Are Joshua Garcia and Julia Barretto finally ready to give us the proper cinematic closure we’re all waiting for from their love team—whether it’s reel to real?
Once upon a time, Joshua Garcia and Julia Barretto were the pairing that we never knew we needed until they happened. After their first cinematic debut as a love team in 2016 for Vince, Kath, and James, they established their nostalgic chemistry as their generation’s Rico Yan and Claudine Barretto. Together, it was no denying that they brought out the best of each other on screen. Five years since their last project, and for their fifth film together, JoshLia finally reunites with their upcoming movie, Un/Happy For You.
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During their New Movie Alert, the two stars sat down with host MJ Felipe to talk about their much-awaited reunion. Joining them were some of the film’s production staff, including director Petersen Vargas and writers Kookai Labayen, Crystal Hazel San Miguel, and Jen Chuaunsu. As we all wait for their long overdue reunion on the big screen, here are five things we can expect from Un/Happy For You.
Chemistry Reimagined
Exes reunited—to simply put, this is the film’s premise. But of course, it is no secret that it is also how we would describe Joshua and Julia’s current state as actors and individuals. During their press conference, they openly talked about how everything feels familiar and at the same time, a new experience for the both of them.
“Kinakabahan na ako. Para siyang familiar and new place at the same time kasi we’re re-getting to know each other,” the Viva actress spoke honestly. The actor also seconded Julia. “Kinakapa pa namin ‘yung isa’t-isa. Iba na rin ‘yung atake niya sa mga scenes compared before. Iba na rin ‘yung titig. Malagkit na ‘yung ngayon,” he observed teasingly, making the crowd laugh.
Un/Happy For You is Joshua and Julia’s fifth film together, coincidentally in the fifth year since they last worked together for a movie. Together, they have established their chemistry as on-screen partners who could go back and forth from romantic-comedy to heavy drama. After their first project, they worked on several movies such as Love You to the Stars and Back, Unexpectedly Yours, I Love You, Hater; and Block Z. As they welcome another project into their roster, we cannot wait to witness a more mature take on their partnership as a love team who has grown up together.
Individual Growth
After their time together as both a couple and pairing, Garcia and Barretto have worked with several partners and a number of projects individually. In fact, even with their love team status established for almost three years, their respective on-screen kisses were not even with each other. Joshua had hers with Janella Salvador for the teleserye The Killer Bride. Meanwhile for Julia, it was in the film Between Maybes with then leading man and now real-life partner, Gerald Anderson.
From genres to characters, the two worked on their artistic versatility over the years. Today, we know Julia as a daring actress who knows how to say yes to projects with topics and concepts worth discussing such as age gaps in relationships and sex work. Meanwhile, Joshua further refined his acting chops by taking on different genres such as thriller-drama, action-fantasy, and horror.
Learning from their own experiences as they veered from the comfort of familiarity, they gave each other a lot of room to grow as artists and even as individuals. Now that they are back to work on another film together, both of them surely have nuggets of wisdom and learnings to impart with each other from their individual journeys. What are those? We can’t wait to witness and find out in the coming months.
Intensity of Love
Taking into consideration their maturity, the film writers and even Vargas himself already established that the film will not be JoshLia’s typical love story. According to them, Un/Happy for You will tackle the intensity of passion and love one can have for another person, even when they are a figure in the past. But while it’s a familiar narrative to some, they assured that the film will offer a new take on what has already been told about the subject of exes.
“This time, it’s a romance that can be sexy, that can be intense. So as much as the pain is intense, the sexiness will be as intense,” the director explained. “‘Di ba minsan, when a relationship ends, grabe ‘yung intensity. It can reach up to anger talaga. Nagiging intense kasi the love is also intense. Masasaktan ka, dahil grabe kang nagmamahal,” Kookai, one of the writers, further added.
Concluding their New Movie Alert with MJ Felipe, Julia spoke for the both of them in terms of their thoughts on their reunion project showing later this year. “I didn’t expect it to be far from what we normally had all experienced in our lives. Not just him and I, syempre. It’ll be a painful, and hopefully, a healing movie,” she says.
Photos: STAR MAGIC (via Instagram)
