Xyriel Manabat and Kyle Echarri’s real-life friendship sparks Netflix romance in ‘18th Rose’

The coming-of-age film premieres April 9 on Netflix Philippines, capturing playful, messy, and unforgettable young love.

For a story about first love, it helps when the leads already know each other well.

That was the case for Xyriel Manabat and Kyle Echarri, whose decade-long friendship gave their pairing in “18th Rose” an ease that, according to Manabat, translated naturally on screen.

“Transitioning the friendship that I built with Kyle to something meaningful or something deeper for the sake of the show, it was smooth and it felt effortless also because me and Kyle knew each other for a very long time. We’ve been friends since, like, 2016, 2015,” Manabat told reporters during the recent media gathering dubbed as “Next on Netflix.”

That familiarity meant the early days on set felt less like work and more like two longtime friends catching up,  even during preparations meant to spark on-screen chemistry. “The first few days, we were just joking around,” she recalled. “We even attended a chemistry workshop but ended up laughing the whole day.”

From childhood friends to chemistry workshops

But the laughter gradually gave way to something more layered as filming progressed. Manabat said their connection deepened naturally as they worked through the scenes together. “I think the whole chemistry was with the role of the whole process. Each and every sequence that we closed, we built a deeper connection with each other.”

It helped that the dynamic between their characters, Rose and Jordan, mirrors their own easy camaraderie.  “And it’s a good thing that the storyline and the narrative of the story plays a big part with the chemistry between Rose and Jordan,” Manabat added. “Our friendship and Jordan and Rose’s story have similarities–very young, playful, and rough.”

Director Dolly Dulu saw that familiarity from the very beginning. For her, the real-life friendship between Manabat and Echarri was both an advantage and a creative challenge while shaping their characters in “18th Rose.”

“The friendship was there because they were friends in real life,” Dulu said. “So the challenge for us was really to–because they’re an unlikely pair–people wouldn’t really think to pair Xyriel and Kyle together.”

But that unexpected pairing, she believes, ultimately worked in the film’s favor. “I guess that worked for us because there were no expectations for what they were,” she explained. “So they were really just into the characters. And it just kind of developed in that way.”

Bridging the gap from buddies to lovers

Rather than forcing a formula for their on-screen relationship, the team allowed the connection to grow organically through collaboration. 

“We were collaborating in the sense that we knew where we wanted to take the characters, and they were pretty much open to it,” Dulu said. “Because they’re friends already, it was easier for them to feel comfortable with each other.”

Still, moving from friendship to romance required some guidance. The production organized intimacy coordination and workshops to help the pair transition their dynamic from buddies to believable lovers.

“We had to level it up from friends to actually becoming lovers,” the director explained. “So that was the challenge—how to make that jump.”

The magic of a Romblon lock-in shoot

In the end, the location itself helped bridge that gap. The film was shot on location in Romblon, where the cast and crew spent a month together in a lock-in shoot.

Over time, Dulu noticed subtle changes even beyond the scripted scenes. “You could tell their friendship was growing in the sense of how their body language was into it,” she observed. “They were so into their characters that even off-screen, you could tell that there was something building there.”

“And we just used it,” she added, smiling. “We just caught it on camera.”

A coming-of-age romantic drama, “18th Rose” follows the tender and sometimes messy emotions of young love. The film, part of Netflix Philippines’ 2026 slate of original titles, premieres on Netflix on April 9, 2026.

 

 

We were collaborating in the sense that we knew where we wanted to take the characters, and they were pretty much open to it. Because they’re friends already, it was easier for them to feel comfortable with each other.

Dolly Dulu

 

 

READ: