Antoinette Jadaone on Liza Soberano: 'No matter how well-intentioned you are, words will find their own meaning'
Writer-director Antoinette Jadaone has some kind words for actress Liza Soberano, who starred in her 2019 film Alone/Together.
Asked about her reaction to the recent controversy surrounding Liza during an event in Manila House, Antoinette told the press that Liza is kind and "very professional."
"Based from papaano ko siya kilala, even after Alone/Together, nag-uusap kami. Mabait si Liza, mabait talaga siya. Very professional," she said.
The filmmaker first said in a disclaimer that she isn't really invested in the whole back-and-forth issue involving the former Kapamilya star.
"Ayaw ko nang mag-comment, lalaki lang... Even when it was starting, hindi ako masyadong so into the whole issue," the director said, joking that she was actually more invested in the buzz between Selena Gomez and Hailey Bieber.
She added that even before the issue started, they were slated to work on something together with Maya, Liza's newest endorsement as its chief advocacy officer and brand ambassador.
"It's a lesson. Madaming madaming perspectives, maraming layers, pero isa 'yun. It's a lesson on intent and impact, I guess."
Antoinette noted that words may have different meaning to different people even if the person means well.
"Whatever words you say, it may mean another thing to another person, no matter how well-intentioned you are. Words will find their own meaning talaga when it comes to different people, kasi may iba-iba tayong pinagdadaanan," the director provided her nuanced take.
She then explained that this type of issue is really difficult to navigate: "So gulo, gulo, gulo, gulo, gugulo na siya hanggang gulat ka na lang it's this one big issue. Hindi naman talaga in-expect na magiging ganyan... I guess really it's about intent versus impact."
The award-winning filmmaker wrote and directed films like That Thing Called Tadhana and Fan Girl. Aside from working with Liza and Enrique Gil (LizQuen) for Alone/Together, she previously collaborated with other popular love teams like Joshua Garcia and Julia Barretto (JoshLia) for Love You to the Stars and Back as well as James Reid and Nadine Lustre (JaDine) for Never Not Love You.
Liza has been a hot topic online since her viral This is Me vlog, where she bared her true feelings about her showbiz career as a whole, including the concept of love teams. She has since gone on interviews with Bea Alonzo and Boy Abunda, each time gaining renewed public interest with her controversial statements.
"I'm 25 years old now and I think people forget that I've been working for 13 years now since I was 12 years old. And I've been in six feature films, over 500 episodes of teleseryes, and have only really dabbled into three main genres: romance, comedy, and drama. And since I was 16, I had only really worked side-by-side with one main co-star with the same production company rotating around the same three directors. And during all those years, I was never really asked for my input," Liza said in the video.