Joined in 2023 
82 
63 About this deal
What I loved most in the book was getting to know Saro’s mother. She was so much like my own mother, that it brought joy to my heart. My mother was from Southern Italy- Ischia, an island off the coast of Naples. Like Saro’s mother, she never drank, she never wore pants, she always had new nightgowns ready in case she ever had to go to the hospital. She loved to cook and feed people:)
Italy had never been in my grand plan. The only grand plan I had at the time was becoming a professional actor after college. I had wanted to be an actor since I remember being conscious. It was the big-picture plan of my life as I could see it, even if I had, as yet, no specific road map as to how to achieve it. It would be a leap. Nor had I planned to leave Wesleyan and its sleepy college town along the Connecticut River, except that I had stumbled into an Art History 101 class at the end of a difficult freshman year. The class was taught by Dr. John Paoletti, a world-renowned Italian Renaissance scholar. On that first day of class, when the lights dimmed in the auditorium and the first slide came up, a Greek frieze from Corinth circa 300 BC, I found myself spellbound. Two semesters of college finally came into focus. Within three weeks, I became an art history major. The next semester I was studying Italian, a requirement to complete my major. By the end of my sophomore year, I had taken up a tepid but steady affair with my Italian TA, Connor. It can be a power play, it can be very charged with so many different types of emotions in our relationships. It can be charged with love and sexiness, or it can be more about a familial power dynamic. To render that on the screen was really a tough task for us as storytellers."From Scratch features Zoe Saldana, who takes on the lead role of budding artist Amy Wheeler, while Eugenio Mastrandrea plays her on-screen husband chef Lino Ortolano. Eccola, Tembi! Un’amica americana.” Then she gave me a dramatic kiss on the cheek, pivoted, and left me. Were people doing tiny lines of coke off a farmhouse coffee table? What I didn’t know was that loving someone long term, in that “peace” that I so desperately longed for, would also mean loving parts of them that remained unseen. As much as Saro’s heart was an open book, there was a mystery in him. My familial love was given, steady, open, even when out of sight. When he spoke of his origins, his family (which was rarely), there was a trace of pain, something unsettled, an air of disappointment I couldn’t quite identify. It was a part of his life that hadn’t yet been fully revealed to me. It would be soon enough.
Italy is an important location for both the book at film, as it is where Tembi - who speaks fluent Italian - met Saro. With him being a chef, food is also a very important part of the story. "We wanted to make the food feel very intimate, beautiful, inviting, aspirational, and sexy. We wanted to really make the viewer lean in and want to eat. At the same time, we wanted to show how food changes over the course of a life in terms of this couple, and the way that food can be used to both soothe and control. With a story this harrowing, it’s no surprise that feelings ran high on set as reality and Hollywood magic began to blur — especially as Lino’s health worsens toward the end of the series. “We protect each other in all things. So there are parts of Episode 7 I didn’t think Tembi needed to be there for,” Attica says. On those days, Tembi would remain off set, and Attica would communicate her sister’s desires to production. Still, Attica had “one good breakdown” re-creating an ambulance scene that conjured direct corresponding memories of her brother-in-law’s fatal illness. Deep breaths kept her grounded. Saro, in all his ease, openness, and attractiveness, was not the kind of guy I went for—stateside or in Italy. He seemed way too available, way too nice. My kind of attractive was aloof, noncommittal, and definitely hard to catch. After having had multiple on-campus affairs that had gone nowhere fast, I wasn’t looking for anything serious. I needed to focus on school, not men. But that was easier said than done.
It was sometime after lunch when I hung up the phone, as best as my jet lag could tell. Time enough to nap and then shower and be ready for my first real Italian dinner. When all the other girls began joining up and making plans to explore the area around the hotel, perhaps window-shop and get something to eat, I declined their offers to join them.
Great Deal 
New Comment