Jameson Blake and Race Matias step into characters that challenge their range as actors in the newest Kapamilya series "What Lies Beneath," where they star alongside Janella Salvador, Sue Ramirez, Charlie Dizon, and Kaila Estrada.
Jameson and Race sat down with Kapamilya Chat to talk about portraying morally gray figures and dual personalities in the mystery drama teleserye and how they embraced the darkness of their roles while finding something deeply human in them.
"What Lies Beneath" revolves around the intertwined lives of four women bound by friendship, secrets, and "revenge with a modern twist." Jameson and Race shared that watching the trailer and the first few scenes during the premiere night gave them “goosebumps” but in a good way. “It was heavy, pero it was like a good heavy feeling,” Jameson said, praising both the adult and young cast members whose performances make the story even more gripping.
Speaking of characters, Jameson takes on the role of Anton Montenegro, a celebrity host born into a powerful political family and the husband of Sue’s character. He describes Anton as a “dual” figure—complex and unpredictable. “I haven’t played a role like this before na ganito ka-extreme,” Jameson shared. “I really enjoyed the process of playing Anton.” While he hopes viewers won’t emulate his character’s questionable choices, Jameson believes Anton offers lessons about acceptance and finding security within oneself.
Having worked with Sue on several projects before, Jameson is glad to see how much they’ve both matured as actors and he’s excited to explore a different kind of partnership beyond the usual romantic angles they did in the past. “Sobrang iba, and it’s going to be so much fun,” he said. “It’s something new for people to see from both of us.”
Race Matias plays Marco Torres, a private investigator who serves as the right-hand man of Kaila’s character. “Basically, ‘pag may kailangan si Kaila na ipagawa na not within the law, na medyo madumi and not going to be good for her as a lawyer, ako ‘yung gumagawa no’n para sa kanya,” he teased.
After earning attention for his antagonistic role in "Linlang," Race believes that "What Lies Beneath" will once again take viewers on a rollercoaster of emotions. This time, though, his character exists in the gray area of morality. "He's not as selfish as the previous characters na na-portray ko. 'Yung loyalty niya is not something that's in question, it's more of his motivation as to why he's doing things," shared Race, who hopes viewers learn something from Marco’s stoic nature, particularly honesty and emotional transparency.
Both gentlemen had nothing but praise for the series’ powerhouse ensemble led by Janella, Sue, Charlie and Kaila, with whom they've already developed a good working dynamic since sharing teleseryes and movies with them in the past. For Race, being surrounded by such talented artists pushes him to bring his best every day on set, "It helps you bring your A-game. It helps you keep your best foot forward kasi alam mo na if you didn't do your homework, talagang mapag-iiwanan ka pagdating sa aktingan."
Because their roles demand full commitment, both actors made sure to prepare extensively. Jameson described his process as immersing himself completely into his character, Anton, whose temper and confrontational nature are far from his real-life personality. "It's like the complete opposite, so I really had to channel myself into a different person." Before every take, he would remind himself that he must become the bad guy once the camera rolls "para lang lumabas 'yung emosyon." He also developed small physical rituals before takes, like jumping or letting out a scream, to build up Anton’s tension and mindset, which hints that he’ll be portraying a really dark, intense character in the story.
Race, on the other hand, described his acting process as adaptive in the sense that he’s discovering surprising similarities between himself and Marco as filming progressed, which makes work more engaging for him. Race also credited his directors for their patience that allows him to explore his character’s layers at his own pace.
Knitting a character that’s far from your real self into your own flesh, especially if it's as morally complex as Marco or Anton, doesn’t happen overnight. After all, Race and Jameson wouldn’t want to carry these characters' madness with them once they leave the set, so it takes time to find their heartbeat and eventually let it go. "It took a while to really see kung ano talaga 'yung gusto niya as a human," Race said of Marco. "I'm thankful that the writers really did a good job bringing that humanity to life."
But after all the serious takes, everyone on set also knows how to unwind. "Kapag nasa dressing room na, kuwentuhan. It helps keep things light on set," Race mentioned, to which Jameson added, "I just couldn't ask for a better cast. I get along with everybody. We all get along together so that makes it even better when we do scenes together kasi mas comfortable kami." This chemistry among the cast members will surely resonate on screen and translate into a strong overall output for the show.
Just for fun, when asked which character they’d like to trade places with, Jameson admitted he finds Jake Cuenca’s role very interesting so he’d like to portray it as well, mainly to see if he could pull it off the way Jake does, especially since it involves a lot of solo scenes in front of the camera. Race agreed that everyone’s intrigued with Jake’s character, who is seen in the trailer haunting the people who had him imprisoned, but he’d also love to try playing Jameson’s character, noting how its duality makes it an exciting playground for any actor.
In keeping with the series' theme, Kapamilya Chat asked Jameson and Race if they believe trust can still be restored once it’s broken. Both agreed that it might be possible, but only depending on how deep the damage goes. Race likened it to a shattered plate that you may fix after, but traces of the cracks will always be visible. As he put it, one can only hope that time will do its thing in helping those cracks heal.
And then talking about the idea of hiding the truth for the sake of a loved one, Jameson said he might only do it if it’s a white lie, but most of the time he wouldn't "if it's going to affect other people." Echoing the same sentiment, Race explained that it depends on the gravity of the situation. Minor lies like covering for a friend might be forgivable, but if it involves something serious like a crime, then he would never tolerate it. "Ako ang unang maglalaglag sa'yo," he said.
“What Lies Beneath” premieres on October 20 on Kapamilya Channel, Kapamilya Online Live (KOL), A2Z, and TV5. Catch it in advance on Netflix and iWant.