Getty Rachael Leigh Cook.
When Hallmark star Rachael Leigh Cook isn’t guest starring on the latest “Hey Sis Eat This” podcast, she’s falling in love. The “Valentine in the Vineyard” actress is taking viewers on a ride of self-discovery in her latest film, “A Tourist’s Guide to Love,” available on Netflix. For Cook, it’s more than a film. It’s an opportunity to share the beauty of Vietnam and its culture.
“What I knew about Vietnam is that I wanted to go and that I had Instagram envy of my friends’ travel vacation photos there,” Cook said in an interview with InStyle published on April 20. “I was excited to go.”
“We wanted to give people a real variety of experience within one country. And that’s one of the natively incredible things about Vietnam is that you can have so many different experiences in one country,” Cook said.
About ‘A Tourist’s Guide to Love’
GettyRachael Leigh Cook at the world premiere of Netflix’s New rom-com “A Tourist’s Guide to Love.”
According to Netflix, the film is about an American travel executive (Cook) who goes to Vietnam, “where a free-spirited tour guide helps open her eyes to a beautifully adventurous way of life.”
Cook’s co-star Scott Ly is a first-generation Vietnamese American from Houston, Texas. The film is Netflix’s first movie made in Vietnam. For Ly, participating in the movie was a great way to showcase what he loves the most about his culture.
“The people, the taste of food,” he told InStyle. “But just to capture a little bit of how my parents lived is enough. I’m excited about that.”
Writer Eirene Tran Donohue grew up one of six siblings to a Vietnamese mother and a Boston Irish Catholic father, she wrote on PopSugar. She wrote that the movie is “my love letter to Vietnam,” where her parents met and where she met her now-husband.
“There are almost no American movies set in Vietnam that aren’t about the trauma of war. It was really important to me to tell a story about life now. One that was full of joy and love and celebration. I wanted to change the conversation about Vietnam, to highlight it as a modern, thriving country whose stories are worthy of being told,” she told Netflix’s Tudum.
‘A Tourist’s Guide to Love’ Meets ‘Josie & the Pussycats’
This movie also brings fans a bit of nostalgia as they watch Missi Pyle and Cook act alongside one another again. In 2001, they starred in the comedy musical “Josie and the Pussycats.”
“Josie and the Pussycats was one of my very first movies ever, so it’s nice to be with her again now after we’ve both had huge life experiences. We’re both moms and got to talk about where we were in our lives. It was just a lot of fun,” Pyle told Tudum.
While Pyle is a seasoned actress using her comedic chops in various movies from “Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story” to “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” being part of “A Tourist’s Guide to Love” marks a first for her career.
“I’ve never been anywhere past Western Europe, so just being in that part of the world was such a gift,” she says. “That’s by far the coolest thing about being an actor.”