- Alden Richards went through an immersion process for The Gift
- He will portray a visually-impaired character in the series
- He gained more popularity after starring in the hit movie Hello, Love, Goodbye
Alden Richards is going through preparations for his upcoming series on GMA Network titled The Gift.
His role in the series required him to undergo a blind immersion to fully understand the character of a visually-impaired person.
Last week, he was also trained to peddle goods in the streets of Divisoria, a place in Manila where most of the shots of the series will take place.
With the aid of Resources for the Blind Inc., a non-government organization that offers help to visually-impaired persons, Alden was fully immersed as a visually-impaired man and this will serve as the plot twist of his role in the series.
In an interview with Aubrey Carampel for GMA News, he proudly shared his thoughts about his first-hand experience for his new role.
“Mas lalo akong na-excite gawin ‘yung role. Nakaka-move lang being here today and experiencing first-hand, kung ano ‘yung pakiramdam ng pagiging bulag,”Alden said.
Alden Richards, sumabak sa immersion para sa karakter niya sa "The Gift" pic.twitter.com/b8JpZEyqAq
— GMA News (@gmanews) August 13, 2019
Alden said that he was also inspired by the stories of different visually-impaired workers in the NGO which he visited.
He quoted: “Life doesn’t stop after blindness and there’s hope after blindness.”
He will portray a simple and hard-working vendor in Divisoria.
“Andito tayo sa Divisoria, siyempre marami tayong mga Kapuso dito na hindi ganun kadali ang buhay araw-araw at hirap sila. ‘Yung story ng soap is parang magbibigay pag-asa na in everday life hindi pwedeng andun lang tayo sa problema,” he shared.
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He revealed the series will mostly tackle about hope and faith in God.
“Realizations in life, marami kaming ganun. Marami kaming ibibigay na ganun sa mga Kapuso natin,” he concluded.
Joining him in the cast are Jo Berry, Mikee Quintos, Thia Thomalla, Rochelle Pangilinan, Jean Garcia, Elizabeth Oropesa, Martin del Rosario, Divine Tetay, and many more.
The series’ first taping day happened last week but crucial details about Alden’s new soap have not yet been revealed.
Alden’s last series on the Kapuso network was the fantasy series Victor Magtanggol in 2018. Earlier this year, he and his AlDub love team partner Maine Mendoza decided to work on solo projects. The tandem last starred together in the movie Imagine You and Me which was fairly well-received in cinemas. The two still worked together as co-hosts on Eat Bulaga.
After three years of hiatus from the silver screen, Alden returned with a new tandem with Kathryn Bernardo for the Star Cinema movie Hello, Love, Goodbye. The movie is currently a mega-hit at the box-office since it premiered last July 31.
Alden considered being part of the movie as his biggest break in showbiz so far as it has been his highest-grossing film to date.
