Picture This stars Simone Ashley and Hero Fiennes Tiffin are no stranger to epic romances. Ashley, of course, rose to global fame as the lead of Bridgerton season 2, while Fiennes Tiffin made a name for himself in not one, not two, but five After movies. In their new film together, directed by Prarthana Mohan and written by Nikita Lalwani, the two play a couple who have broken up but find themselves thrust back together when a family member and close mutual friend get married.
The Prime Video movie, which premiered March 6, also marks the first time Ashley has taken on the role of executive producer, giving her even more influence over the character of Pia, a young, financially struggling photographer in modern-day London who is dealing with family pressures and the trials and tribulations of running your own studio. She’s not necessarily looking for love, but her sister doesn’t want her showing up solo to her wedding, so she’s forced to endure some hilariously bad dates. Crucially, those dates are chosen by her family — a fun, refreshing take on standard rom-com tropes, inspired by the Australian film Five Blind Dates.
Teen Vogue spoke to Ashley and Tiffin just a few days before the premiere about their on-screen chemistry, some improvised dance scenes, and the joys of working with Phil Dunster (best known as Jamie Tartt from Ted Lasso). Spoilers ahead.
Teen Vogue: Playing exes who get back together can be a little more challenging than just a meet cute and falling in love. How did you guys approach that together? What were your first conversations when you met, after you got cast?
Simone Ashley: We were playing on that there was definitely unfinished business between Charlie and Pia. Even their first interactions that they have after a long time of seeing each other, there’s still that tit for tat. Such is life. I feel like Charlie was the mature one that kind of stayed grounded and really found himself, and Pia was the one that was kind of up in flames a bit. It was her journey of self-discovery and once she found that and found her feet on the ground, it kind of led her back to Charlie.
TV: This movie really leans into the comedic aspect of rom-coms, and you’re both quite good at it. The scenes with Phil Dunster stand out. Did you have any favorites while filming?
Tiffin: Phil was just hilarious and he’s such a lovely guy. I think we probably shot that over a few days and sometimes the schedules don’t allow as much room to just relax and enjoy it and take your time with it. Sometimes you might be on one location and you have so much to do in a day, but it felt like that was scheduled quite generously, and we’d just be laughing our heads off between takes about what was happening in the takes and just having a laugh throughout the whole day. Phil was at the heart of that. He is comedy.
Ashley: Yeah, and he had the guitar off set and we’d be singing songs and making up songs. He’s great.
TV: When he picked up the guitar, that was one of my favorite scenes. Simone, is it correct that this is your first producing credit now? How does that feel?
Ashley: It is, yeah, [it feels] very cool. It’s cool to say that. No, look, seriously, I am really grateful that Ben and Erica from 42 MP allowed me to collaborate with them on this, and I learned a lot. I think each project requires different focus and different attention in different areas and you learn from them. Hopefully for my next thing, I can take everything I’ve learned from this into that.
TV: Was there any major learning that you feel like you had?
Ashley: Even if you think you’ve covered all ground of everything you’ve wanted to do, even when the movie is finished, you watch it and you think, oh, I wish I had maybe tweaked this a bit more. I wish we extended this a bit more. So nothing is ever a final piece. Do you know what I mean? And sometimes you’ve just got to let it be and be like, okay, I think we’ve got it. We don’t need to over egg it.
