Liza Soberano is finally living her Hollywood dream with ‘Lisa Frankenstein’

MANILA, Philippines — It took more than a year of waiting but finally, Liza Soberano’s Hollywood debut is happening.

In the quirky horror-romance set in 1989, “Lisa Frankenstein,” directed by Zelda Williams and written by the Oscar-winning Diablo Cody, the Filipina actress plays Taffy, the very social and popular but clueless stepsister of the titular character Lisa Swallows (Kathryn Newton).

With Taffy’s help, Lisa tries to fit into her new family, school and life after the traumatic death of her mom and quick remarriage of her dad Dale (Joe Chrest) to Taffy’s mother Janet (Carla Gugino).

Feeling out of place even among the outsiders at school, Lisa seeks solace at a neighborhood cemetery where she accidentally “resurrects” a corpse called The Creature (Cole Sprouse), which is in fact a 19th-century gentleman who wants to serve as her protector despite the condition — missing body parts and all — he’s in.

A Universal Pictures International release, “Lisa Frankenstein” rolls into cinemas nationwide tomorrow, Feb. 7.

No one could be more excited than Liza herself and the fans who have supported her decision to uproot herself from the local showbiz scene to pursue her big Hollywood dreams.

In a way, Liza who turned 26 last Jan. 4 manifested the project. “When I actually signed on to my new management (Careless), they had asked me what it is that I’m looking for and I told them, like verbatim, I want to play a high school student because I want to be able to prolong the longevity of my career. I want to go back to playing teenagers because I feel like I could still pass as a teenager even though I’m 26.

“And I said, I want to do a horror thriller that’s gory and has blood and everything. But I wanted to have a bit of a romantic-comedy aspect to it so that people aren’t too thrown off. And I had said this a year before I started filming for ‘Lisa Frankenstein.’”
When Liza got hold of the script, her first reaction was: “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is exactly what I was looking for. I didn’t think I would find a project that had all of those elements in one. I knew that I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.”

She further recalled, “Even if I was in Korea at the time, filming for other stuff and I was working every day, when they sent me the audition invite, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, cancel everything today. I need to audition for this.’”

Despite having acted since the age of 13 and reaching the status where she no longer had to audition for roles in the country, she started from scratch for “Lisa Frankenstein,” relearning how to do auditions, let alone do self-tapes. She landed the role two days after her submission.

Liza disclosed that she was nervous coming into the movie set because she initially felt she wasn’t good enough to be cast as Taffy.

“I felt undeserving in a way, but with anything that I do, I always try my hardest,” she shared.

For one, as soon as she found out she got the part, which was just a week before the shoot started, she said that every day, she would read the script at least four times. “I really wanted to be able to digest it and pick up on all the little nuances I probably didn’t pick up in my first pass, second pass.”

She consumed a lot of ‘80s movies, including the ones the director recommended and referenced when creating the film. These included the classics like “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” “Back To The Future,” and “Beetlejuice,” along with the sitcom “New Girl” and various comedy titles.

“I wanted to understand what is funny to Americans,” the actress said.

Liza can confidently say that she gave “Lisa Frankenstein” her all. Zelda, daughter of the late Robin Williams and herself part-Filipina, has previously mentioned in interviews that Taffy is her favorite character in the movie.

“I really tried not to hold back, which was my tendency before,” said Liza. “In the past, I would always try to control and give people what I thought they wanted instead of just allowing myself to be creative.”

Below are Liza’s answers to The STAR’s questions during the roundtable interview with select press.

We’ve seen the film and we can say this is a major Hollywood debut for you. How does it feel that it’s now going to be shown in cinemas, after one year of waiting?

“It’s actually been, yeah, a little over a year because we filmed this in August to September 2022 and we were anticipating for it to be released in October of last year. But because of the actors’ strike (in the US), we had to hold off from promoting or even talking about the film in any way. Finally, it’s come to this.

“I’m really excited because we already kind of started talking about it when we were filming because it got leaked and then the momentum kind of went away. I think people weren’t sure what was going on, if it was going to come out or not. So, I’m just excited that it’s finally out.

“It’s a project that I really love so much and I had so much fun doing. I hope that people will see exactly that, just like how much fun and how much I enjoyed.”

I think your Filipino fans and audiences would be very happy and proud when they see you here. But personally, what are you most proud of after doing “Lisa Frankenstein” and what kind of Liza (the actress) people will see in the film?

“I think more than anything, what I’m the most proud of in this whole journey of mine is the fact that no matter how scary or how complicated it was for me… like, to be honest, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to even get a project as soon as I did, I wasn’t sure if it was the right move.

“I had all these questions and hesitations in my mind. And oftentimes, I just wanted to pull back and kind of do what I was always doing because that’s where my comfort was.

“But I knew that I wanted to challenge myself and I knew that I wanted to try something new.

“And so, yeah, despite my fears, despite my hesitations, I really just pushed through with what I thought would be good for myself. And you know, it’s something I’ve always dreamed of. And here I am now, living my dreams, I would say.

“And I hope I can inspire my fans or anyone who can relate to my story to just continue dreaming and to dream big because there’s no harm in dreaming big.”

As “Lisa Frankenstein” gets shown in theaters, what do you hope to get out of it? Will you sign up with the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) in Hollywood?

“I’m actually signed to the Screen Actors Guild already because it’s a requirement in the States to be part of the union to be able to get a project. But because there was such a short time between when I got casted and when I started filming, we had to rush that whole process. So like, I never did an official signing or anything. But I’m part of the Guild already. And that’s the whole reason why I couldn’t really talk about my projects this past year. When the actors’ strike happened, everybody that was part of that Guild could not talk about any projects.

“But aside from that, I’m hoping that this movie, at least in Hollywood, does well. And I hope that I gained some recognition to, like, the American audience since I am trying to build a career out there. And hopefully, within the industry, people see potential in me and hopefully, I get more audition offers.”

How was the transition to Hollywood? How difficult was it?

“Yes, it was very difficult just because there were a lot of people kind of saying that it’s so hard to do. People have tried before, but we’re never able to do it successfully. So, I had a lot of these negative connotations and hesitation in my head because there was just a lot of doubt.

“But it was something that I always wanted to do, and it was something that I knew would challenge me. And as weird as this may sound, I’m kind of like… I love being scared. I love feeling scared about things for some reason.

“I love the challenge. I love not knowing what’s to come and I love pushing my limits. I love seeing how far I can go. And so, despite that I got some backlash from it — I’m also passing up on a lot of opportunities that are being given to me here in the Philippines — I made sure to just stick to the plan and to see things through because that’s just how I am.”