From a fangirl who learns why you should never meet your idols to a grocery employee trying to find love while making ends meet, Charlie Dizon is no stranger to playing all kinds of characters over the past decade. But in the mystery thriller Balaraw, the award-winning actress found herself facing a new challenge in more ways than one. In the Netflix Philippines series, Sabina (Janine Gutierrez) learns that her missing mother Rebecca (Agot Isidro) might still be alive.
But in order to find her, she must travel to the mysterious island of Balaraw. So she does, not knowing what awaits her but hoping to find her mother, and tagging along is Sabina’s girlfriend, Bulak, played by Charlie Dizon. It made for an experience that tested the actress in diving headfirst into the ambitious show. But it all made for a project she gladly signed up for.
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Charlie Dizon on Bulak, Balaraw, and Women Empowerment
When Balaraw first landed on Dizon’s radar, it didn’t take much to convince her to do it. Aside from an intriguing plot, the chance to work with Janine Gutierrez and Agot Isidro attracted her to the role. “When I first heard about the concept, I really liked the story, because it’s something different,” Dizon tells MEGA. “There’s mystery, there’s family, there’s Filipino folklore. And when I found out about the people I’d be working with, I was more excited. It was an easy yes for me.” Filming the show was a whole other ballgame, though.
Just like with her co-stars, Dizon was in the thick of the action in what Bulak had to face on the island. It presented both a challenge and opportunity for Dizon. “For me, it’s both exciting and challenging kasi lalo na yung scale of production of Balaraw,” she shares about working on the series. But rather than be intimidated by the show’s ambition, Dizon sees it as one of Balaraw’s best parts.
If the island looks lived in on the show, that much was true during the actual filming for Dizon, who felt like she was stepping into another world. “When you see our locations and sets, especially the details, you’ll really believe that it’s really happening. It’s easy for us to immerse ourselves, our characters, in the scenes because of the production design.”
Another aspect that Dizon had to navigate was Bulak’s characterization, particularly of her being in a relationship with Sabina. It made for an interesting collision of factors in how Dizon is playing Gutierrez’s girlfriend in their first project together. She’s the first to admit that it was a hurdle in the beginning to get the dynamic right, mainly because of how nervous Dizon got.
“I remember when we were shooting one of the more intimate scenes, I was super nervous, like, I was really sweating. Tapos si Janine, she was like, ‘Why? Ako lang to. Parang diba dapat mas kabahan ka with other guys.’ [Then Janine, she was like, Why? It’s just me. Isn’t it that you should be more nervous with other guys.] It was my first time portraying such a character, so I was a bit nervous at first,” she recalls.
But over time, and with the help of the cast and crew, those walls began to break, leading to the dynamic viewers will see on screen between Sabina and Bulak. “With the guidance of Direk Rae [Red], and we also have an intimacy coach on set, we also had a workshop just to help establish trust, and so that we can do the scenes with more care and respect. So, when we moved along with the story, we became more comfortable with our characters, and our reactions became more natural together.”
While it’s always nice to see more queer women representation in local media, their relationship isn’t treated like a carrot being dangled on a string. Their relationship is seen as normal in the show’s world, which highlights how Balaraw is as much a mystery series rooted in Philippine folklore as it is a story of women trying to find something in their lives. At the heart of the show are complex women who are motivated by different things and trying to navigate a world that isn’t necessarily kind to them.
It’s these plotlines, and more, that are set to be unraveled over the course of the show’s six episodes, and Dizon sees the women of Balaraw as examples of how multi-dimensional Filipinas can be. “I hope that people take away that there’s no single way to define a strong woman. Each character has different struggles, their own vulnerabilities, weaknesses. And that makes them more interesting.” For the actress, there’s no one way to define what a woman is and can be.
Sabina, Bulak, and Rebecca carry with them and represent different aspects of womanhood, and so too are Balaraw’s potential viewers. “Sana makita nila na kahit may flaws and kahit may complexities yung pagiging babae, makita pa rin nila yung pagiging strong ng babae. And sana makita rin nila yung sarili nila, kahit a bit of themselves sa mga characters namin. [I hope they see that even if women have flaws and complexities, they can still be strong. And I hope they can see themselves in the characters, even if it’s just a bit of themselves.]”
Balaraw begins streaming on Netflix on October 29.
The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Featured Image and Photos: Courtesy of Netflix
Frequently Asked Questions
Balaraw is a Netflix Philippines mystery thriller series in which Sabina, played by Janine Gutierrez, learns her missing mother Rebecca, played by Agot Isidro, might still be alive and travels to the island of Balaraw. It has six episodes and begins streaming October 29.
Charlie Dizon plays Bulak, the girlfriend of Sabina (Janine Gutierrez), who tags along as Sabina travels to the mysterious island of Balaraw to find her missing mother. Dizon says it was her first time portraying such a character and that it took time to get the dynamic right.
Charlie Dizon says she liked the concept because it offered something different, with mystery, family, and Filipino folklore. Working with Janine Gutierrez and Agot Isidro made her more excited, and she called it an easy yes. She also sees the production’s scale as exciting and challenging.
Charlie Dizon says the cast worked under director Rae Red’s guidance with an intimacy coach on set, and held a workshop to establish trust so scenes could be done with care and respect. She says they became more comfortable with their characters, and their reactions became more natural together.
Dizon hopes viewers see that there is no single way to define a strong woman, since each character has different struggles, vulnerabilities, and weaknesses that make them more interesting. She also hopes viewers can see a bit of themselves in the show’s characters.
