Is time transcending love possible? In the realm of cinema, yes it is.
Somewhere in Time, which starred the late Christopher Reeves and the ethereal Jane Seymour, is just one of the many examples including South Korea’s Il Mare, which had an American remake, The Lake House with the dynamic duo of Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock as its headliners.
Now, its filmmaker Adolfo Alix, Jr.’s turn to spin the previously asked question with Happenstance, a love story that transcends time and space. It’s a tale with more delicious wickedness and kilig, thanks to the fact that the lovers here are men.
“Yes, Happenstance is a boy’s love drama that defies the expectations and limitations when two men share a different kind of romance,” director Adolf begins. “It was not the easiest of shoots since we had to design the entire rooms with less number of people because of the pandemic and all.”
“Gusto ko talaga na believable ang set design, para aside from the intriguing story and my good looking actors, mas maraming reasons ang BL supporters to give it a chance. Effort talaga to give the audiences something novel that the BL audiences will embrace and support.”
Happenstance, which Alix co-wrote with Jerry Gracio, tells the romance between Wade, given life by Kiko Ipapo who lives in the present, and Jose Manuel, portrayed by Jovani Manansala, whose timeline is in the 1970s.
“Based on our research, a super moon occurred in March 2020 and it also happened during March 1974, and we used that as the ingredient when the magical moment transpires,” the director relates. “Dahil sa ganap na iyan, it opens a portal between the two time zones, making it possible for the two people to meet and fall in love.”
His divine inspiration that led to making this BL drama, Alix admits: “The story’s premise was actually based on a real-life incident. I read an article about a woman who found letters in the ceiling of her house while cleaning it during the lockdown. They were letters of love from a man to someone. When the quarantine order became less strict, the woman went out to look for the person who wrote them and discovered that his love was unrequited.
Something inside me stirred kaya sabi ko na this must be made and since BL drama ang trend sa ngayon. Might as well go with what is the current fixation now and we added a dose of magical realism and great storytelling.”
Happenstance has nine episodes to be released weekly this month exclusively on GagaOOLala.
