Tembi Locke (‘From Scratch’ co-creator): Revisiting her past on screen ‘was very challenging, emotional’ [Exclusive Video Interview]
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“I could not have known the global conversation that started around aspects of the show that directly deal with family repair and forgiveness and of course, love,” reveals declares author, co-creator and co-writer Tembi Locke about her hit Netflix limited series “From Scratch.” For our recent webchat she adds, “the other piece is around how we say goodbye to our loved ones. I have gotten messages from South America, from Australia, from China, from Russia, from France, from England,” she says, noting that “although that’s something I know we hoped when we were making it, the fact that that is actually connected; that’s incredibly moving to me.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.
SEE Zoe Saldaña interview: ‘From Scratch’
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In “From Scratch,” Zoe Saldaña portrays Amahle “Amy” Wheeler, an American student studying in Italy, who is loosely based on Locke’s personal story as a young woman forging a new path in Italy. While living la dolce vita, Amy meets and falls in love with Lino (Eugenio Mastrandrea), a Sicilian chef. The two of them embark on building a life together in Los Angeles, but Lino is ultimately blindsided by devastating news about his health, which initially threatens the couple’s future, but brings their very different families together. Locke co-created the eight episode limited series with her sister Attica Locke, based on her true-story memoir “From Scratch: A Memoir of Love, Sicily and Finding Home.” The series’ ensemble cast also features Danielle Deadwyler (“Station Eleven,” “Till”) as Amy’s sister Zora (a character loosely based on sister Attica), Judith Scott, Kellita Smith, Keith David, Lucia Sardo, Paride Benassai and Roberta Rigano.
Adapting your own memoir would be a daunting enough task for any writer and filmmaker, but Locke admits that adapting source material that explores such a profoundly emotional time from from her past made it all the more challenging and rewarding, particularly in the most tenuous and fragile moments during production. “My sister and myself lived the moment and now we are recreating it for screen. It was very challenging from an emotional point of view. In so far as we had to take turns and task ourselves with saying, ‘OK, I can be here present for this moment, but I need to step away.’ For me in particular, because it was my direct experience,” she explains, “we understood that it would be triggering. We understood that we were walking back into the hardest moments, and so giving ourselves grace is what not only got us through it, but more to the point, it allowed us as creators and as craftsmen and as writers to bring the best work forward, so we take care of ourselves in order to do the work.”
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