Co-starring Cole Sprouse. Directed by Zelda Williams. And written by Juno and Jennifer’s Body writer Diablo Cody. Liza Soberano really ticked all the right boxes for her Hollywood debut.
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If you told us at the beginning of 2022 that Liza Soberano was going to appear in a movie that was written by the writer of Jennifer’s Body, we would have said you’ve been spending too much time on Film Twitter. But truly, you should never say never. When Liza Soberano first revealed a few months ago that she was looking to build a career in Hollywood, history wasn’t exactly on her side. She isn’t the first Filipino star to try to make it big in Hollywood and most often never reached that elusive A-list status.
But with new management on her side, Liza was hoping to make it big, her adventures in Korea and LA showing that she was rubbing shoulders with major players in the industry. And not long after she made her intentions known, Liza Soberano is actually set to debut in a Hollywood film in arguably one of the coolest debut projects Liza could take.
HOLLYWOOD STAR LIZA SOBERANO
After sending social media on a spin for a good part of a week, Liza finally confirmed via Deadline that she was joining the cast of Lisa Frankenstein, a zombie themed rom-com from Focus Features. The film, which is directed by Zelda Williams and written by Oscar winner Diablo Cody, stars Cole Sprouse And Kathryn Newton. Set in 1989, the story centers on an unpopular high schooler named Lisa (Newton) who accidentally re-animates a handsome Victorian corpse (Sprouse) during a lightning storm. Sensing an opportunity, she decides to rebuild him into the man of her dreams using the broken tanning bed in her garage. Liza is set to play the role of Taffy, Lisa’s step sister.
According to Liza, it was Zelda Williams herself who asked her to audition for the role. She sent in an audition tape while she was in South Korea and then her manager got word that Liza got the role. While Liza being casted in any Hollywood film would have been great, she, and her management really shot as high as they could for her Hollywood feature film debut. For starters, Focus Features isn’t an unknown indie studio, but a strong player in the film industry producing movies like Last Night In Soho and The Northman. Cole Sprouse, as you all know, was the titular Cody in The Suite Life of Zack & Cody. He also plays Jughead Jones on Riverdale, you know, that grounded TV show about normal teenagers.
Kathryn Newton is best known for her breakout role in HBO’s Big Little Lies. But MCU fans will get to see a whole lot more of her as she’s playing Cassie Lang in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Her other roles include Millie in the 2020 horror hit Freaky and Lucy Stevens in Pokémon: Detective Pikachu. Joining Liza in the cast is Carla Guigino (Geralds’s Game, The Haunting of Hill House), Joe Chrest (Ted Wheeler in Stranger Things) who Deadline reports is playing Newton’s father, and Henry Eikenberry (Euphoria). No word yet on what role Taffy will be playing in this quirky film that Williams has described as a “zomb-com,” but if we were to take a guess, she maybe playing one of Newton’s classmates or friends in high school.
TALENT IN FRONT AND BEHIND THE CAMERA
Even the people working on the film are notable names in the industry. Most know Zelda Williams as the daughter of late actor and comedian Robin Williams. But as of late, she’s been making a name for herself with Lisa Frankenstein serving as her feature film directorial debut. “I received this wonderful, crazy, incredible script almost 2 years ago too. And yet somehow, this shift from acting to directing still feels fresh, and somehow fragile. And so goddamn exciting! I hope that never changes,” she shared on her Instagram announcing the project.
As for Diablo Cody, she’s the writer behind the seminal classic Juno and Jennifer’s Body, the former of which she won an Oscar for. Given Cody’s previous work, we’re hoping that this movie will be witty, sharp, and even a bit scary as it tackles feminist themes given its subject matter through the lens of realistic teenagers.
Principal photography began this August in New Orleans, Louisiana with a release date of sometime next year. Let’s hope that this one is good because it looks promising.
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