'Book of Love' Stars Sam Claflin and Verónica Echegui Share What Their First Loves Taught Them (Exclusive)

etonline.com:

is a refreshing bilingual rom-com that explores romance, heartbreak, culture and a little bit of mischievousness — which is exactly what attracted Sam Claflin and Verónica Echegui to the film.Claflin stars as uptight English writer Henry Copper who, much to his surprise, discovers that his dull and failed novel has become a huge hit in Mexico.

Without knowing a lick of Spanish, he travels to the Latin American country to promote the book, only to find out that his Spanish translator, Maria, portrayed by Echegui, has rewritten his work as an erotic novel.«It was just a really uplifting story, very beautiful characters, and even the way that it was described in the script, it just gave so much life to Mexico and the sort of characters within it and the world that these characters lived in,» Claflin tells ET about what attracted him to the project. «As someone who hasn't grown up with much knowledge and much vision of Mexico and the Mexican culture, it was sort of my window into that world.

And I have to say that the filming process and speaking to the director [Analeine Cal y Mayor] and knowing how she was going to be approaching the work, I knew it would be quite fun and a joyful experience.

So that was exactly what I needed.»For Echegui, the Spanish actress loved the script and thought it was «very funny.» She also connected to the story because of her Mexican heritage. «I had a meeting with Analeine and I told her that my grandma was Mexican and I really love and enjoy doing accents, different accents,» she says. «I [also] kind of wanted something a bit cheeky.»The story has many elements about love and discovering oneself.