Liza Soberano's Taffy is Oscar winner Diablo Cody's favorite 'Lisa Frankenstein' character
MANILA, Philippines — Good news for Liza Soberano fans and avid Filipino moviegoers: Liza Soberano’s much anticipated first Hollywood outing, ‘Lisa Frankenstein,” is now open in Philippine theaters, just in time for Valentine’s Day!
Liza plays Taffy, a kind-hearted, somewhat clueless stepsister to lead star Kathryn Newton’s Lisa Swallows in the teen horror-comedy and coming-of-age romance written by Oscar-winning screenwriter Diablo Cody.
Cody catapulted onto the Hollywood stage in 2007 with “Juno,” for which she won the Academy Award, BAFTA, and Critics’ Choice Award for best original screenplay.
“In everything I write, someone is going through a dramatic change, whether it’s becoming possessed by a demon or dealing with a new stage of life,” continued Cody, who is also known for penning acclaimed film “Young Adult,” starring Charlize Theron, and the Megan Fox-led cult-classic “Jennifer’s Body.”
She added: “The question I’m always asking is: Are we the same person after a profound change? How many parts can we swap or replace before we’re a totally new entity? This movie is a pretty literal interpretation of that!”
“Lisa Frankenstein,” a sardonic spin on Mary Shelley’s 1818 classic “Frankenstein,” tells the story of Lisa Swallows (Kathryn Newton), an awkward 17-year-old who is trying to adjust to a new school and a new life after her mother’s death and her father’s hasty remarriage.
Despite the unwavering support offered by her plucky cheerleader stepsister Taffy (Liza Soberano), Lisa only finds solace in the abandoned cemetery near her house, where she tends to the grave of a young man who died in 1837 and whose corpse she unwittingly reanimates (Cole Sprouse). Feeling obligated to help the poor soul regain his humanity, Lisa embarks on a quest to breathe new life into her long-dead new companion. All she needs to succeed are some freshly harvested body parts and Taffy’s broken tanning bed as “electric charger.”
“The idea of using a tanning bed as the power source [to bring the dead back to life] was hilarious to me,” Cody said.
Inspired by another off-beat spin on the “Frankenstein” mythology, the 1985 John Hughes film “Weird Science,” Cody set her own take on the story in the 1980s. “In that film, two teenage boys literally design their dream woman, animate her with electricity and watch in awe as she improves their lives. I always thought it would be fun to see a female-centered take on that story,” she said.
Playing the all-important role of Lisa Swallows is Kathryn Newton (“Pokémon: Detective Pikachu,” “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania”), who shares that one of the biggest influences for her portrayal was Gene Wilder’s performance in “Young Frankenstein” (1974). “Gene Wilder was an incredible actor who was able to master that in-between of playing a character that’s so over-the-top, but still grounded and pulling the audience in,” Newton said.
For Cole Sprouse (“Riverdale”), playing The Creature reanimated by Lisa was the role of a lifetime, even though it meant having to act beneath layers of prosthetic makeup that had to be applied for hours each day and portraying the character primarily through moans, grunts and gestures.
“His inability to speak was what really excited me, just technically, and I knew it would be a heavy physical role. For me, it was an attempt to reach some more universal physical language about how we perceive emotions through gesture, through movement, which was fun,” Sprouse said.
The Creature ignites the spark of life and love in Lisa, who now feels seen and heard. But Lisa has to keep it all hidden away and secret from her family, including kind, if somewhat clueless, stepsister Taffy.
“Taffy is my favorite character,” shared Cody. “She’s a beacon of positivity, and even when she’s unwittingly condescending or tone deaf, her intentions are always kind. She’s more protective of Lisa than anyone else in the film, other than The Creature. Lisa resents Taffy because she’s effortlessly beautiful and popular, but Lisa eventually comes to realize that her ire is misdirected. I felt that having Taffy be a standard ‘mean popular girl’ would be uninteresting. Most of the queen bees I’ve known were more complex than that.”
“I had an instant connection with her,” said Filipina actress Liza Soberano (“My Ex and Whys,” “Alone/Together,” “Trese”) of Taffy, her first Hollywood film role. “She’s such a fun character to play.”
“Lisa Frankenstein” is directed by Zelda Williams (daughter of the late Robin Williams and herself part-Filipina) and is distributed by Universal Pictures International.
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