Melanie Scrofano Previews ‘Welcome to Mama’s’ & Ponders a ‘Wynonna Earp’ Hallmark Reunion
Q&A
Welcome to Hallmark, Melanie Scrofano.
The Wynonna Earp stars in the latest “Loveuary” film on the network, Welcome to Mama’s. Restaurant manager Amy (Scrofano) inherits a Brooklyn restaurant after “Mama” (Lorraine Bracco) passes away and must team up with a master chef, Frank (Daniel di Tomasso), who’s looking for a second chance. Will they be able to put their differences aside, relaunch the restaurant for the community that loves it and Mama so much, and find love?
Scrofrano previews the love ahead.
Introduce Amy. How is she feeling about her life when we meet her?
Melanie Scrofano: Amy’s kind of stuck when we meet her. She’s just feeling at a standstill, and she kind of thinks she’s gonna be able to move forward in her career and then she’s not, so she’s feeling pretty low and eager for a change.
Set up Amy and Frank’s meet cute. What does she think of him at first?
Without a doubt, she thinks he’s a good looking young man. But I think she’s also just kind of confused by his behavior. He’s just a little off and they meet under some pretty sad circumstances. I don’t think she’s in the right head space for a full-on flirt and he is a little bit arrogant, so I feel like she’s just got too much going on to deal with that.
Allister Foster/Crown Media
And then of course, there’s the conflict, in this case about the restaurant. Is there any common ground for them?
I think the only common ground that Amy and Frank have is around Mama. They both adored her and want to do right by her. They just both have different ways they believe will achieve that that are completely at odds, but that’s their main link, that whatever they do has to be to honor her.
What can they learn from each other?
I think Frank shows Amy that you can’t always be tied to the past and sometimes the best way to honor the past is to learn from it and kind of evolve. And I think Frank can learn from Amy that the past is what kind of can create our bonds and give us a reason to fight for what we care about.
Craig Minielly/Crown Media
What’s Amy going to learn about herself as a result of working to relaunch Mama’s restaurant?
She thinks she’s trying to do the best for others, but actually she’s just being really kind of controlling. She’s gotta learn to trust to others and have a team mentality if she’s going to succeed.
Talk about Amy and Mama’s relationship.
Yeah, Mama was great. She was a huge part of Amy’s childhood. Amy lost her mother at a young age and Mama kind of filled that role. She really had a big hand in helping Amy figure out what her passion was and to go after it fearlessly.
What was your favorite scene to film?
I had a lot of fun with Amy’s best friend actually, just because we were just laughing all the time. It really felt like Keisha [Haines] and I had known each other before we started, so we just hit it off right away. I think my first day was a scene with Keisha’s character, Christine, and we were getting rained on and we decided to share an umbrella because that would be adorable for best friends to share an umbrella instead of have two separate ones. It was just kind of the first thing I did on the show that really kind of cemented the bonds of sharing and caring and support. It was a really positive start to the whole experience.
Is there anything you’d like to do if you do another Hallmark movie?
I was a little jealous that I didn’t do a Christmas movie ’cause I do love Christmas. Maybe something with a sport, like I could be a failed gymnast, something that could be sort of funny as well.
A couple of your Wynonna Earp costars have been on Hallmark [Tim Rozon, Katherine Barrell], so we just have to get all of you in one movie.
Oh my gosh, I change my answer. That’s what I want to do. We would have to do something that kind of nods to Wynonna. So I think I know who my best friend would be and I think I know who — but I don’t know. Or we could just all shift the dynamics and Tim could be dating someone else, you know? It’s like when a band switches roles and the lead singer’s now the drummer and the drummer’s the guitarist. We could do something like that.
Welcome to Mama’s, Movie Premiere, Saturday, February 26, 8/7c, Hallmark Channel
