Zoe Saldana steps into a deeply emotional role, portraying the real-life love story of Tembi Locke and her late husband in Netflix’s new limited series, From Scratch.
Hollywood Unlocked was live at the Netflix campus for the premiere, where we caught up with Saldaña, Tembi Locke, and her sister Attica Locke — both of whom served as executive producers alongside Reese Witherspoon.
From Scratch follows the true story of Tembi Locke, who transformed her personal journey into a best-selling memoir. In the series, Zoe portrays Amy, a young woman who meets and falls in love with a Sicilian chef while studying abroad in Italy, and whose journey of love, loss, and resilience spans continents.
While there’s much more to this heartfelt story, we won’t spoil it all for you. On the carpet, the Locke sisters shared that bringing this series to life allowed them to revisit Tembi’s memories of her late husband — both in Italy and the United States. Emotions ran high throughout filming, and Attica spoke with us about the delicate balance of honoring real-life grief while crafting a moving story for the screen.
As for Saldaña joining the project, Reese Witherspoon shared that after reading Tembi’s book, she immediately knew it needed to be adapted. During a dinner conversation, she heard Zoe speaking fluent Italian and instantly recognized her as the perfect actress to lead the series.
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Zoe’s Personal Ties to Italy
For Saldaña, filming in Italy was a full-circle moment. While speaking on the carpet, she revealed that her family is originally from northern Italy — although From Scratch filmed primarily in Sicily, giving her a chance to connect with a different region of her heritage.
Zoe, who is married to Italian artist Marco Perego Saldaña, shares four children with him. She effortlessly switched between Italian and Spanish while speaking to media outlets at the premiere, showcasing her fluency in both languages.
Her costars even joked about how entertaining it was to watch Zoe pretend to struggle with Italian for her character — knowing full well she’s incredibly fluent in real life!