to having children… well, of course, it’s general loving somebody; it may be a child whatever — love is love.”

However, those who have seen the full trailer surmised that Iza is the contravida to the blossoming love between Bea Alonzo’s character Andeng and Ian Veneracion’s Anton. Iza is not surprised though but she suggests that it is best to watch the show first.

“I am not evil here (laughs). My motivations here are my personal issues and struggles (as Grace). ‘Di ba we all make decisions because we all go through things and our decisions may have consequences so the things that happen are just consequential. And perhaps, you know honestly, if I’m going to be a contravida I’d thoroughly enjoy it because it’s about time also I break the mold of Mama Mary (laughs).”

What did she find attractive about her role?

“The challenge of being her,” replies Iza. “Grace is  a very complicated character because she’s not a contravida; she’s not evil but of course she will come between the love of  two people that’s being developed. So, it’s a very complicated character plus she’s a very gracious woman, very prim and proper and yet at the same time, she’s going through her own issues in life.”

She continues, “She’s raising three kids and trying to build a perfect home. Then, suddenly she finds herself na parang ‘di na n’ya kaya at nawalan s’ya ng sense of self-worth and she’s trying to regain it. That’s why she left her family and it’s tough for me to convince myself that a mother could leave her children so I had to really work on empathizing with the character.”

Iza is certain that if and when she gets to meet someone like Grace in real life, she would not think twice about giving her pieces of advice in order to save the marriage.

“I wanna say maybe if you (girl) can just talk more because it’s a marriage that died not just to one person but to the two people in it. They (characters in the story) lack communication. For me, the biggest lesson in the show is that a marriage has to have an open communication because Grace has been consumed by her insecurities that led her to think and feel that Anton is not happy with the relationship. The same with Anton who feels that he is not providing enough for the family so he has to work harder hence he does not have enough time for Grace. It’s a very real story of a family and it happens to a lot of relationships. That’s why, it’s hard to act out the character as real as can be.”

Good thing, the actress is at ease working with her co-stars in the soap, especially Ian and Bea. She considers Ian as her confidante. “We’re friends; he’s trust-worthy and we’ve known each other for a long time that every time I’m with him, I know we’ll work together really well. We help each other out kaya kampante kami sa isa’t-isa.”

She, too, has nothing but praises for Bea whom she will be working with in the drama series for the first time. “For a star of her stature, she’s very humble. She’s smart and I’m pretty sure she’s very generous in terms of acting and sharing the stage with someone else so I can’t wait to work with her.”

A Love to Last also stars Enchong Dee, Julia Barretto, Ronnie Alonte, JK Labajo and Hannah Vito.