Family Can Come in Different Ways

[The following story contains spoilers from the Netflix movie Nonnas.]

In Nonnas, the Netflix movie based on Joe Scaravella’s nonnas-centric restaurant on Staten Island, Vince Vaughn‘s Joe is inspired to open the fictional version of Enoteca Maria after his mother dies, suggesting that the eatery will help him keep his mom’s memory alive, because “food is love.”

That intense affection was felt offscreen among Vaughn; the movie’s superstar cast of nonnas played by Susan Sarandon, Brenda Vaccaro, Talia Shire and Lorraine Bracco; Joe Manganiello, who plays Scaravella’s real-life best friend; and married writer Liz Maccie and director Stephen Chbosky.

“I was drawn to the absolute heart and goodness and kindness of it. I felt so lucky to put something good out into the world,” Maccie told The Hollywood Reporter of what attracted her to Nonnas‘ true story at the movie’s recent premiere. “I also just felt the reflection of my own family in the story, and I grew up in New Jersey in an Italian-American family and what food meant to us — it was like another language. So to write a movie that incorporated the love of food and tradition and legacy, it was like a slam dunk.”

And it was the bond between characters that attracted Sarandon and Manganiello to the film.

Sarandon said she was drawn to the “the ability to work with so many great women; you just don’t have that chance.”

She added, “I love ensembles, and I love to be in a family situation, and this is about family, and we formed a family.”

Manganiello had a number of things that drew him in, including being a fan of Chbosky, Vaughn and Drea de Matteo, who plays his character’s wife; seizing a rare opportunity for him to play Italian and do a comedy; and a “fantastic” script.

“For me, my character’s arc is based around his friendship with Vince, so I thought the male friendship between Vince’s character and mine was great — the comedy in the fact that men are terrible communicators is also hilarious,” he said, also expressing his appreciation for how he and de Matteo’s character “play fight in a way that would probably be panic-inducing to other people.”

And the actor recalled the “fun” he and Vaughn had hanging out with their real-life counterparts.

“Vince and I went over to the real Enoteca Maria one night and hung out with Joe and Bruno while the nonnas cooked us dinner,” he said. “It was super fun to hang out with those guys and to get to pick their brains.”

Even when it came to Netflix’s September acquisition of the movie, which was filmed before the actors strike in 2023, the streamer’s support, producer Rachel Shane told THR, was crucial.

“We just wanted to have as many eyeballs on this film as possible,” the Madison Wells chief creative officer said when asked why Netflix was the right home for the project. “It’s really something that people need right now: family, community, food, second chances for everyone especially older women, and it’s just been incredible. They really embraced it like nobody else has.”

Bracco, who had an enthusiastic, hug-filled reunion with Chbosky and Maccie at the Nonnas premiere, said working with the couple was a “lovefest” and that her more initially stoic character Roberta finds herself drawn to her fellow chefs.

“I don’t think in the very beginning she was very thrilled with them but little by little, through food and the kitchen, we all opened up to each other,” Bracco told THR.

Though Bracco’s character, in addition to being Joe’s mom’s best friend, has her own children and grandchildren, she’s estranged from them, viewers learn, finally reaching out via a phone call near the end of the movie. Meanwhile, Vaccaro’s Antonella is living alone after her husband died and her children and grandchildren moved away, lamenting that she doesn’t see them often, and Shire’s Teresa and Sarandon’s Gia never had children.

Though viewers don’t see the nonnas in close contact with their own grandchildren, Maccie says that was “intentional in a way.”

“I really wanted to emphasize that they became each other’s family,” she told THR. “It’s a very important theme for me that family isn’t always a bloodline, it’s the people you share bread with, it’s your neighbor, it’s the person across the street. Family can come in all different ways.”

Maccie added, referencing Vaccaro’s character talking about “older women in [her] life with children they’ve raised to live all over the country,” “She was really my maypole of what the goal of being a mother is, what the goal of being a grandmother is, which is that your kids will find their own life and they’ll move. They’ll go and live their own lives. Maybe you don’t see them as much, but you feel proud.”

Chbosky added, “Another thing that we talked about is that so often, women of a certain age, you’re defined by your role in a family or as a grandmother. The idea of let us focus on their role as women as this thing that they do, we thought it was a very fresh way to approach.”

Sarandon also appreciated what the film said about women of a particular generation. “For years, women have held families together, and it’s kind of sad now that there aren’t more grandmothers that can grow old in somebody’s house with the grandkids, and I think we should value those life lessons and recipes.”

The actress, who’s long been outspoken politically, made headlines after Nonnas was filmed but before Netflix acquired it for controversial comments, for which she quickly apologized, at a 2023 pro-Palestinian rally. At the Nonnas premiere, Sarandon continued to express her support for the Palestinian people, wearing a Artists4Ceasefire pin. When asked about her hopes for the future amid a politically divisive climate in the U.S., Sarandon brought the focus back to the Middle East, saying, “My hope is for Palestine to survive and to become liberated.”

When asked specifically about Sarandon’s 2023 remarks, Chbosky indicated that the ability to respect people with different views, which was reflected on set, is part of what the film is about.

“You look at our cast and our crew, I don’t know if there’s a political opinion that isn’t shared by somebody,” he said. “We’re all entitled to our opinions and what’s really cool is when you have a libertarian like Vince and you have a liberal like Susan and they love each other and they got along, and there was nothing but respect. And to me, the movie is about respect.”

And it’s that sort of respect that the real Scaravella had for both Sarandon and his regular customers who’d reserved tables at Enoteca Maria when the Oscar-winning actress wanetd a last-minute table after signing on to Nonnas.

“It’s a Friday. I’m in pre-production. Susan Sarandon has signed on to be in the movie. Susan’s assistant Madison, a lovely person, calls me and says Susan would love to have a table for four tomorrow night at six o’clock,” Chbosky recalled. “I call Joe, I go, ‘Hey, Susan Sarandon wants a table for four at six o’clock.’ His response: ‘Ooh, ahh, I don’t know’ — by the way, loves Susan Sarandon, it’s not that — ‘I can’t do that to my regulars.’ So he calls me back. He says, ‘How about 6:30?’”

Nonnas is now streaming on Netflix.