Remaking Alfred

An actor working to remake himself after a show is not a new thing--but with the case of Alfred Vargas, he has to remake himself while still keeping an old character alive. So how does he do it? Text by Jason John S. Lim. Photos by Mitch S. Mauricio. In Una Kang Naging Akin, Alfred Vargas is playing the marine biologist Ronnie: “Tapos pinag-aaralan ko rin mga sireno’t sirena." And then, he adds, "Hindi. Joke lang.” A cast addition to make the classic story more colorful, Alfred’s character causes discord between sisters Jessa (Maxene Magalona) and Liway (LJ Reyes) in the beginning. In a nutshell, Alfred explains, “I fall in love with Maxene, tapos I end up with LJ.” Alfred is not a stranger to playing a martyr for love. In fact, he’s also playing a similar character in Mars Ravelo’s Dyesebel, as the merman Erebus. Which is why, the actor discloses, he must make sure to separate the two characters. “It’s a fresh character for me,” he says, assuring that people will see a different Alfred. “Pero iibahin ko talaga 'yung atake ko dito. [So] I’m doing a little research.” Research entails watching other marine biologists at work, according to him. And while science cable programming is currently tiding him over, he says that he is still looking for local seafaring scientists. “Gusto ko 'yung more Filipino na concerns--merong ecological awareness.” But no matter what happens, Alfred is sure that he is in good hands with Director Joel Lamangan. He reveals that the director actually gave them acting pointers: “[And] I’m still in the process of doing my character sketch. Na-inspire ako kay Direk Joel. With [him] around, mas maha-harness ko 'yung drama.” Besides, Alfred confides, he’s pretty confident about his new role. Not just because of Direk Joel, but also because he's confident with the Kapuso network. This, of course, is not Alfred’s first heavy drama role. In fact, he says that he misses doing a meaty and heavy dramatic role like this--the last he had done was Muli, back in 2007: “So they can really expect a different Alfred--hindi na 'yung sireno na in love na in love.” Una Kang Naging Akin airs weekday afternoons after Daisy Siete. Talk about the show at the iGMA Forums! Want more Alfred every day? Subscribe to his Fanatxt service! Feel the fun by texting ALFRED to 4627! (Each Fanatxt message costs PhP2.50 for GLOBE, SMART, and TALK 'N TEXT, and PhP2.00 for Sun subscribers. This service is exclusive for the Philippines.)