Unravel stars Gerald Anderson and Kylie Padilla heap praises on each other

MANILA, Philippines — Kylie Padilla was thrilled no end when she was offered to work with Gerald Anderson in director RC de los Reyes’ romance drama, Unravel, an official entry in the first summer Metro Manila Film Festival (MMFF).

The actress unabashedly admitted she was a fan of Kimerald (Kim Chiu and Gerald Anderson loveteam) even before she started working with the actor.

“I just became honest, but I would really watch their movies together in theater,” said Kylie about Kimerald. “But then, when Gerald and I went to Switzerland, I removed all my fan mentality. I needed to be professional. Everything was purely work.”

After reading the script of Unravel, Kylie didn’t hide the fact she got scared because of the dark subject matter. She plays the character of Lucy, a single mom who wants to end her life the legal way in Switzerland. Then, she meets Noah (Gerald) when she goes to Switzerland.

“As an actress, I stepped into Lucy’s point of view right away,” Kylie said. “In the story, human connection is integral because of what they (the characters) are going through.”

“I had anxiety for one week. But I hope that with the character I’m playing, the audience will feel they are not alone. There’s always a second chance in life. Just give it a chance for other people to never lose hope in trying again,” she added.

“I felt so much empathy for my character. The subject matter is a good conversation starter because this is reality. People go through this and if they have more awareness, they will be more open to talk about it.”

Kylie and Gerald are paired for the first time in Unravel, where their chemistry onscreen will be invariably tested.

Screenwriter Senedy Que touched on the sensitive mental health issue in Unravel, his tribute to his late mentor and director, Jake Tordesillas, who passed on in 2017.

Gerald, who is from ABS-CBN, works with Kylie, a GMA 7 talent. They looked good together and their chemistry became undeniable in Unravel.

“I first heard the story about Unravel when we were in a train station in Budapest while we were shooting another movie,” Gerald recalled. “Hearing the story, I was already fascinated and excited to do it right away.”

“As an actor, I haven’t done this kind of story. I haven’t tackled this character and his journey. That really excited me. This film teaches us to always be nice, especially to strangers whom we don’t know what they are going through. We all have our respective journey in life,” he said.

“As you can see in the film, what Lucy was going through was different from what Noah was going through. So just always be nice, respectful and always be kind.”

Gerald was all praises working with Kylie in Unravel. “She was very professional,” he said of his first-time leading lady. “Kylie is a very good actress and I was able to witness that in person when we had scenes together.”

“More than anything, she was really so humble, very natural, easy to talk to, down-to-earth and very cowboy. The kind of shoot that we did in Switzerland, you really need to adjust. So many things can happen. We were in another country. But our shoot really went well,” he continued.

Kylie and Gerald bravely tried all sorts of high-altitude activities like canyon swing and sky diving in Unravel. Gerald’s favorite was when they went sky diving in the Swiss town of Interlaken.

“We jumped 30,000 feet up in the air and we saw the entire Interlaken, the clouds, the mountains, the villages, really beautiful,” he shared. “I was really so happy that we did that. I was very happy when we landed.”

“Kylie was very adventurous. I saw that from our first look-test. She was really afraid to do sky diving and canyon swing, but she did it for the love of the craft. Very brave,” he added.

Kylie, meanwhile, described working with Gerald for the first time as “easy.” She had a great time. “Of course, I was nervous at first because working with Gerald was unbelievable for me initially,” she said.

“Everything was surreal for me. But when we started shooting and I jumped into my character, I just trusted direk RC. The shoot went well. I did the sky diving and canyon swing because if I didn’t do it, we would not have a movie. I used those activities as catalyst for my life and I survived them.”

She was sleepless for three days before they did those death-defying aerial activities. “I told myself that if I conquered sky diving and canyon swing, I can conquer my anxieties in the future,” Kylie disclosed.

Gerald admired Kylie as his first-time co-actor. “You saw in the film how passionate Kylie was,” he said. “How she loves her craft, working on the film. When you shoot abroad, there were only a few of you working. It’s important if your co-actor is really professional. She really loves her work.”