Filming "Sweet on You" for UPtv Was Like Old Home Week for Rob Mayes

"It reunited me with these producers, and Marla and I had a blast on The Road Home a few years ago," he continued. "Hands down she was one of the best scene partners I've ever had, and she's become a close friend. So, when this popped up, I jumped on a Zoom call with Haylie, we hit it off immediately, and soon after we were off to the races."

While he doesn't share any on-screen scenes with Sokoloff (she does make a cameo), Mayes has nothing but praise for his friend as a director. "Marla is one of the smartest people I have ever met," he said. "And hands down [she's] one of the funniest. So, when she's in the director's chair and telling me what to do, I'm all ears. I'd be like, 'Hey, you know, I think I can make this funny, but you tell me what to do and I'm going to do it.' Watching her work is like a master class."

In the film Mayes portrays commercial real estate agent/city slicker Drew Ellis, who after inheriting a nice chunk of land in the rural town of Cedar Creek finds himself embracing country life. His initial intention is to offload the land to a developer, but after meeting Kate Davies (Duff), who runs the town's famous pie shop Pearl's Pie Place, finds himself in a moral dilemma. Selling his land would mark the end of Pearl's, together with any chance of a budding romance, and the idyllic setting that is Cedar Creek.

Being no stranger to the rom-com genre, Mayes' on-screen likability makes him perfect to play the "nice guy doing a bad thing," but he also appreciates that being a leading man requires a certain skill set. "There's an earnestness that I try to embrace and impart to these sorts of characters," he explained. "It's easy to read something and see it on the page and be like, 'Oh, this person is just so unlikable.' The challenge is, how do you take someone who comes across as kind of cringe-worthy at face value, then give [them] some life and levity? I think the key is playing it with earnestness.

"And love is everything," he added. "Positivity, hope, goodness, acceptance and redemption are all universal themes the human condition gravitates towards and requires and needs and that's such a healthy thing to be able to keep bringing to life, again and again, knock on wood. That's the biggest takeaway, and sometimes we need a reminder that human beings are good and mean well. Even though we fail, and fall short, how do we pick ourselves up on despite of [that] and rise back up?"

Mayes believes this film is a perfect fit with UPtv's message of uplifting entertainment. "That word 'uplifting' keeps coming up again and again," he said. "It came up a whole bunch of times at the recent Movieguide Awards where my last film (5,000 Blankets) won Most Inspirational Independent Streaming/Television Movie of the year. We were talking about inspiration and being uplifting, and these words keep getting used for a reason. They're powerful and mean a lot to a lot of people."

Another uplifting element to the project was getting to work with Duff for the first time. "My first real interaction with Haylie was when we got to set'" he recalled. "She's just the loveliest person ever. So humble and warm and giving and generous. I've been very fortunate in getting to work with Marla, and now Haylie, who is an amazing scene partner in her own right. I feel very blessed."

Fans of Mayes' music will be thrilled to hear his song "Closer" on the film's soundtrack. "It was the first song that I put out back in 2019 and I'm excited to see how it plays in the film," he said.

Don't look for him to recreate some of the baking skills he demonstrates in some of the movie's sweeter scenes. "There is something called movie magic, and that's where I'm going to leave that," he laughed. "I didn't have a clue as to what I was doing. I could make a hell of a steak, I could scramble up some really dope eggs, toast some toast, and put some grass-fed butter on there then pour myself a glass of water. That's pretty much the extent of my cooking skills but I'm more than happy to indulge."

Sweet on You is only the beginning of Mayes' relationship with UPtv. He just wrapped another for them entitled Just Jake that centers on country music to air later in the year. "We got to write some really great country music for it with heavy hitter songwriters," he shared in closing. "UPtv has been fantastic. It's a newer home for me, and I hope there's more to come because it feels good."

Sweet on You will be telecast Sunday, Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. on UPtv as part of its Flirty February programming event.

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