Charles Teves
Liza Soberano, who is one half of the well-known LizQuen tandem, recently spoke out about the love team culture in the entertainment industry, stating that it is the sole method for aspiring performers to gain fame in the Philippines.
Soberano made this declaration during her podcast interview on Get Real with Ashley Choi and Peniel of BTOB on April 28, she described love teams as a phenomenon that ensures widespread success in local showbiz.
The actress gained popularity by collaborating with Enrique Gil in numerous teleseryes and movies as a reel-to-real-life couple.
“[A loveteam] is when they put two actors together,” she started, drawing a parallel to former Hollywood couple Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.
“They ship the two of you and there’s a [reel and real scenario] where we’re supposed to be a real couple on and off cam and we only work with each other for our whole career,” she added.
She repeated her controversial statement from her “This is Me” vlog, saying that she is obliged to be with only one partner for the duration of her “career and personal life.”
“If you look at my previous movies and TV shows, I mainly worked with one co-actor and love teams. You’re expected to be that just one person throughout your career and your personal life, and people don’t wanna see you aside with another male actor or any other male in general.”
Netizens blasted the former Kapamilya star since other stars like her saw success with less love team-type movies.
https://twitter.com/hori7zonzz/status/1652107032789409793?s=20
The only way to become a big star is to become a love team daw.
Sorry pero????? Angel Locsin? Anne Curtis? Maja? Jodi S? Kahit nga si 0tin G??!!!!
Well yung iba, magsstart for a while as love team pero nakaka alis naman sila sa love team kasi… may talent sila??????? 🙄🙃 https://t.co/6dNlSZlO8S pic.twitter.com/NBIv9nYRgG
— jay #NoToJeepneyPhaseout (@jenniemandukk) April 29, 2023
What she said is true but we all know she benefited more from it.
Only one person actually comes to mind who has all the right to say this: MAINE MENDOZA https://t.co/nC3rikchD9
— Justin Vawter 🌱🌸 (@justinvawter) April 29, 2023
Nora Aunor, Vilma Santos, Sharon Cuneta and Maricel Soriano, at the beginning of their careers are all in a "love team", they all have what Liza doesn't have… talent in acting 😁 https://t.co/6qC7VwQV9R
— pötpöt🌷 (@JaykeAlo214) April 29, 2023
During the interview, Choi expressed surprise and inquired whether Soberano had ever been allowed to select the actor she wanted to be partnered with.
“It’s not that they choose it for you. What happens in the beginning of your career is they kind of test you, they put you in a project together where you guys are not necessarily the leads and it’s kind of a chemistry test,” she said in response.
Soberano and Gil initially appeared together in the movie Must Be… Love in 2013, where they had a brief romantic encounter in the final scene. The following year, they also collaborated on the Mae Czarina Cruz-Alviar-directed project She’s The One with Dingdong Dantes and Bea Alonzo before working together again in Forevermore.
“If it becomes popular among the viewers, then they put you in your own movie or TV show. If that really takes off, then you’ll become a love team and you get shipped really hard. And then once you’re in a love team, you guys start [to work in] project after project together,” she said.
During the podcast, Choi, who was still taken aback by the subject, inquired of Soberano about what happens to love teams if they are not romantically involved in reality.
“Some love teams don’t actually date in real life, but you’re not allowed to say that. The thing is, in the beginning of loveteam, you’re not allowed to say that you are dating because you want to keep the fans kind of hungry [with your relationship status], and it helps with the project because they [the fans] are always excited,” she said in response.
“Whenever we do interviews [to promote the project], they always ask if we’re dating already or officially dating or not, so [the loveteam] becomes the whole thing [which makes your] career and personal life. It kind of blurs the line between the two, and they just don’t know what reality is,” she further explained.
Soberano also underscored that love teams have been a prevalent custom in the Philippine entertainment industry “for a long time,” dating back to the 1970s and 1980s.
“It’s been going on in the Philippines for a long time since in the 80s [or] 70s. And in the Philippines, the only way to become a really big star really, if you’re not a singer, is to become a love team,” she said.
“I would say it’s actually good but they don’t do it until very late in your career,” she added.
Soberano has appeared in numerous hit TV series and movies alongside Gil, including Forevermore, Bagani, Dolce Amore, Make It With You, Alone Together, and My Ex and Whys–among others.
She signed a deal with James Reid’s Careless in June 2022, and scheduled to star in the film Lisa Frankenstein, directed by Zelda Williams, alongside Cole Sprouse and Jenna Davis.
