An Asian-American production, ASIAN PERSUASION tells the story of a lovable underachiever who hatches an outrageous scheme to avoid paying alimony to his fashion-executive ex-wife. The film artfully combines humor, drama, and romance, offering audiences an earnest and hilarious fresh take on familiar themes, like love and second chances. This makes it a must-watch for rom-com fans.
Alongside Dante Basco (“Hook”) and KC Concepcion, ASIAN PERSUASION features a dynamic ensemble cast including Kevin Kreider (“Bling Empire”), Paolo Montalban (“Cinderella”), Geneva Carr (“It’s Complicated”), Scarlet Sherr (“Hustlers”), Celia Au (“Lodge 49”), and newcomer Jax Bacani.
Tolentino’s Directorial Debut
The movie’s story starts in 2021, when the writer Mike Ang gave the script to Jhett Tolentino. Tolentino had been working in commercial production for 10 years by this time, including 18 Broadway shows and a couple of films. While contemplating on who to choose to direct the project, he had some concerns. “If the position was given to a [straight] male director, it could be misconstrued as misogynistic; and if it was given to a female director, she might be accused of selling out, because there’s a lot of internal conversations between both sexes. [Because] I’m gay, I don’t think people would question my intentions in shedding the light on voices of both sexes.”
Behind the Scenes and Challenges
Tolentino made the intentional choice to keep the film independent, including not receiving grants or involving private equity. This was to keep the project as genuine and API centric as possible and allow him more creative freedom on the direction of the movie.
He also made sure to hire as much Asian women talent as possible. “Mike and I consciously decided to give 10 department heads to Asian female artists,” some who had 10 years of experience in the film industry but were only getting the department head position with this project. He also made it a point to include POCs and the LGBTQ community in his crew. Some of the challenges that Tolentino encountered was having to wear many hats for this project. “While we were still filming, I was still fundraising at the same time. So being the producer and the director and the lead finance chair, that was a challenge.
”His biggest challenge, however, would be COVID. “One of our lead actors got COVID [during the time we were filming] at our most expensive location at the Museum of the Moving Image. We had to yank the actor out, and I had to come up with two new scenes just to save what we paid for the museum. Once the actor recovered, we had to go back and rent the museum again for continuity. [With the pause on production for 12 days], COVID costed us an extra $100,000.
On Hollywood and Asian Representation
Tolentino believes that Hollywood still has some room to grow in terms of understanding Asian representation. “I don’t like caricatures of our culture. That’s one, I really hate that. To me, funny is funny. We don’t have to go crazy about being cartoonish when depicting our culture, because that’s really offensive, to me, at least.” He also feels that the representation is surface level. “In Hollywood, sometimes if it’s not coming from an authentic place (like a particular race is directing our culture), that by itself is a red flag. You’re gonna have to let a director be as authentic as to what the culture is coming from. It can’t just be for selling the movie.” How to address this gap? “Give space to authentic directors and filmmakers to tell about their culture and story.”
New York City – The Ideal Setting
“To me, [the setting] had to be New York City. New York becomes a character in the movie itself.” Notable locations in the film included Chinese Tuxedo, a contemporary restaurant in a former Chinese opera house named after Chinatown’s first fine dining restaurant. Woodside, Queens (a Filipinotown neighborhood) is also a prominent location in the film. “Central Park, Queens, and Brooklyn – these are where all these Asian stories come together…Respectfully, I don’t see this film being shot anywhere else.”
Reception at the Soho International Film Festival
ASIAN PERSUASION won the Audience Award at the Soho International Film Festival in 2023 against competition of about 120 films. “I think we were the only Asian film nominated for Best Feature.” He also added that with the film being a rom-com, it was a tall order for winning an award. ”To be chosen as the audience choice…if you have that clip from the awards, my jaw – I couldn’t find it on the floor. It was such a joy. For a comedy film to win over drama or suspense or thriller, plus being Asian? [Unimaginable.]”
Final Takeaways
While the film doesn’t make this a center of the movie, Tolentino sprinkles in messages of women’s agency. “In most Asian cultures that I know of, the divorce topic is something that we avoid, because it’s ugly – our culture just doesn’t subscribe to it.” He specifically calls out his Filipino culture’s relationship with divorce. “The Philippines is one of the only countries in the world with no divorce law. That’s one of the things that I’m supporting for this film. I wanted to show the Filipinos in the Philippines that [the default isn’t that] women are on the losing end.”
He hopes that ASIAN PERSUASION showcases to the audience that this is a triumph of the collaboration for Asian creatives. “[Collaboration done well] is beautiful because we give opportunities to everyone and we could arrive at the same beautiful outcome.”
About the film
The North American release of the romantic comedy ASIAN PERSUASION, directed by Grammy and Tony Award-winning Jhett Tolentino, written by Mike Ang, and starring Dante Basco (Hook) and KC Concepcion (“Boy Golden: Shoot to Kill”), is set to open theatrically on March 21st. The film will be available in major markets including Los Angeles, Seattle, Houston, Dallas, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Chicago, Toronto, Honolulu, and Washington D.C., followed by a VOD, digital release on May 27th. Check out the trailer below!
Interview conducted and written by Rachel Bui
Edited by Diana Kamel
