After her ‘surreal’ Cannes experience, Fil-Jap actress Stefanie Arianne to pursue H’wood dream

Stefanie Arianne

That has always been the goal,” declared Filipino-Japanese actress Stefanie Arianne when Inquirer Entertainment asked whether she has plans of making it to Hollywood.

“I’ve dreamed of making it there ever since I was young, after telling myself that I wanted to appear in TV commercials,” said the Japan-based actress during a recent virtual chat. We then told her that her Hollywood dream may not be too far to achieve, especially since her film, the dystopian drama “Plan 75” by Chie Hayakawa, won the Special Mention award, under the Caméra d’Or competition category, of the prestigious 2022 Cannes Film Festival in France.

“I told myself that when I went to Japan, I will take acting seriously. I joined an agency that enabled me to be both—a model and an actress. Of course, what I really want is to set up a career in Hollywood, for people there to see the kind of talent Filipinos have,” she declared. “I’m not just representing Filipinos, but also the ‘halves,’ since I’m half-Filipino and half-Japanese. This is something I’ve learned to embrace eventually.”

Four months after her “surreal” Cannes experience, we asked Stefanie if she has already gotten over it, especially since she was already preparing for a new film project to be shot two days after our interview.

To this, she replied: “I don’t think I’ve ever moved on from it. It’s also such an amazing experience and it really took some time for it to actually sink in. I saw a lot of actors from around the globe. It felt awesome for me to be there to represent both Japan and the Philippines. It’s such a dream come true. Grabe, ang saya-saya lang! I want to relive it again and again. It happened so fast, like a blink of an eye, and I was like, ‘What’s happening? We’re done?’”

What Stefanie said she appreciated the most about attending the festival was, “just being surrounded by a lot of creatives and a lot of talented people. It’s so surreal! I appreciated how everyone made an effort to be there to see our film, and how all the audiences liked it. It was so touching.”

She continued: “One of my most memorable moments there was when they gave us a standing ovation. I was told it lasted for five minutes, but it felt like it happened so fast, especially because the organizers were very strict with their schedules. Another set of people had to come in for another movie, so I remember all of us getting kicked out of the venue while we were still hugging and applauding.”

Scene from the award-winning film

New project

Stefanie, who just came from a trip to the salon prior to our interview to have her hair color changed as preparation for her new project, said she felt sad because she was not allowed to share any detail about it just yet. “All I can say is that I’ll be working with other Filipinos as well,” she beamed.

Stefanie said that while she is a Japanese citizen, there is so much Filipino blood flowing through her veins. She explained: “My dad is Japanese and my mom is Filipino. Her family also has Spanish blood in them, and their surname is very Filipino—Miranda. I moved to Japan when I was 18, but when I was in the Philippines I lived in multiple places: Quezon City, Cainta in Rizal, San Pedro in Laguna, and then Parañaque City. I usually stayed with my relatives there.

“It was kind of cute how my parents met. My mom used to work as a singer and my dad is a businessman, who also dabbles in music. According to my dad’s version, he saw my mom while she was playing her guitar at a shop, and since my dad is also a musician, he told her that her guitar was out of tune. My mama got angry with him, and the rest is history,” she said, laughing.

Stefanie’s mom recently moved back to the Philippines, while her dad opted to stay in Japan. “They don’t do music anymore,” she declared.

Stefanie also shared how she got involved with the production of “Plan 75,” which began filming just when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in 2020. “The Japanese borders closed down and so they were unable to get a Filipino actress in. That’s how they found me here in Japan, 11 days before the shoot started” she recalled.

Arianne in “Plan 75”

Filipino accent

“I can understand Tagalog, but it was hard for me to explain myself in the language. What I did was watch a lot of videos of Angel Locsin and Angelica Panganiban—I really like their accent and I was a huge fan of them back when I was still living in the Philippines. Also, I needed to have a Filipino accent in my Japanese. It was good that, during shooting, I had my accent coach beside me all the time. He’s amazing! One of our producers, Sir Alemberg (Ang), who watched the shoot through Zoom, said my acting was great but when it was time for me to say English words with a Filipino accent he could see that I was super stressed. He told me to just relax. When I finally got to watch the film in full, all I could say was ‘Oh my God!’”

“Plan 75” discusses a government program that encourages senior citizens to be euthanized to remedy an aged society. An elderly woman whose means of survival is vanishing, a pragmatic Plan 75 salesman, and a Filipino laborer face choices of life and death.

The film is co-owned by Loaded Films, Urban Factory and Fusee. It was screened nationwide in Thailand in August and has been showing in France since Sept. 11, according to Fusee founder and president Will Fredo.

“Plan 75” also had its North American premiere at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival, which will conclude on Sept. 18. It will then head to Finland to participate in the 2022 Helsinki International Film Festival, which will run from Sept. 15 to Sept. 25, and then to South Korea to participate at the 2022 Busan International Film Festival from Oct. 5 to Oct. 14, announced Will.