Image source: Prime video
Picture this: It’s the holiday season and you’ve decided it’s time to propose to your significant other. You go to a jewelry store to choose the perfect ring. But then, as you walk outside with it, something unimaginable happens and your ring accidentally ends up in someone else’s hands without you even realizing it. Terrible, isn’t it? That’s exactly what Kendrick Sampson’s new film Something From Tiffany’s is all about.
Based on Melissa Hill’s 2011 novel of the same name, the rom-com follows Sampson’s character Ethan as he prepares to propose to his girlfriend Vanessa (Shay Mitchell) for Christmas. However, his plan is derailed after his gift is mistaken for that of Gary (Ray Nicholson), who is not yet ready to propose to his girlfriend Rachel (Zoey Deutch). From there, a series of unexpected twists and turns take place that take the characters to where they are ultimately meant to be.
Although Sampson was unfamiliar with the book before signing on for the film, he was immediately intrigued when he first read the script. “I liked the script, the fact that it took a vacation-themed rom-com and took a lot of the patriarchal tropes and twisted them. It all feels like the classic rom-com without that,” Sampson tells POPSUGAR. “And then I met some of the kids who wanted to play my daughter and yeah I just fell in love. So yeah, it was more about the project and the script than the book. I didn’t read the book beforehand.”
Ironically, the former ‘Insecure’ actor says he’s not ‘very much into rom-coms’ but enjoys reading and starring in the scripts. He explains: “It’s fun. It’s a good ride. And man, I’m going to be a part of some dark storylines, and I love dark storylines, but every once in a while you want something that’s a little bit more uplifting and just a fun, enjoyable, enjoyable ride.”
While Sampson has never experienced a gift mix-up like Ethan and Gary, he was in a similar situation, once accidentally swapping laptops with another passenger at the airport. “Do you know how to get your laptop out of your bag? I swapped laptops with someone and got on a plane. I think I was in Miami or something,” Sampson recalls. “So I had to log into his guest account and see if there was any evidence of anyone I could call and find out. I found a number, finally found out who the guy was, looked him up on social media and got in touch with him and waited. I had to wait until we got back to LA to swap computers, but we agreed to allow each other to use each other’s guest profiles so we could work a bit. I was so angry. It was a good week and a half, something like that.”
Despite the wild roller coaster ride that “Something From Tiffany’s” takes the audience on, it’s essentially about fate and the belief that something that’s supposed to be real will be like that. “Ethan and Rachel both have a habit of making these choices that are comfortable for other people and unhealthy for them,” notes Sampson. “And I think what you find in this story is that you think this is a moral thing. You are good by compromising and being less sane and it is not. It’s actually unhealthy for both of you to keep this ability in this relationship. So I hope people realize that this is also a way of enforcing things, enforcing relationships, enforcing things in our lives.”
He continues: “I think that’s what I get out of it. It helps me think about how to go with the flow to make sure I’m moving with purpose and not forcing or putting in all that effort and energy trying to control things I can’t control.”
Although the actor isn’t a huge rom-com fan, he’s enjoying the holidays. In fact, his favorite holiday tradition is to go on holiday alone. “I like to hike like a bird,” he explains. “I want to go to a warm place, I want to go to the beach and heal something.” Sampson is also missing volunteering with his family at an animal shelter on Christmas Day. “It was really something very special,” he says. “Anna [Diop] and I grew up together. She’s an amazing actress and her family and my family would go to the shelter and have a really, really amazing time.”
Something From Tiffany’s will be released on Prime Video on December 9th.