With Love: Cast Members Discuss Favorite Moments and More [Interview]

Amazon’s newest upcoming romantic comedy series, With Love, is a show that prides itself on joy, family, valid representation, and most importantly, love.

I recently spoke with cast members Constance Marie, Benito Martinez, Emeraude Toubia, Rome Flynn, and Desmond Chiam about With Love. We spoke about the humanness portrayed in their characters, what makes With Love special, and what their favorite moments while filming were. (You can watch each set of interviews below.)

With Love follows the Diaz family as they better themselves and figure out love during the holidays. The series will begin its timeline on December 24th, Noche Buena, and end on the same note twelve months later.

Martinez and Benito play Beatriz Diaz and Jorge Diaz Sr, the parents to Jorge Diaz Jr and Lily Diaz. Emeraude Toubia plays Lily Diaz, a hopeless romantic searching for The One after a recent break-up.

Chiam plays Nick Zhao, the long-term roommate to Jorge Diaz Jr and friend of the family, and Rome Flynn plays Santiago Zayas, a carpenter dealing with his sick mother in the hospital. He is more reserved and family-oriented, only going out when persuaded to do so via his father.

For Marie, getting to see the Latinx community painted in normal light, without unnecessary drama, is what made With Love unique. “It’s very rare that the Latinx community gets to be just a family, part of America, and a normal human without all the baggage of the boxes that we’re used to being portrayed as in the media. And, to be funny and dramatic, to be flawed and a role model.”

“Also, the love at the bottom of all the relationships on this show is what we need in the world right now. And that really excited me to represent my culture in a positive way but to also represent my humaneness and a big bunch of love,” Marie continued.

Watch the full interview with Benito Martinez and Constance Marie:

The humanness in the characters stood out to Marie. “The fine line between comedy, drama, and thoughtfulness was like mercury. You had to navigate the highs and lows because these characters are so interesting and so funny, so loving, but so flawed.”

“It really was like you had to navigate a tightrope to do them justice, and Gloria [Calderón Kellett] wrote them brilliantly. But, it was a bit of a workout to be able to do all that because, in the relationship between Beatrice and Jorge Sr, we fight, then we love and are vulnerable, and in that vulnerable exploration, we reconnect. Whereas before, we were completely disconnected, so that was a workout some days,” Marie continued.

Toubia found the concept of With Love appealing because of how relatable the characters are. Connection is everything, and she felt that upon the first review of the script. “I don’t think we’ve ever seen a fully diverse cast in a moment where we’re just celebrating romance. You know, it’s not about trauma. So I think it’s really interesting just to see how we celebrate romance and we celebrate life,” she said.

“And with these fully dimensional characters, just going through universal themes, heartbreak, etc. I mean, I can’t say the rest of them because I’m going to spoil it. But just going through so many things that everyone goes through. I think that the whole world can identify with these characters, no matter your background,” Toubia continued.

Watch the full interview with Emeraude Toubia, Rome Flynn, and Desmond Chiam:

Upon first inspection, the overall theme of humanness and relatability drew in Flynn, just like Marie. “My initial reaction was that it was very well written. When I finally got to sit down and read it, I was like, ‘wow, I’d love to be all these guys.’ You know, I’d love to play all these characters,” Flynn said.

“That just means that everything was thought out, and that the people who are in control of writing the story really took their time in developing these characters and leaving a lot of foundation for the actors to step in and bring backstory and emotional preparation to it,” he added.

“Reading it on the pages, I just thought it was joy, basically, like straight up and down. And there was also this kind of weird feeling like, ‘Oh, this is what it’s like to just play like a normal character,’ which is not something we get a shot at a lot,” Chiam said.

For Martinez, the best times are the more difficult moments. “Part of the fun of what we do is the complicated argument; it’s the complicated moments. One of my favorite days of filming we were filming in a car, and the rehearsal was fantastic. So, then we get the lights and everything else, and we’re trying to recapture that original moment. But, there was a drive-thru across the street, and as soon as we started filming with the cameras, we could hear their order.”

“We’re trying to have this fight in the car, and I’m telling you as hard as it was, every time I looked at Constance, she never broke character. She never left for a second, and every time they said action, we were there, we were involved and engaged. I remember looking at that shot going, ‘you have to be at a very high level to make this outcome with all the given challenges,’ and yet it never felt like work. So, that is one of the most fun but most rewarding days of my acting career that I’ve ever had,” Martinez continued.

Marie’s favorite memory, however, is a bit more laid back. “We have a scene where we’re in the backyard. I think it’s the fourth of July episode, and we are howling. I had no idea if the cameras were rolling or not. But I am having the best time shooting a show that I have no pressure on. It’s like Benito and I are just messing around in the backyard. It was just so, so fun,” Marie said.

One of the best days for Toubia and Flynn was when Kellett was on set because of her directing. “I really enjoyed it when Gloria, our showrunner, would come in and give us new notes — seeing her coming in and giving us a new joke and seeing how it landed kind of kept us on our feet. So, that was nice,” Toubia said.

“Gloria doing that kept us really present too. In order to have a joke land, you have to be present. That’s the only way, and the interesting thing is they really kind of base it on the room. Like, when we do our rehearsals, if we hear ‘oh, that landed well,’ or they’re laughing, ‘Oh, that was great.’ If it doesn’t land, we’re like, ‘okay, well, we should change that,’ and that keeps it fresh,” Flynn said.

Watch the trailer for With Love:

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With Love will be available to stream on December 17th on Prime Video.

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