Simone Ashley & Hero Fiennes Tiffin to Lead Rom-Com ‘Picture This’
Jonathan Bailey as Anthony Bridgerton, Simone Ashley as Kate Sharma, Luke Thompson as Benedict Bridgerton, and Rupert Young as Jack in Bridgerton Season 2
Liam Daniel/Netflix © 2022
Bridgerton may be the show on everyone’s lips, but for the couples who have already coupled up, it’s merely a stepping stone to the next project. Season 1’s Regé-Jean Page has already left to make films, and Phoebe Dynevor is also headlining other Netflix series. Season 2’s Jonathan Bailey recently made a splash with his latest film with Matt Bomer in Fellow Travelers, and now Simone Ashley is also heading onwards and upwards in the new rom-com Picture This.
The film, which was filmed earlier in 2024, is already in post-production and co-stars Hero Fiennes Tiffen, who recently appeared in the ensemble of The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare. In this contemporary romantic comedy set in London, Ashley plays Pia, a down-on-her-luck photographer who is watching her sibling marry and vows to find a mate in the next few dates, no matter what. Fiennes Tiffin, naturally, will be one of those dates... or at least the one who she ends up marrying.
(Listen, it’s a romantic comedy, but that’s not a spoiler; that’s a fact. A romance that does not have a happily ever after is not a romance. Come fight me.)
“We’re really excited to bring this brilliant new and original London set romantic-comedy to Prime Video customers,” said Tara Erer, Head of Northern European Originals, Prime Video. “Picture This has a fantastic cast, with the wonderful Simone Ashley and Hero Fiennes Tiffin as our leads, as well as a brilliant filmmaking team; we know our audience is going to absolutely love, and laugh a lot, with this film.”
Henry Cavill as Gus March-Phillipps, with Alan Ritchson, Henry Golding, Alex Pettyfer, and Hero Fiennes Tiffin as his crew in 'The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare'
Daniel Smith Photography/Lionsgate
The official synopsis reads:
Single and without a man on the horizon, Pia runs a failing photography studio in London with her best friend Jay. As her sister Sonal prepares to get married and her mother Laxmi urges the resolutely independent Pia to partner up, a spiritual guru at Sonal’s engagement party predicts Pia will meet the love of her life among the next five dates she goes on. As her family intervenes, setting her up on a series of increasingly desperate blind dates, Pia begins a hilarious but heartfelt quest for real love.
Ashley and Fiennes Tiffen co-star alongside Phil Dunster (Ted Lasso), Nikesh Patel (Starstruck), Adil Ray (Citizen Khan), Sindhu Vee (Matilda: The Musical), Anoushka Chadha (You), Kulvinder Ghir (Bend It Like Beckham) and Luke Fetherston (Still Up).
Written by Nikita Lalwani, Picture This is based on the Australian Original movie Five Blind Dates, written by Shaung Hu and Nathan Ramos-Park. Director Prarthana Mohan (The Miseducation of Bindu) will helm the film. The UK movie update is produced by 42’s Ben Pugh and Erica Steinberg, with 42’s Josh Horsfield and Kari Hatfield serving as executive producers.
Picture This does not have a release date, but Ashley said recently the film is expected to premiere on Prime Video sometime in the summer of 2024.*
(*Thanks to eagle-eyed reader Iris, who spotted it!)
