In YOU, ME & TUSCANY, the rolling hills and sun-drenched vineyards of Tuscany are more than a picturesque backdrop, they mirror the emotional evolution of Anna, a complex young woman navigating life’s unexpected turns. When a series of questionable decisions lands her in unfamiliar territory, what unfolds is a heartfelt exploration of love, identity, and the courage to choose yourself.
Sometimes the wrong place is right where you need to be. That’s the heartbeat of YOU, ME & TUSCANY, a swoon-worthy romantic comedy from hitmaker Will Packer, the force behind box office favourites like Girls Trip, Ride Along, and Think Like a Man. This time, he trades fast-paced comedy for a lush, escapist love story about risk, reinvention and the messy magic of finding yourself when you least expect it.
At the centre is Anna (Halle Bailey), a young woman drifting through her twenties after abandoning her culinary dreams. When she loses both her job and her housing in one fell swoop, a chance encounter with a charming Italian stranger leads her to make a bold, impulsive decision: board a flight to Italy and crash at his empty villa in Tuscany, just for one night. Of course, nothing goes according to plan.
Directed by Kat Coiro and written by Ryan Engle, the film blends classic rom-com charm with a deeper, soul-searching narrative reminiscent of Under the Tuscan Sun and Eat Pray Love. But what sets it apart is its perspective: placing a young Black woman at the centre of a genre, and a setting that has historically excluded her.
For Will Packer, that intention is deeply personal. His storytelling legacy has long championed the power of representation, joy and love on screen. “Black joy is powerful. Black love is powerful,” he says. “When you see yourself fully realised, laughing, falling in love, living, it does something incredible to your spirit.”
Ahead of the film’s release, we caught up with producer Will Packer and director Kat Coiro to talk authenticity, escapism, and crafting a love story that speaks to a global audience, while still feeling deeply personal.
GLAMOUR: I really enjoyed the screening earlier, congratulations! It hits all the right notes and left me feeling all fuzzy inside but it also has some unexpected nuances like placing a young black woman at the centre of a traditionally white Eurocentric rom-com setting. Why was it important for you to shift the narrative lens now?
Will Packer: I will say that I love the idea of having authentic portrayals of real people in universal situations, and I think this is a movie that has universal themes that anybody can relate. It was really important that we have a young black American girl, and have her POV authentically represented. It was also really important that we had the POV of the Italian family represented well, and so Kat and I always talked about authenticity. I enjoy making movies for global audiences and I enjoy having African Americans or just black people in general in the leads because you don't see that very much and anytime there's an area that not a lot of people are doing, I'm always interested in that and interested in showcasing people but it's got to be real, it's got to be authentic.
Kat Coiro: And there was this time we were in the vineyard looking at Halle and Regé through the monitor and Will said to me, you know, don't forget my people don't get to see themselves in this environment very often, and I heard that and I replayed it in my head every day and I would be like let me just make it a little more glamorous, a little more beautiful because I wanted to honour, you know, the fact that we were doing something that isn't every day.
GLAMOUR: I love that. Representation matters absolutely and with that said, how do you think that the African audiences particularly will connect with Anna's journey of self-discovery and self-words?
Will: I will say, one thing about African audiences is that they are passionate and real. I've had an opportunity to spend a little time in South Africa; I've shot a movie there before and I love the people; passionate and real is what I would say, and this movie is exactly that. This is a movie about a young woman who takes a leap of faith; She has no money, no family to speak of, and she doesn't know anybody in Italy but it's a place she's dreamed of going and she says, "You know what? I'm gonna go! It may not make sense but I'm going to do it anyway, and of course that lends itself to some very, very funny comedic set pieces but ultimately it's a journey of self-discovery of her falling in love, yes with a beautiful man played by Regé-Jean Page, also with a beautiful country, with beautiful people but most importantly, she falls in love with herself.
GLAMOUR: The film leans into escapism… It's Italy, romance, food, and self-discovery. What do you think audiences are craving this kind of storytelling right now?
Kat: The world is cynical. There are so many things happening, and we have access to all those things in a way we've never had before. Where you can see all the horrible things happening in every place in the world at every turn, and we really want to give people the gift of an hour and a half surrounded by friends and family going on a little vacation in their mind, in their heart, in their soul... where they don't have to think about all that, and they get to reinvent their idea of love and reignite the spark of hope that really is what makes humanity beautiful.
GLAMOUR: Your approach to storytelling is so captivating. How do you balance feel-good entertainment with emotional depth in your project?
Kat: Life is a balance of feel-good, emotional depth...polarity, depression, a moment of messiness, and I feel a lot of times because of genre, we get set on a track that is not very human, and we wanted this movie to feel human, we wanted it to be messy. One of my favourite lines in the movie is when the family says, “What family doesn't lie to each other once in a while?,” and like the dichotomy of telling a lie and making big mistakes, but also having this love that exists no matter what, that is life. So when there's a dramatic moment, we love to undercut it with a little comedy and the same goes for the reverse.
GLAMOUR: That's so profound because being honest gives other people permission to do the same and we see it play out in that scene. Particularly, where people just start confessing... it's real, honest, raw, funny, and relatable more than anything...
Will and Kat: Thank you!
GLAMOUR: The dynamic between Anna and Michael is central. What were you looking for in their chemistry?
Kat: They bring so much naturally to the table. I hope Anna's role is accessible to young women in their early 20s, where everything feels like a disaster and every choice you make is the wrong choice and that's okay. She's kind of flying by the seat of her pants and she is messy, and then she meets this man who is grounded and responsible, and they bring out the best in each other with that dynamic.
Starring Halle Bailey, Regé-Jean Page, Lorenzo de Moor, Isabella Ferrari, Aziza Scott, Marco Calvani and Nia Vardalos. At its core, the film reimagines the classic Eurocentric rom-com by centering a young Black woman’s perspective in a space where such representation has long been absent. The result is a story that feels both refreshingly modern and universally resonant.
YOU, ME & TUSCANY premieres on the 10th of April in South Africa.
Watch the trailer here
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