Anne Curtis is one of the most prominent members of the youth-oriented series T.G.I.S., where she was part of the second batch, which aired from 1997 to 1999.

But can you still remember how Anne joined the show?

Anne wasn’t actually an original cast member and just joined the show in 1998. In fact, the exit of an actress paved the way for Anne to join the series and become Chubi del Rosario’s love team.

In an episode of The Rewined Channel‘s podcast, director Dominic Zapata recalls, “Kasi si Anne Curtis, there used to be an actress called Idelle Martinez. She was part of the first batch pero sa second layer na napunta na sila sa second batch.”

Idelle played the role of Sam, the younger sister of Peachy (Angelu de Leon), who became one of the leads in T.G.I.S. batch two. She was then paired with Chubi when they moved to the second batch in 1997.

However, in the middle of the show, Idelle’s character was written off.

Direk Dom remembers, “Parang noong second batch, nag-abroad yata si idelle, siya talaga yung love team ni Chubi. Pero nag-disappear, hindi na siya bumalik ng Pilipinas, there was no way to contact her, hanggang ngayon hindi namin alam saan napunta.”

That was how Anne joined the show.

“It paved the way para makapasok si Anne kasi may ginawa nang movie noon si Anne. Hindi siya bida doon pero na in-introduce na siya sa Magic Kingdom ‘tapos sabi [ng VIVA], ‘Direk, ipapasok natin ito, sobrang ganda nito.’

“And then yun, pumasok na si Anne. Siya na ang ni-love team kay Chubi.”

Anne Curtis as a teen actress

Direk Dom witnessed how she bloomed from being a young actress who was still having a hard time speaking in Filipino until she became the A-list star that she is today.

But even when she was younger, Direk Dom had already seen Anne’s capacity to act, especially since she was given a challenging role for her age.

Direk Dom explains, “Ang gusto ko kay Anne noon and always has been, si Anne hirap pa siya mag-Tagalog noon ng walang twang.

“Maganda yung role niya doon, si Em. Anak siya ng janitor sa school ‘tapos she was there on a scholarship pero dahil yung looks niya, dahil yung nanay niya was a foreigner halos, hindi pag-iisipan ng mga kaklse na scholar.

“That’s why I love how sila Kit wrote ung T.G.I.S, these are very real characters. Si Em, she was pretty but she wasn’t perfect, mahal na mahal niya yung tatay niya pero hindi niya maamin sa mga kaibigan niya na he worked as a janitor.”

Language wasn’t even a barrier for Anne to deliver her role sincerely.

“Gusto ko kay Anne noon, kahit ganun magsalita, kapag kinuhanan mo ng reaction shot, she was right there in the scene. There was so much truth, there was so much sincerity in her acting.

“Kaya si Anne, hindi lang yan sumikat dahil maganda, given na yun, e. Pero sa totoo lang kasi marami sa industriya ang maganda pero yung magaling tapos yung kapani-paniwala, she had that. Yun yung meron si Anne.”

Direk Dominic Zapata is the first director to be featured in The Rewined Channel‘s current season called the Directors’ Cut season.

In its first episode, Direk Dom shares more stories behind the making of T.G.I.S. and some trivia behind the scenes. Listen to the full episode here: