Do you know that the final Black-led rom-com to hit the large display screen earlier than You, Me and Tuscany was Assume Like a Man again in 2012? Fourteen years.
Let that sit for a second. And but right here we’re in 2026 with a Black-led rom-com produced by Will Packer, set in Tuscany, starring Halle Bailey and Regé-Jean Web page, and doing its factor at theaters throughout the USA. So sure, we confirmed up. And sure, we’ve ideas.
As a result of whereas the movie delivers on romance and escapism, it additionally quietly pushes ahead one thing Hollywood nonetheless struggles with: plus dimension illustration in movie.
Earlier than we get into that, although, context issues.
The Film That Needed to Carry Extra Than Its Personal Weight
A number of weeks earlier than You, Me and Tuscany opened, filmmaker Nina Lee shared one thing that had individuals pausing mid-scroll.
She revealed that she had met with a studio about her already-finished rom-com and was advised they’d not purchase it till they noticed how You, Me and Tuscany carried out. She met with one other exec a few separate script and heard the identical factor. “A movie that has nothing to do with me may fairly actually change my life,” she wrote.
1. Met with a studio about my already shot romcom and so they gained’t purchase it till
They see how You, Me & Tuscany does2. Met with an exec a few romance script I’ve, they gained’t purchase it till
They see how You, Me & Tuscany does3. Go see this movie!
— nina lee (@NinaSerafina) March 25, 2026
Studios have been ready to see how this movie carried out earlier than making selections on different rom-coms. Not related movies. Not linked tasks.
Simply… this one.
One film carrying the load of a complete style.
Inside 24 hours, her put up picked up traction and sparked the sort of dialog that all the time feels prefer it ought to have occurred years in the past. Why does one Black-led rom-com must show viability for everybody else?
And nonetheless, the message beneath all of it was clear.
Present up.
As Will Packer put it, “Hollywood watches after which they react. You vote together with your {dollars}.”
The stakes have been actual, the dialog was obligatory, and that entire “there’s room for everyone” power? Nonetheless very a lot on the desk.
A Black-Led Rom-Com That Truly Delivered
As a Black lady who has been studying Italian for 506 days and counting, spending these evenings doing Duolingo and daydreaming about cobblestone streets in Florence, this film was already private.
The Nina Lee dialog? That simply added slightly extra intention to my solo theater date.
And I’m comfortable to report: it delivered.
You, Me and Tuscany follows Anna, performed by Halle Bailey, a younger cook dinner who results in a Tuscan villa and falls into an sudden romance with Michael, performed by Regé-Jean Web page.
The chemistry is simple. The setting is strictly what you need it to be. And Halle captures one thing actually lovely about reaching for extra once you’re not fairly certain the best way to ask for it but.
However let’s be actual for a second.
The character who had all the theater reacting?
Francesa.
Enter Stella Pecollo
Performed by Stella Pecollo, Francesa is Marcello’s cousin. She sweeps into each scene in essentially the most joyful, chaotic, whimsically dressed means doable. She is loud in the very best sense of the phrase. She is humorous with out attempting to be.
She jogged my memory instantly of my favourite cousin, the one who doesn’t examine whether or not it’s an acceptable second earlier than making you cry laughing. The viewers round me felt it too. I may hear them.
So naturally, we needed to speak to Stella.
TCF Sits Down with Stella Pec0llo
Stella Pec0llo is an Italian actress and singer who has constructed her profession throughout Italy, the UK, and now the USA. She can also be a physique constructive advocate, creator, and, because it seems, the sort of lady who makes you are feeling like you have got identified her endlessly about 4 minutes right into a dialog.
From Italy, With Pleasure
Stella Pecollo’s journey into leisure began early.
“Singing was my first ardour. I’ve been singing since I used to be born, most likely,” she advised us, laughing.
Appearing adopted when she was round 15 or 16, and the 2 have coexisted ever since. “I’ve performed brief movies, theater, performs, musical theater,” she mentioned, “after which it received extra critical. Motion pictures, function movies, TV sequence, main roles.”
She has labored primarily in Italy, spent years within the UK, and has now made her mark on American audiences by You, Me and Tuscany. And the response has been quite a bit to soak up, in the easiest way.
She was the com in Romcom. I like her https://t.co/S1yrpiUIoh
— Supernova Momma (@SupernovaMomma) April 12, 2026
And if there’s one factor she retains coming again to, it’s this:
Pleasure.
“I’m getting so many messages from individuals. They inform me that I make them snicker. And that’s what we want all the time, and particularly proper now. Pleasure.”
Say it louder, Stella.
How Francesa Discovered Her
Right here is the place it will get good, as a result of the story of how Stella landed the function of Francesa is sort of as pleasant because the character herself.
Director Kat Coiro was deep in pre-production in Rome when she sat down with the movie’s Oscar-nominated costume designer, Massimo Cantini Parrini. They have been nonetheless trying to fill a few roles when he merely pulled up Stella’s Instagram and mentioned, basically, what about her? “She was like, ‘Oh my God, she seems good for the function. Let me audition her,’” Stella advised us.
After sending two auditions for 2 completely different roles, she heard again inside 24 hours. “When this factor occurs, you simply comprehend it’s going to be magical.”
On their first Zoom name, Coiro mentioned one thing that caught. “She advised me, ‘I’m so comfortable that you’re Italian, however you additionally perceive the comedy timing of the American script.’ As a result of each nation has a special comedy timing, and I’m so used to watching American comedy that I most likely have it in me by now.”
What set this collaboration aside, although, was what got here subsequent. Relatively than handing Stella a ultimate script and sending her on her means, Coiro opened the ground.
“She immediately opened up a dialog the place she wished my suggestions on the function, on the whole lot Italian within the film. She actually wished the whole lot to be genuine.”
That sort of directorial generosity just isn’t frequent. And what Stella did with that invitation? That’s the place it will get actually good.
Flipping the Script on Plus Measurement Illustration in Movie
That is the place Stella Pecollo’s impression goes past efficiency and straight into altering the dialog round plus dimension illustration in movie.
Stella Pecollo is a physique constructive advocate and activist, and she or he introduced that a part of herself straight into the room when she sat down with Coiro to debate Francesa’s storyline. An early draft of the script had Francesa’s husband probably dishonest on her. Stella didn’t like it.
“I don’t love the thought of portraying a lady that has that kind of journey, particularly with my physique kind,” she mentioned. “And she or he was like, ‘You understand what, I completely agree with you.’”
They rewrote it. Collectively. From scratch. The plumber subplot that audiences received to take pleasure in? That was not within the authentic script. “The director and myself created it from scratch as a result of she was listening to me and gave me the prospect to precise my issues in regard to the illustration of my function as a lady and likewise as a plus dimension lady.”
For anybody who has spent years watching plus dimension girls in movie get lowered to the butt of a joke, the heartbroken greatest good friend, or the character whose weight is all the plot level, this issues.
Vice famous in a chunk on plus dimension rom-com illustration, we’re nonetheless ready for Hollywood to constantly get this proper. Francesa is proof that it’s doable.
“It’s by no means talked about within the film, something about my dimension, something about my physique,” Stella shared. “My character enjoys meals, she enjoys ardour, she enjoys life, she’s lively, bubbly… and that’s it. She’s only a lady having her life.”
A lady having her life.
Not the joke.
Not the lesson.
Not the transformation.
Simply… dwelling.
We like to see it.
The Garments Make the Cousin
You can’t speak about Francesa with out speaking concerning the wardrobe. Massimo Cantini Parrini designed each look, and the result’s an on-screen wardrobe that may be a entire temper. Each time Francesa walks right into a room, the colours are doing one thing. The patterns are saying one thing. The power is non-negotiable.
Stella’s private favorite? The yellow floral costume Francesa wears the primary time she meets Halle’s character within the kitchen. “It’s brief. It has a pleasant V-neck. And it’s additionally comfy, which helps since you movie many, many hours in these garments.”
However what actually made the wardrobe really feel significant was how a lot of it already belonged to who Stella is exterior of the set. “I spent many, a few years hiding myself with black garments, no colours, no patterns, so I may look skinnier,” she mentioned. “I’m going to do the alternative now. And Francesa, the identical. Having fun with colours and patterns and enjoyable.”
There it’s. Francesa was not only a character. She was a declaration.
“Io Sono Bella”: The Guide That Began It All
Stella Pecollo’s work on this house didn’t begin with You, Me and Tuscany.
Away from the display screen, Stella has been doing this work for years. In 2020, she printed a memoir in Italy referred to as Io Sono Bella, which interprets to “I Am Lovely.” The e book covers her journey towards self-acceptance, referring to love, meals, relationships, and the consuming dysfunction she navigated alongside the best way.
Get this! A publishing home editor learn a Vainness Honest Italy interview she gave whereas filming an Italian TV sequence. His pitch? Your story must be advised. Stella’s response? It already is. She had been getting ready a one-woman present on the identical subjects, and the fabric was sitting there, able to go.
She is now working towards bringing the e book to English-speaking audiences. And her reasoning for why it’s wanted proper now hits. “They’re attempting to promote us all these new merchandise to reduce weight,” she mentioned. “And yeah, it is a dialogue that we nonetheless have to have.”
She additionally made clear that this e book isn’t just for plus dimension girls. “Each single particular person has some sort of insecurity about their physique and they should sort of perceive that it’s okay. We aren’t good. No one’s good.”
No one’s good. It’s a music. But it surely’s additionally simply true.
What’s Coming Subsequent
There are tasks within the works that Stella just isn’t capable of title simply but, however she shared that she is presently writing two screenplays impressed by Io Sono Bella, collaborating with writers in each Italy and the USA. “It’s additionally a problem to put in writing in a language that isn’t my native language,” she mentioned. “So it’s very stimulating, very thrilling.”
And sure. She has heard the requires a sequel to You, Me and Tuscany. We’ve all heard them. On Threads, on TikTok, in group chats. Persons are already planning the trilogy.
“Fingers crossed,” Stella mentioned.
Fingers crossed certainly.
The Legacy
When requested what she needs to depart behind, Stella didn’t hesitate.
Stella didn’t want lengthy to reply.
“The primary legacy that I need to go away is for individuals, particularly girls, to essentially really deeply love themselves first earlier than anything. Once I see a lady blossoming into changing into the very best model of herself, not as a result of she’s on a weight loss plan, however as a result of she began loving herself, to me, it’s essentially the most lovely factor in life.”
If Francesa is any measure of what Stella Pecollo brings into each room she walks into, the world is fortunate she determined to carry herself to this one.
You, Me and Tuscany is in theaters now. Go see it. Go see it once more. And when you’re at it, observe Stella Pecollo on Instagram and hold your eyes on the whole lot she does subsequent.
