‘From Scratch,’ starring Zoe Saldaña, premieres at Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival
The series, based on the best-selling memoir of the same name, is set to premiere this October on Netflix.
Get ready for another new series from Netflix. It’s titled “From Scratch,” is inspired by the memoir of the same name by Tembi Locke, stars Zoe Saldaña, starts in October and premiered at Martha’s Vineyard African American Film Festival.
Netflix describes the limited series as a “cross-cultural love story” that follows Amahle “Amy” Wheeler (Saldaña), an American student studying abroad in Italy, who meets, and eventually falls in love with, a Sicilian chef named Lino Ortolano.
“Their whirlwind romance faces many unforeseen challenges, including their very different cultural backgrounds,” the official series synopsis obtained by theGrio states. “But when Lino is faced with unimaginable health challenges and the couple’s future is threatened, the two families come together to create an extended family unlike any they could have imagined, proving that love crosses all borders.”
Eugenio Mastrandrea plays “Lino,” and Danielle Deadwyler, Keith David, Kellita Smith, Judith Scott and more round out the cast. Saldaña joins Hollywood heavyweight Reese Witherspoon in executive producing the project, alongside Tembi Locke, Attica Locke, Lauren Neustadter, Richard Abate, Jermaine Johnson and Will Rowbotham. Variety reports Cisely Saldana and Mariel Saldana, Zoe’s sisters, are co-producers on the project. Back in 2019, the memoir was a Reese’s Book Club x Hello Sunshine pick, continuing Witherspoon’s pattern of adapting female-led, underrepresented stories from novels she chooses for her book club.
“This is a profound true story of love and family, deprivation and nourishment, that needs to be brought to life on the screen as Tembi Locke brought it vividly to life for me on the page,” Saldaña shared in a statement obtained by Variety when the project was announced in 2019. “We are grateful to Netflix and thrilled to be working with Reese, Lauren, Attica and 3 Arts on this wonderful project.”
Witherspoon also released a statement, saying, “Tembi’s memoir is a raw and tender exhibition of life in all its pieces. She brings you into her love, her loss and her resilience with such vulnerability and strength. We immediately fell for Attica and Tembi’s vision and feel honored to have the opportunity to help bring it to life on-screen.”
The series will launch globally on October 21, 2022.
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