You, Me and Tuscany could lead to more black romcoms, according to the film’s producer.
Halle Bailey stars in the new romcom
The new romcom stars Halle Bailey and Rege-Jean Page, and Will Packer, who produced the movie, believes it could prove to be a turning point for Hollywood.
He told The Hollywood Reporter: “Make no mistake: I remember the golden era of rom-coms, and even black rom-coms: Love and Basketball, The Best Man, Think Like a Man, Brown Sugar, Two Can Play That Game, you name it.
“Audiences were showing up in theatres and enjoying those movies. So people do have to understand that Hollywood is a reactive industry, and there is an opportunity to say that this type of film — with these types of leads, with the audience that enjoys these types of films — are profitable and worth making, and Hollywood will make more of them.”
Earlier this month, Rege-Jean admitted that he’s “pretty passionate” about romcoms.
The 38-year-old actor stars alongside Halle, 26, in You, Me and Tuscany, and Rege-Jean revealed why he’s a fan of the genre.
He told People: “I mean, who doesn’t want to swoon? It’s kind of a facetious answer, but also the real answer is: who isn’t interested in love?
“If there is a universal language, is that if it’s from cavemen to now, if there’s one thing that can bring everyone together, it’s that every single person in this room is in some way interested in love and loving and being loved.”
The Bridgerton star said the genre plays an important role in shaping culture, and that its absence from cinema would be felt far beyond the screen.
He said: “What happens when you don’t have those stories in cinemas is that you don’t have them in culture. You don’t have movies where people use their words to talk through their problems and become better people by the end.
“And if you don’t have that in culture, more importantly, as I was touching on at the beginning, if you don’t have that shared culture, if you’ve only got that in the couch at home and how to love and be loved and your dreams are a secret that you keep to yourself with maybe your best friend, that’s a problem, you know?”
Rege-Jean is “pretty passionate about that piece of culture” because these stories always show viewers how they can become “better versions” of themselves.
The movie star said: “Ideally, you do that as a community, as a society, as people who like being happy.”