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soothing about it.” In addition to centring joy in the female-led film, Deutch talks to us about balancing her roles as actor and producer, and of course, about the magic of the holidays.
In addition to Deutch herself, the film boasts an impressive, female led team of producers which includes Reese Witherspoon and Lauren Neustadter of Hello Sunshine. “Reese and Lauren approached me about this book a couple years ago,” says Deutch, “I read the book and thought it was so lovely and so sweet and made me feel so good—and I’d never done a holiday romance before.”
Since founding media company Hello Sunshine, Witherspoon has worked tirelessly to produce works that centre female stories and storytellers. In titles such as Gone Girl, Wild, Big Little Lies, and Where the Crawdads Sing, Hello Sunshine has produced complicated and authentic portrayals of female characters and stories. The addition of Something From Tiffany’s to its impressive repertoire rightfully underlines the merit of women’s stories that centre lightheartedness, romance, and joy.
“I loved working with Hello Sunshine,” says Deutch, who was grateful to receive guidance from fellow actor and producer Witherspoon. “I think she’s such an unbelievable actor, unbelievable business woman, unbelievable mother and she’s been my dream mentor, so to get to work with her and have her actually become a real life mentor has been a really special experience,” Deutch continues, “she definitely practices what she preaches—she is everything that you would think she is.”
Similarly, Deutch credits Neustadter with helping her find a balance between roles as actor and producer. “She was so dialed in to that kind of relationship—to working with somebody who’s doing both,” says Deutch, “I was really, really grateful for that. In previous experiences when I’ve been both producer and actor, I didn’t know that boundary or that balance and I would feel totally drained and exhausted and stressed at the end of the day, but this one I felt like I had somebody who taught me how to set those boundaries and create them.”
As someone who prides herself on being an ambitious woman, Deutch is in good company on the producing team. “In my experience, I find ambition to only have a negative connotation and be a dirty word when it’s associated with women—people are intimidated by powerful women, as we know.”
As an actor, the film offered Deutch a welcome tonal shift on the heels of Not Okay, where she played a young woman going to desperate lengths in the name of internet fame, and which she also produced. “Spiritually and artistically, it was really fun to go from something dark, satirical, and really intense to lighthearted, feel-good, happy, and joyful.”
She hopes that the movie offers viewers the same comfort. “I hope people feel good,” she says. “I’m incapable of watching anything too intense at this moment in my life, I have to watch
things that just make me feel good, so I hope that people just feel good when they watch this movie. It’s one of those movies that I think you can watch over and over and over again.”
But despite its status as a feel-good film, Something from Tiffany’s also explores heavier themes such as grief. Thirteen-year-old Leah Jeffries, for example, gives a tear-jerking performance as the daughter and sidekick of her single dad, played by Kendrick Sampson. Deutch reflects on how these elements resulted in a film that differed in tone from the comedy- heavy Set It Up, in which she also starred. “I did one rom com for Netflix called Set It Up a couple years ago and it was such a great experience and I’m so proud of the movie,” says Deutch. “I think one of the things that I really loved about [Something from Tiffany’s] is that, yes it is a rom com, but to me it’s more like a holiday romance. I was excited to lean into more of the drama-romance and not as much into the comedy because it felt different from Set It Up in that way.”
Deutch credits much of what works about the film to the chemistry and performances of her castmates. “Kendrick is so wonderful in the movie and in life, and Ray [Nicholson] is too, and Shay [Mitchell]. They’re all just so wonderful in the movie and it works because of them.” She similarly credits the crew stating, “the crew was one of my favourite crews I’ve ever worked with.”
Beyondromanticlove,SomethingfromTiffany’s 75 explores how the holidays can be an opportunity
to celebrate family. Deutch, who has both Catholic and Jewish heritage, says her holiday season involves family traditions that honour both. “I’ve got the best of both worlds and it’s really fun for me,” she says. “I’m very blessed
to have a close-knit family. I know how lucky I am that I get to spend it with my family and have that.” As for her future, “I hopefully see a lot more acting and producing, and finding my groove in that,” she says. Despite an already impressive career at just 27, she is careful to balance ambition with humility by “trying not to create unrealistic expectations, while also maintaining that strong ambition that I’m proud to have,” she says. “I have large aspirations for what I want to do and where I want to go, while also definitely feeling more humbled by this industry than I did when I started.”
Overall, Something from Tiffany’s illuminates how storytelling that centres delight can be compelling, ambitious, and inspiring. Leaning into the art of the holiday romance, it reveals the merit of feel-good films and the magic and mystery of love, romance, and fate. “I think that love, like life, is really full of surprises and I think that this movie does a really good job of showing all those surprises,” says Deutch, “you just never know what’s going to happen and there’s something really exciting and inspiring about that.” Warm, authentic, funny, and sweet, Something from Tiffany’s ultimately makes for a film as easy to love as its star.
SMAGAZINEOFFICIAL.COM ZOEY DEUTCH