Ten years after KC Concepcion starred in the 2023 Metro Manila Film Festival entry Boy Golden: Shoot to Kill, she returns to the big screen with the Hollywood indie, Asian Persuasion, which opened in Philippine cinemas last Wednesday, 29 November.
“It’s an American movie but at the same time, may pusong Pilipino po ito (it has a Filipino heart),” the 38-year-old actor said in the media conference that took place just before the gala screening started on 27 November.
She was joined in both events that day by the movie’s director Jhett Tolentino, screenwriter Mike Ang and co-executive producer Jona Jane Tajonera, as well as her fellow cast members Dante Basco, Paolo Montalban, Kevin Kreider, Fe delos Reyes and Geneva Carr.
“I’m really excited to have everybody here in the Philippines kasi (because) the last time we all came together was in New York, when we went to the Soho Film Festival. So it was really the first time we showed the film and got together after shooting last year,” said Concepcion.
Asian Persuasion, a romantic comedy with dramatic touches, won the Audience Choice Award at that film fest held last September.
“Sobrang heartwarming na maraming nag-aabang at excited dito sa pelikula,” she added. There’s something fresh in the story, about divorce in a funny way, na wala pang divorce dito sa Pilipinas. Iba rin ang naging experience namin. (It’s very heartwarming that a lot of people are looking forward and excited to see the movie. There’s no divorce yet in the Philippines. We had also had a different experience making the movie.)”
Concepcion and Basco play divorced couple Avery Chua and Mickey delos Santos who
co-parent their only child Sam. While Avery is doing great at her job in the fashion industry, Mickey hardly gets by running his own hole in the wall. Mickey then hatches a plan to avoid paying alimony to his
ex-wife and executes it with the help of his best friend Caspian Jang (Kevin Kreider). They try to match Avery with a potential new husband, thus finding the perfect candidate in financially well-off but socially inept Lee-Kwan Lee (Paolo Montalban). But will the pairing work?
Power of the Asian
Concepcion recalled her involvement in the project began when she started living in Los Angeles, California in 2021. One day, she decided to check her Instagram account for direct message requests, and read one from Tolentino, whom she hadn’t met yet. So she messaged her mom Sharon Cuneta for advice, and the Megastar told her to reply to Tolentino — a Tony and Grammy-winning producer of Filipino descent.
Fast-forward to Concepcion accepting the offer to star in Tolentino’s directorial debut and meeting the rest of the cast prior to filming in New York.
Filming was “so much fun,” recalled Concepcion, plus they were “treated so well on the set” following the guidelines of the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. “It’s a union movie, iba rin ang (different) learnings,” she pointed out, adding that she also learned from working with Filipino-American veteran actors Basco (Hook, Avatar: The Last Airbender) and Montalban (Cinderella, Mortal Kombat: Conquest).
Concepcion stressed the importance of putting out a production created and executed by Asians: “Jhett has, throughout the film — from preprod to the making of the film to the post-prod until today — really highlighted the power of the Asian. They could be Filipino-American and Filipinos like us, immigrants, non-immigrants. A lot of stories are not told by Asians. This is our humble offering to be the voice for Asians and the stories that we have.”