Gabbi, Khalil merge mystery and romance in first primetime series together

Gabbi Garcia and Khalil Ramos, also known as GabLil, have something up their sleeve to pique everyone’s attention and imagination. It’s the GMA Public Affairs-produced series, Love You Stranger, which brings GabLil’s onscreen chemistry and creative tandem to a new level. Their latest project happens to be Gabbi and Khalil’s first primetime TV series together.

“(It’s) very, very new to all of us (creatives), not just to our audience, but also to the cast members and the whole team,” said Gabbi when The STAR inquired her and perennial onscreen partner Khalil about the genre of their show, which premieres tonight at 9:35 on GMA Telebabad.

“It is a mystery, thriller, romance,” added he. “It’s not, you know, every day you come across a material whose treatment, genre and story are like that.”

“What everyone can look forward to is how all these genres are being merged,” shared she. That’s why after reading the script, Gabbi and Khalil fell in love with it and the story, about the town named Sta. Castela, whose people believe in Lilom, shadow creatures, who live among them. Although the narrative got their interest, playing the roles of LJ and Ben was not handed to Gabbi and Khalil on a silver platter. They had to go through the audition process, done virtually around two years ago.

“It was actually the first show that I auditioned for GMA,” recalled Khalil and added that the script development probably began prior to the pandemic. “Thankfully, we were chosen to play the roles of Ben and LJ.” The Sparkle talents embraced the idea of securing a project via auditioning.

“The fulfillment is different once you auditioned for the role,” said Gabbi. “It has a different feeling for you as an actor. You feel like you really earned the spot and you feel the trust that they (the people behind the show) gave you, for you to be able to play the role. The first question they asked was, ‘Are you willing to audition?’ and when I read the character (background), the plot and the pasilip of the script, (the preview of the script), I said, ‘Yes, I would very much love to audition.’”

Khalil also shared the same thought with her and in fact, he was 100-percent sold on the idea.

“As a creative myself, whenever I also do production work, I think it’s best really to do auditions, especially with characters that are complex and require a certain nuance to (them),” said he.

Their audition was just the beginning of work that encouraged Gabbi and Khalil to be involved in how their characters would be crafted.

“As an actor, I appreciate (the part of) being able to collaborate with the creative team prior to shooting the series,” said he. “Dun mo makikita yung value na binibigay sa kwento. After the audition, they actually told (and asked) us to write in prose format anything that I could say about myself, no rules, walang kahit na ano, basta magsulat lang kayo and then, submit it.”

Such creative endeavor was a first for Gabbi, who worked closely with creatives like the head writer, director, script consultants and production manager. “I talked to everybody through e-mail, and (they told us) that ‘you can write in any way, essay form or bullet form about your childhood, and kung anuman yung vital sa buhay mo, so we can incorporate it into your role.’ That’s how the script was carefully written for us and we appreciate it so much.”

As for the storytelling approach, Gabbi said it’s not the typical, chronological one, which sees the lead characters grow, traversing from childhood to adulthood, right in front of everyone. She added that the young versions of their characters play a significant role in the story. “She is almost the heart of the show, yung childhood selves namin,” said she, “hindi siya yung tipong maiiwanan agad yung young LJ after niyang lumaki, babalik at babalik kami sa childhood days namin kaya very, very importante yung cast ng (the actors of) young Ben and young LJ.”

Asked if the story explores some psychological angle, since there seems to be the implied present-to-past and vice versa timeline, Khalil said, “We cannot actually reveal as of now, but it is actually one of the things we admire about the story, its social relevance in our world now. It tackles, you know, issues that are very much relevant to now like mental health awareness.” This is manifested through the camera shots and the technical direction, as Khalil said, “na parang pumapasok sa kaisipan ng mga characters parati (that seem to invite one to enter into the characters’ mind). That’s also something we also love about the series.” King Baco directs Love You Stranger.

As stated earlier, Love You Stranger’s narrative also revolves around the folklore of shadow creatures, which according to Gabbi is similar to the Filipinos’ beliefs about the engkanto (mythical environmental spirits and fairies), duwende (dwarves) and aswang (shape-shifting creatures). “Yung Lilom ang mag-spark ng mystery sa buong kwento,” said she, while Khalil added that each town has its own set of beliefs, like the community of Sta. Castela, which is also a character in itself.

“Ang laki, laki ng factor nung lugar in the story, isa siyang buong character by itself,” said she. “I feel like it’s one of the exciting parts of the story, lahat talaga magaganap sa Sta. Castela.” It’s not surprising why Gabbi and Khalil enjoy every bit of their characters.

“This is actually my most favorite role so far in terms of story, character arc, writing, execution, parang this is the character where I felt most present, at pinaka na explore ko at nalaro ko talaga,” said she. “I feel like it also comes with maturity, it also comes with the love for the craft. Khalil helped me a lot also with this role.”

Khalil, for his part, shared that the story is about a film production crew. His character Ben is the director, while Gabbi’s LJ is the film designer. “It’s my first time to play one, and I think one of the very few times na makikita ng audience natin what’s going on behind the scene, so ang daming nangyayari in the series,” said he, who related the concept of shadow to the dark sides that every person may have “and the struggles that we have to go through in life,” added he. “Just like shadows, if there is brightness right in front of you, may liwanag sa harap, may kadiliman sa likod. You cast a shadow and that’s something that you have to live with forever. You have to manage it. It will always be there, nakasunod sa’yo.”

Gabbi connected it to a life’s reality that one can’t live in anybody’s shadow and suggested that people can only get out of it when they believe in themselves and pursue what they are passionate about.

Catch Love You Stranger from Mondays to Thursdays.