For those who’ve seen clips from “Saving Grace: The Untold Story,” you might be wondering how the cast pulled off those emotionally heavy scenes.

With tears falling like a full-on cry fest, the intensity is just off the charts. Well, Julia Montes is here to break it all down and give us the behind-the-scenes scoop on how these powerful moments came to life.

We start with that intense family quarrel between Anna (Julia), and her mother Helena (Janice de Belen) and sister Princess (Mary Joy Apostol), who were convinced that Grace (Zia Grace) was actually Anna’s daughter, when in fact the child was only her student. It wasn’t the usual shouting match but a restrained, simmering tension that made everything feel even more intense. The exchange was seamless, and the characters’ chemistry was so on point that you wouldn’t have guessed this was their first time filming as a ‘family.’ Julia is excited to see how it will look on free TV, as the final cut might be different.

In the scene where Anna scolds Grace for disobeying her order not to leave their hiding place, as doing so could compromise their safety and their chances of fleeing the country, away from both the cops hunting them and Grace’s abusive home, Julia shared that she initially held back her anger. However, their director encouraged her to push further, which Zia matched with raw, emotional intensity. This deeply affected Julia. “Tinamaan ako d’yan. Nagbe-breakdown ako after,” she recalled, adding that Zia wasn’t feeling well that day, yet her performance was superb that it left everyone in awe.

The megawatt star power of that confrontation scene between Julia and Sharon Cuneta, who plays the influential TV host, Miranda, could set the entire screen on fire. “Hindi kayo puwedeng humiling sa oras na gusto n’yong maging ina. At hindi kayo pwedeng lumapit sa akin kung kailan kayo handang humingi ng tawad,” says part of Anna’s blistering dialogue to Miranda.

Although they had previously worked together in “FPJ’s Ang Probinsyano,” Julia felt it was just a brief interaction. That’s why she’s beyond elated and deeply honored to  finally share longer scenes with Sharon in their new series.“Sobrang blessed ko bilang tao at artista na nakatrabaho ko siya,” shared Julia, adding it’s even more challenging to control her emotions than let it all out in her scenes with Sharon because the Megastar is such a generous co-actress, “Rehearsal pa lang, umiiyak na kami.”

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For this particular confrontation, Julia was so nervous that she asked for an extra five minutes to memorize her lines, knowing how sharp Sharon’s memory is. She feared she might fumble and break the intensity of the moment. But Sharon was exceptional; she smoothly picked up and kept the flow seamless even when Julia got her lines a little jumbled.

Meanwhile, Julia teared up while re-watching her parting scene with Zia, where Anna had to break the child’s heart by telling her she didn’t love her—just to make their separation easier, as Anna was about to be imprisoned for ‘kidnapping’ the little girl she only wanted to save.

“Ito ‘yung show na na-experience ko na ang hirap i-explain kung ano ‘yung experience, kasi lahat talaga kami nag-dive doon sa emotions,” she expressed after watching the scene. And sometimes, she thinks a good cry isn’t so bad. “Na-enjoy namin ‘yung pagpe-play ng mga roles namin kasi bukod sa challenging, may good cry, eh.”

the end of the day, their goal as actors is to give justice to the story—and this isn’t just any ordinary story, but one that will pierce through viewers’ souls and make them reflect on their moral compass. Julia hope that people like Grace find inspiration through the series, and that they, too, meet a Teacher Anna willing to fight for them.

Catch Julia in “Saving Grace: The Untold Story” starting March 3 on Kapamilya Channel, Kapamilya Online Live, TV5, and A2Z.