Real-life couple Dingdong Dantes and Marian Rivera return to the big screen together in “Remember,” a drama directed by Mae Cruz-Alviar. It opens in Philippine and global cinemas on Nov. 11.
Cruz-Alviar also directed the couple’s 2023 hit “Rewind.” Before that film, their last movie together was 2010’s “You to Me Are Everything,” four years before they got married. They first met on the set of “Marimar,” and their joint projects include “Dyesebel,” “One True Love,” “Endless Love,” “My Beloved,” and “Jose & Maria’s Bonggang Villa.”
Asked whether he’d work with Marian more often if big projects like this came along, Dingdong said he’d take any opportunity to work with her, whatever it is. He added that he’s grateful “Remember” came together, since he didn’t expect a project of this scale after “Rewind.” If there’s another one, he said, why not.
The director says directing the pair is easier when they play a married couple, as in “Rewind” and “Remember,” because small, natural gestures add to the chemistry. She said the harder part for the two is separating their real lives from their characters.
She is curious how they’d fare if they weren’t cast as spouses, and joked that this could be their third collaboration. Dingdong went along with the joke. It isn’t an announced project. The director said that on such a film, they would even have to avoid natural gestures like a gentle touch on the shoulder, but she believes they could pull it off.
For fans, “Remember” is the first Dantes-Rivera film in about three years, and it arrives less than two months before the Christmas season.
