During the 2015 Metro Manila Film Festival Awards Night, the former adult video star was described by show host Richard Gutierrez as a “Sizzling Dancer.” It all happened at the Kia Theatre on December 27, 2015.
Ozawa’s entry in Philippine showbiz made headlines when she played starring role in the movie “Nilalang” with co-star Cesar Montano. Her statement that she’s open to having a Filipino boyfriend while staying in the Philippines tickled the fancy and imaginations of local movie fans.
It will be remembered that Maria and Robin Padilla exchanged messages on social media after the actor withdrew from “Nilalang” when his wife Mariel Rodriguez suffered a miscarriage. The Japanese actress called Robin “unprofessional” in an Instagram post. In an interview with ABS-CBN, she later apologized to the actor and his wife for her comments.
Ozawa in turn said she has accepted Padilla’s apology for pulling out of the movie. The 29-year-old actress added she’s willing to work with Robin in the future, if given the chance.
“Of course, of course. There’s nothing weird [about working with Robin]. I would love to,” he told Philstar.com and other members of the press.
Open to doing more movies in the Philippines
“Nilalang” is Maria Ozawa’s first movie in the Philippines and her third in Asia. “I had fun [working on the film],” she said. She is “definitely” open to doing more movies in the Philippines after the MMFF, noting that she heard the Philippines has done a lot of “mistress-type movies” in the recent years and would like to do one herself.
Asked what she learned after working on the movie, Ozawa said she found out how different Filipinos are from the Japanese, especially when it comes to work and family.
She admitted finding it difficult to adjust how “family comes first” in the Philippines. However, she said she appreciates how differently Filipinos deal with family issues compared to the Japanese.
“In Japan, everything comes before family. Work is so important in Japan. You just can’t skip anything for work. Here, it’s family comes first. So it’s hard for me to handle that because it’s so different from how [I was raised],” she said.