- Julia Barretto is glad to be “free” as an actress
- She is now paired with Kapamilya hunk Tony Labrusca for the upcoming thriller series “I Am U”
Coming off her three-year relationship and love team partnership with Joshua Garcia in JoshLia, Julia Barretto now seems to enjoy her journey as a solo artist.
She is now paired with Kapamilya hunk Tony Labrusca for the upcoming thriller series “I Am U”.
During the media launch of the iWant original series on Wednesday, Barretto said she is glad now that she has the freedom to take risks as an actress after her departure from the JoshLia love team.
“At this point, feeling ko I’m just very, very grateful that I’ve been trusted with projects that are not the usual that I’ve done before,” she said.
“I’m glad na nakakapaglaro na ako, that I’m more free to do some scenes and some roles and take more risks, that I can now take roles fearlessly, that now I can be the actress that I’ve always wanted to be,” Barretto explained.
Barretto said she is now done with love teams though she clarified that romance or “kilig” factor with other actors can still be expected with her future projects.
“Siguro, graduate na ako sa kung saan ako nanggaling. Graduate na ako sa pagiging permanent in a love team. I’ve been blessed to have experienced that, don’t get me wrong, but I’ve already graduated from that phase in my career.”
Barretto said she is also looking forward to portraying mature roles in romance-dramas.
Now that she is not attached to a permanent love team, Barretto is given an opportunity to choose from different genres and characters in a drama as well as the actors she wants to work with.
Barretto is set to make daring scenes with Labrusca in her newest project “I Am U”, helmed by Dwein Baltazar. She will be playing the dual role as Elise and the doppelganger Rose.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjOZotX8xiM
“I’m very happy to be in the phase in my career na mas mature na ‘yung mga nagagawa ko, mas marami na akong nakakatrabaho. Mas free na ako sa pagpili ng projects. Hindi na ako parang na sa isang box. I can now explore as an actress different genres, and be able to work with different leading men, and different kinds of materials, and different directors,” she said.
The Kapamilya star also had encouraging words for her former beau and love team partner Joshua who is now part of “JoshNella” opposite Janella Salvador.
She said pertaining to Garcia,“ Up to this day, watching him from afar… As I always tell him, ‘I’ll always be one of your cheerleaders.’ Wherever he is in his career now, I’m really proud of him, because I’ve seen his growth, and I was there in the beginning of that all.”
Barretto then reminisced her friendship with Salvador, her Star Magic Circle batchmate ,and implied she hoped the best for her.
“Dati kasi, palagi namin pinag-uusapan ‘yung mga pangarap naming dalawa, ‘yung mga gusto naming maabot, gusto naming ma-experience, ‘yung mga path na gusto namin mapuntahan. Ngayon, just watching her, being able to do these things, proud ako sa kaniya, and pinag-pe-pray ko rin siya,” she said.
Asked whether she feels she has “outgrown” Garcia, Barretto cautiously said, “His choice to still be in that path in his career, which is the love team phase, I respect that.”
“Have I outgrown him as a love team? Yes, definitely. Pero kung magkaka-work kami ulit, I have no problem. Pero siguro that’s in the far future pa, because I’m still working on Julia as the individual and Julia as the actress,” she said.
The two co-starred in a teleserye and five films starting in 2016, among of which is their launching film as a loveteam, Vince and Kath and James. Along side JoshLia’s rising popularity, Barretto also gained prominence in the showbiz industry.
They broke up in mid-2019 after filming the zombie flick “Block Z,” their most recent project together that was released in late January. The two said that decided to remain as “best friends” after their split.
