The Cinemalaya alum headlines a Filipina-directed indie romantic comedy, with yao, Jamie Chung and Lou Diamond Phillips in the cast.
Jasmine Curtis-Smith has been cast as the lead of We Could Be in Love, an independent romantic comedy that Filipina director Marie Jamora plans to shoot in New York and the Philippines. The Hollywood Reporter broke the casting in an exclusive that Manila outlets picked up on October 6.
Curtis-Smith plays Jasmine Aquino, a working-class Filipina-American woman who falls for Ambrose Lee, heir to a wealthy Chinese-Filipino family dynasty. Lee is played by yao, the Malaysian actor of Chinese and Filipino descent who made his Hollywood debut as Bo Chow in Ryan Coogler’s 2025 film Sinners. Terence Chen wrote the screenplay.
A Chinese-Filipino Dynasty, From New York to Manila
The rich heir and the working-class woman are old rom-com material. In this version, the heir’s family is a Chinese-Filipino business dynasty, and the romance moves between New York and Manila.
Jamora has said she wants to make an Asian-led romantic comedy outside the traditional American studio system, with the cultural details kept in. She told The Hollywood Reporter she grew up in Manila “watching all the Hollywood rom-coms with my mom.”
Several of the supporting players have Asian roots as well. Lou Diamond Phillips, the Filipino-American actor born at Subic Bay Naval Base and best known for La Bamba and Longmire, joins Jamie Chung (Lovecraft Country, and the voice of GoGo in Big Hero 6). Tamlyn Tomita, the Japanese-American actress of The Joy Luck Club, is also cast, along with Jujubee, the drag performer Airline Inthyrath, who rose to fame on RuPaul’s Drag Race.
From Manila Music Videos to the Directors Guild
Jamora was born and raised in Manila and began her career directing music videos for Philippine rock bands. After a master’s degree in film at Columbia University, she came home and directed the first season of Project Runway Philippines.
Her first feature, Ang Nawawala (What Isn’t There), competed in the New Breed section of Cinemalaya, the country’s main independent film festival, in 2012. It was the first Filipino feature to screen at the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, and it has a cult following at home as a coming-of-age film.
She moved to the United States in 2013 and founded Cinema Sala, a screening and workshop series for Filipino artists in film and the performing arts. In 2021 she joined the Directors Guild of America, the union for American film and television directors. She has since directed episodes of Fox’s The Cleaning Lady, OWN’s Queen Sugar and CBS’s Good Sam, and she teaches directing at the American Film Institute.
Another Filipina star is attached to her next project. Liza Soberano, who voices Raissa in DreamWorks’ Forgotten Island, is executive producer of Imprint, a supernatural thriller Jamora is directing about a Filipino-American woman who uses psychic abilities to hunt a serial killer.
Curtis-Smith’s Second Try at an International Lead
Curtis-Smith came up through Cinemalaya a year after Jamora. Her first film, Hannah Espia’s Transit (2013), followed Filipino workers in Israel, and her role as Yael required her to learn Hebrew shortly before filming. It won her Best Supporting Actress in the festival’s New Breed section. Her next local release is the Metro Manila Film Festival entry A Perfect Marriage, which opens December 25.
In 2018, Canadian actor Osric Chau, best known for the CW series Supernatural, announced her as the co-lead of his Manila-set independent film Empty by Design. A change in her schedule put the casting in doubt, and Rhian Ramos played the role when the film was made. Eight years later, Curtis-Smith has the lead in an American production.
What We Don’t Know Yet
The film is listed as in development. No shoot dates, production company, distributor or release window have been announced.
We Could Be in Love: Quick Facts
- Director: Marie Jamora
- Screenplay: Terence Chen
- Cast: Jasmine Curtis-Smith, yao, Jamie Chung, Lou Diamond Phillips, Tamlyn Tomita, Jujubee
- Setting: New York and the Philippines
- Status: In development; release date not yet announced