Nadine Lustre opened up about returning to comedy through the Metro Manila Film Festival entry Call Me Mother, following her recent string of horror and thriller projects.
The actress admitted she initially thought the transition would be easy but quickly realized comedy comes with its own set of challenges.
"I kept saying before when I was doing horror and thriller kasi dark eh so there's a lot of heavy emotions na fear, there's anger — alam mo yun, ang dami, puro lower emotions. But this time, sabi ko I feel like it is going to be a walk in the park kasi light lang siya, ganyan, tapos comedy. [But] it's so challenging," she admitted in an interview with Bianca Gonzalez for TFC's BRGY.
According to Nadine, the toughest part was trying not to laugh in scenes where her character and Vice Ganda's character were supposed to have tension.
"Kasi 'yung roles namin dito ni Ate Vice, hindi naman chummy naman characters namin dito eh, so ano kami may tension. Pero nagtatawanan kami. As in 'pag magtinginan lang kami, magtatawanan kami. Minsan nakakailang take kasi tawa lang kami nang tawa. So dito ko na-confirm na mas mahirap pala mag-comedy talaga just because you really need to hold your laugh. Tapos you have to be serious lalo na kung 'yung eksena hindi ka naman nakakatawa, na you have to take it seriously. Kaya maraming eksena dito na nakailang take kami kasi tawa ako nang tawa," she said.
Nadine also expressed admiration for Vice Ganda and co-star Iyah Mina's spontaneity and talent for improvisation, which often caught her off guard.
"Hindi ako katulad nila Ate Vice or nila Iya na kaya nila mag-adlib on the spot. Sila Ate Vice, kapag magka-eksena kami, sobrang amazing kasi okay, may script, biglang in the middle of the scene, bigla na lang silang magbabato ng line or ng adlib or meron silang eksena on the side na alam mo 'yun, mga ganung klase ng stuff. So dun ako naa-amaze talaga na kaya nilang gumawa ng ganun which made everything harder because you were not prepared for that. So may scene dun kailangan na ako heavy scene siya for me and yet sila naglolokohan sila," she recalled.
Call Me Mother follows Vice Ganda as Twinkle, a single queer mom whose long-awaited adoption of her son is suddenly disrupted when the child's biological mother, played by Nadine Lustre, reappears in their lives.
During the film's media conference, Nadine talked about how she prepared for the role of a young mother, drawing from friends who became parents early and from her own mother, who had her at 21.
“Ang dami kong tinanong na friends ko na I guess ka-edad ko na naging nanay sa maagang edad, to be a mother at that age while still growing up. Ako kasi, 32 na ako and I feel like I'm not done growing up. Lalo na ‘yung mga 20s ko na ang dami ko pang nadiskubre sa sarili ko na if feeling ko na katulad nila na magiging nanay na rin ako, I don’t think matutunan ko iyon sa sarili ko," she relayed.
The actress continued: "Yung mom ko rin ipinanganak niya ako noong 21 siya, so parang ngayon ini-imagine ko kung ano pinagdaanan niya noong 20s din siya and hindi talaga madali iyon. For her to actually give up a lot for me, sobrang saludo talaga sa moms. Kung ngayon, tatanungin niyo ako ngayon, hindi ko talaga kaya iyon."