Bianca de Vera and Brent Manalo surprised many viewers with their onscreen chemistry in iWant’s new vertical microdrama, Half Sisters.
The pairing caught fans off guard. During their stint in Pinoy Big Brother: Celebrity Collab Edition, the two were never linked to each other. Fans instead paired Bianca with fellow housemates Will Ashley and Dustin Yu, while Brent was often matched with Mika Salamanca, his duo partner, with whom he was later hailed as Big Winner.
So when Half Sisters was announced with Bianca and Brent as a love team, many fans did not see it coming. What, then, is the secret behind their chemistry?
The stars answered that question during a talkback with the cast and director at the show’s media screening.
In the series, Brent plays Pancho, a security guard who falls for Jessa, a persona of Bianca’s character, and later for the woman behind it, Emily.
Emily and her sibling Ramon, played by Esnyr Ranollo, are both manananggal, the mythical creatures in Filipino folklore that can split their bodies in half and fly at night.
Bianca said she did not find it hard to play Brent’s love interest or build chemistry with him because they have been friends for a long time.
“Kasi I think we’ve been friends for a very, very long time. And I think isa ‘yun sa pinakaimportanteng foundation in order for you to be able to work on screen together nang hindi kayo nagkakahirapan,” Bianca told PUSH ABS-CBN.
“Kumbaga, comfortable na kayo sa isa’t isa and you know that you respect each other, and alam n’yo na malalim na talaga ‘yung friendship,” she added.
She also said it helped that Brent served as a “big brother” to the younger housemates inside the PBB house, which made working with him even easier.
“Hindi naman ako nahirapan between things na tatawanan mo kami kasi parang, in PBB, ikaw ‘yung pinakamatanda doon, so siya talaga ‘yung kuya-kuya namin doon,” she said.
Brent, for his part, admitted that he and Bianca have always had more of a sibling vibe.
“Sa akin naman, siyempre, Bianca and I, we always had sibling chemistry. ‘Yun ang laging sinasabi, para kaming magkapatid,” Brent said.
Because of that, he said they treated the romantic scenes as a challenge, as they had to show sweetness onscreen even though people see them as siblings.
“So I think we took it as a challenge as actors. Kasi ‘di ba, kung sino ang makakapareha mo, dapat talaga you have to make it work. So I think ‘yun ‘yung naging pinaka-assignment ko dito, na paano ko ba lalagyan ng landi ‘yung mga eksena namin ni Bianca. But I think with the guidance, of course, of Direk and Star Creatives, naitawid naman namin,” he shared.
Half Sisters is a comedy-horror series that follows half-siblings Emily and Ramon. Emily struggles to accept that she will eventually become a manananggal after Ramon reveals their true nature. Their bond is tested even further when both of them fall for Pancho.
The casting also drew attention because Bianca and Esnyr jokingly called each other “twins” during their time in the PBB house. Now, they play siblings onscreen.
Aside from the three former housemates, the series also stars Xyriel Manabat and Petite.
The show is Star Creatives’ first vertical drama series, following its earlier hits The Loyalty Game and The Secrets of Hotel 88. Vertical microdramas are short episodes made to be watched on a phone, and they have become a popular way for Filipino viewers to catch quick, bite-sized stories on the go.
Directed by Julius Alfonso, all episodes of Half Sisters are now streaming on iWant. The first five episodes are also available for free on the Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube pages of iWant and ABS-CBN Entertainment.