Do you know that the final Black-led rom-com to hit the large display screen earlier than You, Me and Tuscany was Suppose 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 america. So sure, we confirmed up. And sure, we’ve got 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 measurement illustration in movie.
Earlier than we get into that, although, context issues.
The Film That Needed to Carry Extra Than Its Personal Weight
Just a few weeks earlier than You, Me and Tuscany opened, filmmaker Nina Lee shared one thing that had folks pausing mid-scroll.
She revealed that she had met with a studio about her already-finished rom-com and was instructed they’d not purchase it till they noticed how You, Me and Tuscany carried out. She met with one other exec a couple of separate script and heard the identical factor. “A movie that has nothing to do with me might 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 couple of 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 related tasks.
Simply… this one.
One film carrying the burden of a whole 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 crucial, 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 somewhat extra intention to my solo theater date.
And I’m joyful 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 straightforward. The setting is strictly what you need it to be. And Halle captures one thing actually lovely about reaching for extra whenever you’re not fairly certain tips on how to ask for it but.
However let’s be actual for a second.
The character who had your complete theater reacting?
Francesa.
Enter Stella Pecollo
Performed by Stella Pecollo, Francesa is Marcello’s cousin. She sweeps into each scene in probably the most joyful, chaotic, whimsically dressed method attainable. She is loud in the most effective sense of the phrase. She is humorous with out making an attempt to be.
She jogged my memory instantly of my favourite cousin, the one who doesn’t verify whether or not it’s an applicable second earlier than making you cry laughing. The viewers round me felt it too. I might 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 america. She can also be a physique constructive advocate, writer, and, because it seems, the sort of lady who makes you are feeling like you’ve got recognized 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, in all probability,” she instructed us, laughing.
Appearing adopted when she was round 15 or 16, and the 2 have coexisted ever since. “I’ve executed brief movies, theater, performs, musical theater,” she stated, “after which it bought extra critical. Films, function movies, TV collection, main roles.”
She has labored primarily in Italy, spent years within the UK, and has now made her mark on American audiences by means of You, Me and Tuscany. And the response has been lots to soak up, in one of the best ways.
She was the com in Romcom. I really 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 folks. They inform me that I make them snort. 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 stated, basically, what about her? “She was like, ‘Oh my God, she seems excellent for the function. Let me audition her,’” Stella instructed 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 stated one thing that caught. “She instructed me, ‘I’m so joyful that you’re Italian, however you additionally perceive the comedy timing of the American script.’ As a result of each nation has a unique comedy timing, and I’m so used to watching American comedy that I in all probability have it in me by now.”
What set this collaboration aside, although, was what got here subsequent. Quite than handing Stella a closing script and sending her on her method, Coiro opened the ground.
“She immediately opened up a dialog the place she wished my suggestions on the function, on all the things Italian within the film. She actually wished all the things to be genuine.”
That sort of directorial generosity just isn’t widespread. And what Stella did with that invitation? That’s the place it will get actually good.
Flipping the Script on Plus Dimension Illustration in Movie
That is the place Stella Pecollo’s affect goes past efficiency and straight into altering the dialog round plus measurement illustration in movie.
Stella Pecollo is a physique constructive advocate and activist, and he or she 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 girl that has that kind of journey, particularly with my physique kind,” she stated. “And he or she was like, ‘You realize what, I completely agree with you.’”
They rewrote it. Collectively. From scratch. The plumber subplot that audiences bought to get pleasure from? That was not within the unique script. “The director and myself created it from scratch as a result of she was listening to me and gave me the possibility to specific my issues in regard to the illustration of my function as a girl and in addition as a plus measurement lady.”
For anybody who has spent years watching plus measurement girls in movie get lowered to the butt of a joke, the heartbroken finest buddy, or the character whose weight is your complete plot level, this issues.
Vice famous in a bit on plus measurement rom-com illustration, we’re nonetheless ready for Hollywood to constantly get this proper. Francesa is proof that it’s attainable.
“It’s by no means talked about within the film, something about my measurement, something about my physique,” Stella shared. “My character enjoys meals, she enjoys ardour, she enjoys life, she’s vigorous, bubbly… and that’s it. She’s only a lady having her life.”
A girl having her life.
Not the joke.
Not the lesson.
Not the transformation.
Simply… residing.
We like to see it.
The Garments Make the Cousin
You can not speak about Francesa with out speaking in regards to the wardrobe. Massimo Cantini Parrini designed each look, and the result’s an on-screen wardrobe that could 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 might look skinnier,” she stated. “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 revealed a memoir in Italy known as Io Sono Bella, which interprets to “I Am Stunning.” The e book covers her journey towards self-acceptance, bearing on love, meals, relationships, and the consuming dysfunction she navigated alongside the way in which.
Get this! A publishing home editor learn a Vainness Honest Italy interview she gave whereas filming an Italian TV collection. His pitch? Your story must be instructed. Stella’s response? It already is. She had been getting ready a one-woman present on the identical matters, 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 making an attempt to promote us all these new merchandise to shed some pounds,” she stated. “And yeah, it is a dialogue that we nonetheless have to have.”
She additionally made clear that this e book is not only for plus measurement 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 excellent. No person’s excellent.”
No person’s excellent. It’s a tune. However it’s additionally simply true.
What’s Coming Subsequent
There are tasks within the works that Stella just isn’t capable of identify simply but, however she shared that she is presently writing two screenplays impressed by Io Sono Bella, collaborating with writers in each Italy and america. “It’s additionally a problem to write down in a language that isn’t my native language,” she stated. “So it’s very stimulating, very thrilling.”
And sure. She has heard the requires a sequel to You, Me and Tuscany. We’ve got all heard them. On Threads, on TikTok, in group chats. Persons are already planning the trilogy.
“Fingers crossed,” Stella stated.
Fingers crossed certainly.
The Legacy
When requested what she desires to go away behind, Stella didn’t hesitate.
Stella didn’t want lengthy to reply.
“The primary legacy that I need to depart is for folks, particularly girls, to actually really deeply love themselves first earlier than anything. After I see a girl blossoming into turning into the most effective 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 probably 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 deliver 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, comply with Stella Pecollo on Instagram and maintain your eyes on all the things she does subsequent.
