Stand and Deliver and La Bamba star Lou Diamond Phillips and Broadway actress Eva Nolezada are set to star in the upcoming family comedy Easter Sunday.
The film is based on the stand-up comedy and life experiences of Filipino comedy star Jo Koy and is set around a family gathering to celebrate Easter Sunday. The film is directed by Jay Chandrasekhar (Super Troopers) for Steven Spilberg’s Amblin Partners. The screenplay is by Ken Cheng (Sin City Saints).
Both Phillips and Nobelzada are of Filipino descent; she is also of Mexican ancestry–her mother is Mexican-American.
Phillips plays a fictionalized version of himself in the film. The versatile actor has been a trailblazer in the Asian, Latinx, and Indigenous communities for decades. He received a Golden Globe nominee for his performance in Stand and Deliver, a school drama about math teacher Jaime Escalante and his students at an East L.A. high school. His credits include Courage Under Fire, Young Guns and, of course, La Bamba, where he portrayed rock and roll legend Ritchie Valens. He currently stars in the FOX series Prodigal Son, and recently became a published author with the release of his science-fiction fantasy novel The Tinderbox: Soldier of Indira.
Nobelzada is a theatre actress and singer who recently made her feature film debut as the lead in last year’s Yellow Rose. The musical drama is about an undocumented Filipina girl whose dreams of becoming a singer are interrupted after her mother’s arrest by immigration agents. She is an accomplished stage actor. Nobelzada’s Broadway debut as the lead in the revival of the musical Miss Saigon earned her a nomination for a Tony Award in 2017. She received a second Tony nod for leading another Broadway musical, Hadestown, which won her a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album.
Also starring Easter Sunday are Tia Carrere, Brandon Wardell, Eugene Cordero, Asif Ali, Lydia Gaston, Rodney To, Melody Butiu, Joey Guila and Elena Juatco.
According to director Koy, the shooting of Easter Sunday is a lifetime dream of his that required decades of hard work. “It’s especially meaningful that we’ve been able to assemble such an incredible group of diverse and talented filmmakers and comedians to bring this slice of Filipino culture to the world,” he says.
The film was expected to be shot in Vancouver.
Featured Photos: Lou Diamond Phillips in ‘Longmire’ (Credit: Netflix/). Eva Nobelzada (Credit: YouTube/The Tony Awards/Wikipedia)