WORKING with Empoy can be challenging, Herlene Budol admitted. But not for reasons one might expect.
It goes without saying that Empoy is an effective comedian — too effective, in fact, that Herlene ends up laughing in scenes where she shouldn’t.
“Ang hirap po niyang katrabaho, sobrang hirap. His facial expressions make me laugh even if we’re doing a heavy scene where I have to cry,” the beauty queen-turned-actress said in recent video conference for the final week of GMA Public Affairs’ “Black Rider.”
In the primetime action series, which ends on July 26, Herlene plays a battered wife named Pretty. She later on finds an admirer in the motorcycle rider Oka (Empoy), who later convinces her to pretend to be his wife to please his dying father. Their relationship eventually blossoms.
“When I look at him, I can’t help but break character. I become a fan girl. Bata pa lang kasi ako, napapanood ko na ang isang Empoy. His smallest movements and nuances bring out my real personality,” Herlene said.
Their characters’ amusing cat-and-mouse dynamic surprisingly earned them not a few fans who think they have chemistry together.
“In terms of chemistry, our director Rommel Penesa, would tell me, ‘Meron talaga.’ I’d reply, ‘Talaga ba, Direk?’ I just try to enjoy every moment when I’m working with him. Masaya naman po kami kapag naglalandian sa set,” Herlene said with the deadpan humor she’s known for.
Herlene was initially supposed to play a guest character, but the supposed one-day taping became two. Before long, she was a regular cast member. Little did she realize that “Black Rider” would be physically more challenging than the previous show she topbilled, the successful afternoon soap, “Magandang Dilag.”
“I wasn’t used to the kind of acting we did here, all the scenes where I was physically abused. But the shift in my character was a quick one and it had great impact on me,” she said, adding that playing Pretty taught her a lot of new things as an actress. (Allan Policarpio © Philippine Daily Inquirer)
