Lovi & Tom: Once more, with feeling

MANILA, Philippines — Chemistry — that extra spark between two people — is a must in screen team-ups, be it between lovers, spouses, mother-son, father-daughter tandems, etc. It makes the exchange of lines more heartfelt, the emotions more real, the gestures more convincing.

It’s also something actors have to work on because it seldom happens in an instant. For some, it takes only days or weeks. For others, it could take months, even years.

For Lovi Poe and Tom Rodriguez, it took six months — which was how long their GMA drama series Someone to Watch Over Me went on air. As husband and wife in the series, the two have become so familiar with how the other works, they shift to autopilot mode when the director shouts “Action!”

This time, the director is the award-winning Joel Lamangan, known for his exacting standards. The setting is a cramped space that leaves little room for movement. The project: Cineko Productions’ The Significant Other (playdate: Feb. 21).

Cameras are on. The minimal space is flooded with light. The production crew is all eyes — and ears. And Lovi and Tom have to focus on their intimate scene.

“Nakaka-paralyze,” Tom admits. “But you have to immerse yourself in the scene. Dapat may genuine passion.”

It doesn’t help that he has to maneuver his limbs ever so carefully so he doesn’t accidentally stray into his leading lady’s off-limits territory.

That’s why he’s happy people around him makes him feel relaxed.

With The Significant Other director Joel Lamangan, who is known for his exacting standards

Lovi is unfazed. She plays the wife of Tom’s character again, and the intimate scene doesn’t make her jumpy. She even manages to joke about it before the take.

She admits telling Tom, “I won’t brush my teeth anymore ‘cause you’re used to it by now!”

Another time, Lovi jokingly advised Tom not to brush his teeth anymore before they shot an intimate scene so she’d get to taste the champorado he had eaten.

These jokes occur only when those involved are at ease with each other. It also lightens up the mood and makes the work easier, faster.

“The scene went well,” Lovi recalls. She and Tom even ended up laughing over what they call tuhod acting, or letting their knees do the talking in delicate scenes.

Tom got so carried away with the heavy dramatic scenes he had to do something to snap out of it when he got home. He was crying so hard on the set, he still felt the weight of his emotions after the lights went off. So he downloaded an app that made him switch off the painful feelings and relax.

“You may choose settings that promote concentration, anxiety release and others. It’s yoga for the mind,” says Tom.

Lovi, for her part, deals with emotional issues, especially infidelity — a recurring theme in the movies — the way an empowered woman would. She leaves the relationship for good and surrounds herself with “the right people” who lift her spirits.

“I had an experience (with infidelity),” she recalls. “We women just know it in our hearts. It’s painful. But that’s life.”

Lovi just moves on and reminds herself there’s always a next time, that the relationship wasn’t a failure because she learned a lot from it.

And there is a next time. Lovi and her Filipino-French beau are having the time of their lives.

“In a relationship, there are no guarantees. It’s not about the destination. It’s about the ride,” she gives a wide smile.

She hopes other women feel the same.