Vilma Santos and Christopher de Leon have done tons of films together and for decades now.
With critics and fans alike praising their natural onscreen chemistry, we were pretty sure like most love teams of today, they were lovers in real life.
But we were wrong. They were never an item.
How were they able to avoid something that many others weren’t able to?
Vilma has a quick answer.
“It’s all about being professional,” she said.
“Ang sa amin, ayaw naming paglaruan ang aming trabaho, ang aming propesyon by going beyond what is needed. Ganun lang yun.”
Christopher agreed. He maintained, “It works fine already so why mess with it?”
The two were quick to admit, however, that there was attraction.
“Of course,” said Christopher. “You won’t be able to do your job properly if you don’t admire or like your screen partner in some way. Magiging mahirap. I don’t know about Vi but for me, there was attraction. I liked her from the onset.”
Vilma acquiesced.
“Ako man din sa totoo lang. Pero to be candid about it, parati rin kasi kaming may relationships na ni Boyet in real life so, there was never a chance for us to pursue the idea of romance in real life.”
And therein lay the secret to the success of their onscreen tandem.
The mere possibility, the mere idea, the mere hint of them being lovers in real life, allow for the needed spark for them to light up the screen.
“We were never lovers in real life pero pag sa screen, kapag asawa ko siya, talagang asawa ang trato ko sa kanya,” said Vilma.
Vilma and Christopher are to showcase their much vaunted chemistry again onscreen via “When I Met You In Tokyo,” among entries to this year’s Metro Manila Film Festival.
