SEATTLE — Set in a small fictional Washington town, The Half Of It was partially inspired by writer/director Alice Wu's seven years living in Seattle.
“I lived on Capitol Hill,” she said. “I do remember many wonderful road trips and hiking.”
She worked for Microsoft in her 20’s.
“I was there for seven years,” Wu said. “The thing I love about Seattle is that no one is easily impressed there. The running joke is always, ‘Maybe after four or five years, your neighbors are like okay, maybe you’re sticking around, maybe I’ll speak to you.’ But I kind of love that because what happens is, if you do stick around – the friends I made there, I’m still friends with.”
One of the actors – Daniel Diemer - is also from the Upper Left, just across the border.
“I grew up on a small island off of Vancouver so this (movie) was very much the small town feel I grew up with, so I felt very at home,” he said.
Star Leah Lewis may look familiar to KING 5 audiences, from a quick turn on NBC in 2013.
“You might recognize me (auditioning) on The Voice, like 100 years ago, if you look hard enough," she said, laughing.
The film is kind of like a small town high school version of Cyrano de Bergerac.
Paul (Diemer,) a football player and son of a sausage maker, hires the studious Ellie (Lewis) to write letters for him in an attempt to win over popular girl Aster (played by Alexxis Lemire.) But it turns out, Ellie loves Aster, too.
It's sweet and funny and quirky - Paul is obsessed with his invention, taco sausage, for example. The result is a rom com geared toward teens, so entertainment reporter Kim Holcomb watched it with her family and her 14-year-old son Miller asked the cast a couple of questions.
MILLER: "Did you guys actually eat a taco sausage?”
DIEMER: “Oh yeah, like a lot of taco sausages."
LEMIRE: "I did not and I'm bitter about it to this day. (laughter)"
MILLER: "Is there anything from the movie that you can relate to in your actual life?"
LEWIS: "I can relate to Ellie Chu being an outsider."
LEMIRE: "I grew up in a pretty small town as well and I had friends but there was no place I felt like I 100% belonged to."
That's at the heart of The Half Of It - belonging sometimes means finding your person by accepting love in all its forms. The outcome is more about friendship than romance, with a message of always staying true to oneself.
"The truth is, I don't care how old you are, I kind of think we all regress to being teenagers when it comes to love,” Wu said.
The Half Of It is now streaming on Netflix.
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