How did Liza Soberano fare in her Hollywood debut?

LIZA SOBERANO HAS ACED HER FIRST ACTING

job in Hollywood. The 26-year-old Filipino-American actress stars in the darkly quirky romantic-comedy “Lisa Frankenstein” by Oscar-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody and first-time feature director Zelda Williams.

Screening now in Philippine theaters ahead of the US premiere, this marks a major Hollywood debut for Liza following her much-discussed, if not controversial, transition from the local entertainment industry. Her onscreen presence spans from the second scene to the penultimate one in the film set in the ‘80s.

Liza plays Taffy, the stepsister to the titular character Lisa, played by Kathryn Newton. They’re polar opposites. The former is the “good girl” at home and resident popular girl at school, while Lisa is seen as the problem child in the family, and an outsider even among the outcasts at school.

From the start, it is established that Taffy is the one reaching out to Lisa to help her adjust to her new school, new family and new life.

Lisa, on the other hand, has withdrawn from the outside world due to the very tragic death of her mom and hasty remarriage of her father (Joe Chrest) to Taffy’s mom (Carla Gugino).

She eventually finds someone — a Victorian Era-corpse (Cole Sprouse) whom she accidentally brings back to life from the Bachelor’s Grave cemetery. He gets her, falls in love with her and defends her in a morbidly funny kind of way.

As for Taffy, as the story progresses, you can’t shake off a nagging suspicion that it’s just a front — that there’s more to her than the niceness she’s extending to Lisa. Audiences will somehow be prepared to hate on Liza’s character because she ticks off stereotypes of the Hollywood high school mean girl — the all-American girl, campus crush, cheerleader, leader of the female pack. And something does unravel in the end. She does something that qualifies as mean and hate-worthy to her stepsister, but still, you cannot hate her character. Even Lisa couldn’t hold it against her.

That’s because of Liza’s portrayal. She brings such a likable

Liza Soberano makes her Hollywood debut in the now-showing horror/rom-com ‘Lisa Frankenstein’ from Focus Features and Universal Pictures International. She plays Taffy, stepsister to titular character Lisa, played by Kathryn Newton. They’re polar opposites. The former is the ‘good girl’ at home and resident popular girl at school, while Lisa is seen as the problem child in the family, and outsider even among the outcasts at school.

In the film, Liza is the all-American girl, campus crush, cheerleader and leader of the female pack.

The Filipina actress joins ‘Lisa Frankenstein’ lead stars Cole Sprouse and Kathryn Newton at the film’s Los Angeles premiere. The movie is written by Academy Award-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody and megged by firsttime feature director Zelda Williams.