It’s been seven to eight years since Darren Espanto and AC Bonifacio became best friends in real life. They’ve been there for each other through their ups and downs. Now, they traverse through their lives as young adults with new career opportunities still beside each other.
Their new upcoming youth-oriented musical series, Lyric and Beat, marks their first project together where they get to do what they love most: singing and dancing. But that’s not the only part of the show that makes it memorable for Darren and AC.
For Darren, Lyric and Beat is his first series after appearing in the KathNiel movie The Hows Of Us. On the other hand, AC is no stranger to making appearances in shows, given her history of performing in shows such as Ellen and pop sensation Ariana Grande’s concert.
Still, both find Lyric and Beat a worthwhile project because they get to do it with their best friend.
In the trailer of the youth-oriented musical series, there’s a scene where Darren tries to plant a kiss on AC’s cheek but misses as the latter avoids him playfully. The gesture is “kilig”-worthy for onlookers, especially since many of their fans have been pairing them up for quite some time.
However, during a blogcon for Lyric and Beat last July 15, Friday, Darren shared that the kiss wasn’t scripted and happened after the director, Dolly Dulu, said, “Cut!” At this point, fans may see it as a budding romance between the two artists, but for Darren and AC, it’s how they treat each other as best friends.
Darren added that after Dulu shouted, “Cut!” they had to stay in character for a while to make the scene effective. As they waited for the scene to clear, he thought of kissing AC on the cheek to fill in the awkwardness because it’s normal for them as best friends. The heartfelt and authentic gesture made it to the series’ final cut.
“Most of our ‘kilig’ moments [happened] nung naka-cut na. It was just us fooling around. That’s how we fool around because I feel that’s what our friendship is talaga. Anyone close to us can see that,” AC said.
Although Darren and AC, who play Jazz and Cadence, respectively, enjoy working together in Lyric and Beat, they also felt pressure to deliver their best performance because it required more than just singing and dancing, which came easy.
Since late last year, they both underwent acting workshops to hone their skills for the project. Darren and AC also feel grateful to their co-stars Andrea Brillantes and Seth Fedellin for guiding them during specific scenes. In the meantime, Darren and AC also help other cast members during the production numbers because they have more experience in that area.
With each other’s help, they get through rehearsals and shooting more efficiently.
Lyric and Beat, the first iWantTFC original musical series, will air on August 10. It features many great hits by music producer Jonathan Manalo throughout the decades.