By Flory Ann Tacuban
Liza Soberano, who portrays Alexandra Trese in Netflix series “Trese”, always wanted to play a superhero character.
Unfortunately, her supposed Darna stint fell through, but she got Trese in return.
Liza says she was excited to play Alexandra Trese since she’s a superhero character that a lot of Filipinos, especially women, can relate to.
“Alexandra Trese is a very brave and bad ass chick, and it’s very cool to see a female like that. Most of the time, we see female detectives and we always see these amazing male superheroes. But nowadays there’s more representation for women and good symbols or characters that represent how strong-willed women are and how courageous as well,” Liza Soberano said.
Liza adds that she gone through the comics to step into the character and mindset of Trese. She dissected the character and created a backstory in hear head to have an idea of who Trese is, as a person.
“It was fun for me because she lives in such a magical world and it’s a kind of scary because she’s battling with evil supernatural beings. It’s cool as you see she’s not afraid of them because it’s something normal to her already,” she articulated.
She also shares that when she knew she will be lending her voice to the character Alexandra Trese she was a bit nervous and hesitant but surprised and grateful at the same time.
“I was scared because it’s something new for me. It’s something I’ve never done before. I’m new in voice acting. I know in the comic book fans, they are really diehard and passionate and protective of the characters they love, as any fan would be, and so I was afraid of the backlash I would be getting if I don’t do justice to the role. When I accepted it, I made sure I did everything possible to prepare for it. I am so excited and honored in voicing Alexandra,” Liza added.
She reiterates further that she really did everything possible to prepare for Trese, including speaking Tagalog for straight two weeks, modulating and lowering her voice as the role of voice acting is almost different from the things that she did previously like on-cam acting.
“I made sure not to speak English as much as possible at home. Whenever people call me on the phone and in zoom interviews, I use Tagalog para masanay na yung tongue ko. I also requested Sir Rudolph, my voice coach, for a workshop and he guided me through the whole process and helped me give life to the character,” she uttered.
Moreover, shares that she is happy because of the adaptation of comics being a Netflix anime as Trese is the first anime original that is based on a Philippine graphic novel and the global audience could see and know our mythological creatures.
“It gets introduced not only to Filipino people but to whatever race it may be. More people can have access and viewers will have more knowledge about Filipino culture and entertainment. Hopefully they will become interested about our culture and entertainment and this will open for a lot more projects of other things from Philippines,” she expressed.
She also urges people to watch Trese because it is rich in Filipino culture and mythology. There are so many things people will can relate to in the series and it present a good representation although based on fiction and proudly Pinoy.
Budjette Tan wrote “Trese,” which was illustrated by KaJO Baldisimo. It is place in Manila, where humans are oblivious of the presence of magical creatures. When authorities are faced with intriguing otherworldly cases, they frequently enlist the help of detective Alexandra Trese.
The six-episode adaptation of the Filipino graphic novel will premiere on Netflix on June 11th midnight.
See trailer here: https://www.netflix.com/trese
(The author is a Communication and Media Studies student of UP Visayas)
