‘From Scratch’: Reese Witherspoon Helped Zoe Saldaña Get Her Role in the Series
Netflix’s newest limited series, From Scratch, is one of those rare TV shows that brings people across the globe together. The series follows Amahle “Amy” Wheeler (Zoe Saldaña), a Black woman who leaves her life in America behind to begin studying art in Italy. Though her travels are supposed to be brief, she finds herself falling for a Sicilian chef named Lino (Eugenio Mastrandrea).
Though Saldaña is a massive movie star, she snagged the role following a chance dinner with Reese Witherspoon.
‘From Scratch’ is based on a true story
Fans have been introduced to Netflix’s romantic series, From Scratch, as a tear-jerker about love and loss. The series is actually based on author Tembi Locke’s memior and real-life love story, From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily, and Finding Home.
Locke’s book recalls her time in Italy and following in love with her husband, Rosario “Saro” Gullo, before eventually losing him to cancer.
Reese Witherspoon connected Zoe Saldaña with ‘From Scratch’
As Tembi Locke finished her manuscript, her sister, Attica Locke, was pitching the story to studios. She pitched it to Lauren Neustadter, the President of Reese Witherspoon’s Hello Sunshine production. Once the company got on board, they knew they needed to find their leading lady.
It just so happened that Witherspoon had dinner with Saldaña. “It was Lauren calling me to say, ‘Attica, Reese had dinner with Zoe, and Zoe was there with her husband, who’s Italian,” Attica told Shadow and Act. ‘I didn’t know that. She speaks Italian. Zoe, on screen, there is this sweet spot of tenderness and strength that felt like the character, Amy. I discovered things about her in the process.”
Tembi Locke relived intimate moments of her life
Since From Scratch is based on her love story and served as executive producer on the series along with her sister, showrunner Attica Locke, Tembi Locke relived much of her real-life story. She had to trust Saldaña with some of the most private moments of her life.
“Zoe and I had lots of talks about things, so I felt very confident,” she told Shadow and Act. “By the time we would get on set, I was like, ‘Okay, this scene is in good hands.’ There were times when it was too much. It was a lot to relive. Some scenes are literally frame-by-frame recreations of things that happened. There’s a delicate balance, but I also had Attica there to say, ‘You don’t need to be here today. Go home.’”
Locke also explained that there were a ton of coincidences. “The rain scene, that’s where it actually happened, the same block. It’s the same corner,” she explained. “When we got to Italy, that was happening over and over and over again both in Florence and later when we went to Sicily, these coincidences, non-coincidences, were sort of miraculous.”
