'From Scratch' Cast: How The Show Found Amy And Lino, According to Creators

Warning: This post about the cast of "From Scratch" contains spoilers.

"From Scratch," a tear-jerker of a Netflix show, is based on the true story laid out in Tembi Locke's memoir of the same name.

Locke, an actor who has appeared in "Never Have I Ever" and "Eureka," recalled her relationship with a Sicilian chef named Saro Gullo, and their "rare and beautiful" love.

The couple met while Locke was studying abroad in Florence and weathered challenges like cross-cultural love — his Sicilian family didn't accept their son marrying a Black American woman — and a cancer diagnosis.

In "From Scratch," Locke and Gullo's counterparts, Amy and Lino, are played by Zoe Saldana and Eugenio Mastrandrea.

Speaking to TODAY, Tembi Locke and her sister, novelist Attica Locke, who co-wrote the script with her, recalled how Saldana and Mastrandrea came to the roles.

Locke said Eugenio Mastrandrea, who played Lino, was a 'unicorn'

While casting "From Scratch," the Lockes watched nearly 100 audition tapes from Italian men who could play Lino. In their tapes, Tembi was looking for something specific — something so specific she thought she'd never find it: The spirit of her late husband.

"He had to speak Sicilian, Italian and English well. We knew he had to be handsome, knew he had to be strong but also tender. Vulnerable and maybe a little goofy. Super earnest, but he could be sort of sardonic. He had to have all these qualities. And I thought, 'I don't know if we're gonna find this person,'" Tembi said.

Attica said she first encountered Eugenio Mastandrea's tape in the first batch and knew, immediately, he had the magic quality they were looking for.

Mastandrea is a 28-year-old actor from Rome; this is his first major Hollywood role.

"I came out of my chair. He reminded me so much Saro that I had to stand up, walk out of the room and I started crying," Attica said.

She called her sister and warned her about Mastrandrea's tape. "I said, 'There's somebody in that first batch of tapes. Don't watch them while you're doing other stuff because something's going to happen potentially, to your feelings, when you see it," she said.

Attica was right: Tembi was immediately moved by Mastrandrea's tape.

"The physical resemblance took my breath away. I was like, 'Oh, OK.' I closed my computer because I thought I needed a minute to take that in," Tembi said. "There were so many energetic qualities which lined up with Saro.

She returned to the tape and tried to watch it through the eyes of a producer, not a widow.

"What I chose to do was to really watch his audition over and over and over again because I wanted to discern for myself whether I was having a reaction because, as the widow, I'm seeing someone who reminds me of my late husband — or as a producer of our series, was he truly the best actor for our part?" she said.

"I kept coming back to, 'He's the best person for the show,'" she said.

Casting Zoe Saldana was Reese Witherspoon's idea

Zoe Saldana ("Avatar," "Guardians of the Galaxy") plays Amahle “Amy” Wheeler, Tembi Locke's counterpart, in "From Scratch."

And according to the Lockes, the casting was all Reese Witherspoon's idea.

The memoir "From Scratch" was a Reese's Book Club pick and the series was produced by the actor's production company, Hello Sunshine.

According to Attica, Witherspoon had been in Milan having dinner with Saldana and her husband, Marco Perego Saldana, when she had a "lightbulb moment."

"She was sitting across the table watching them speaking in Italian, enjoying great food, and she was like, 'Oh my God, this could be Amy,'" Attica said.

Speaking to TODAY, Saldana said, after being offered the lead role, Saldana knew that she had to “jump at it.”

“Not only that with an open heart but with an open mind because you’re there to learn, you’re there to grow,” she said. “And you’re there to also pay it forward when that opportunity does present itself.”

While watching Saldana perform, Attica said she gained a new appreciation for the actor.

"I knew that she had a quality of toughness and tenderness that sit side-by-side where you can't believe the depths of her strength, but you also can see her fragility," she said. "I didn't know Zoe could be as funny as she is."

She added, "She was an absolute gift that came to us."

Here's who's in the rest of the cast

The rest of the cast of "From Scratch" includes actors playing Amy's large family, originally from Texas, and Saro's Sicilian family.

• Danielle Deadwyler ("Station Eleven," "Watchmen") as Zora, Amy's sister, based on Attica Lock

• Keith David Williams ("Greenleaf," "Plattoon") as Hershel, Amy's father

• Kellita Smith ("The Bernie Mac Show") as Lynn, Amy's mom

• Judith Scott ("Dexter") as Maxine, Amy's stepmom

• Lucia Sardo as Filomena, Lino's mom

• Paride Benassai as Giacomo, Lion's dad

• Terrell Carter ("Empire") as Ken, Zora's love interest

In a serendipitous twist, one of the doctors cast in the show had met the real Saro in Italy by chance. "I passed through his town and I met him. He said he had a Black wife in L.A. who was an actress in Hollywood," Attica said.

This article was originally published on TODAY.com