Star of new romantic comedy ‘Home Sweet Home’ Natasha Bure gets honest about identity struggles
SPOKANE, Wash. — Natasha Bure, lead actress of the new Christian romantic comedy “Home Sweet Home,” opened up about her personal struggles with some of the themes explored in the film, such as identity and authenticity.
Admitting she's "not perfect," the 21-year-old actress told The Christian Post, "Every day, it's a battle within yourself of finding your identity in something. For me, I want to find my identity in Christ. At the end of the day, I think there are so many times in my life where you get exposed to certain things, or you kind of get used to a certain lifestyle and it's really easy to get off track, but at the end of the day, when you think about what's important to you, you really need to ground yourself in that.”
"Home Sweet Home, which is now available to stream on Pureflix and is coming soon to other platforms via video on demand, tells the story of a “flirtatious barista Victoria, (Bure), who is bored with her social butterfly lifestyle and longs for wholeness but has no idea what that really means, so when handsome, Jason (Ben Elliott) walks into her coffee shop she turns on the charm. When he doesn’t respond to her flirting, a first for her, the challenge begins and ultimately leads her on a path to finding faith and her true self."
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It’s the first time both Bure and her co-star Elliot play lead roles in a movie.
The film was produced by the female duo J.D. Dewitt and Robin McLain, who decided to form their own film production company, 5x5 Productions, because of the odds stacked against them.
“As time goes on, there's more positive female role models out there,” noted Bure, who is the daughter of actress Candace Cameron Bure.
“I think it's so important, especially for young women who are growing up. There's so much expectation, there's so much pressure, I think, in the media, especially just in our day and age with social media and what you see in magazines and television. So I think when you have women speaking up for themselves, and sharing their stories and preaching positivity and love and hope and all that stuff, I think it's really awesome.”
Following in the footsteps of her famous mother, Bure is also an author and influencer who is very vocal about her life and faith journey.
“I try to give as much as I can [to others] because I was blessed with awesome role models when I grew up like my mom and other mentors in my life and I know that not everybody is super lucky in their life to get some really awesome people. So I just hope that there's more of that in the world,” she said.
A theme heavily explored in the film is authenticity and finding one’s identity. Bure’s character longs to get the attention of her love interest by pretending to be into the same things he’s into. However, she fails until she embraces who she truly is.
Elliot commented, “Being real is always important, especially as an actor. So I think if you're kind of trying to put on a fake facade outside of acting, it might bleed into your work.
"Staying grounded, surrounding yourself with good mentors, I have some strong women in my life too that kind of keep me in check if I were ever to go astray, so I just don't. It's just important to surround yourself with good people.”
Echoing that sentiment, Bure said, "Truly, you become who you hang out with and who you surround yourself with.”
The California native gushed about the relationships she’s made while on set.
“I've struggled with going through a period where I had no friends because I just felt like there was no one in my life who was pouring into me in the way that I wanted to live my life," Bure said. "I think that that's really important and in that regard to kind of translating it into your life and how you ground yourself and what your morals are and how you kind of want to approach situations with.”
The actors both celebrated the film and hope people will support it and the message behind it.
Elliot commented, “Victoria comes into her own and also Jason … serving others. It’s really like a major theme of this movie and both find strength through that. Along the way, they have this love connection, which is great. So those two themes, I think, are my favorite in this story.”
Bure noted, “It's really common to just put on that facade, especially when you're growing up and you're figuring out who you are. So even in just playing this out, I'm like, 'I can totally relate to this and I totally have had experiences where I've dealt with something similar.' So I think it'll be a fun film for people to watch and obviously relate to, but it's really cute and it's fun and it's like comedy and romance. So who doesn't love that?”
“Home Sweet Home” will be released on DVD/transactional digital release in May and will have a AVOD released on platforms like Tubi, Pluto, Encourage TV, etc. in the summer.
