Plus, the actor tells EW about the challenges of needing to be shirtless at a moment’s notice.
Life is hard in paradise.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: The locations are so beautiful from start to finish.
Christina Milian and a shirtless Sinqua Walls turn up the heat on the beach in ‘Resort to Love’.David Bloomer/ NETFLIX
What was it like filming in Mauritius?
It’s literally paradise.
We were pinching ourselves every other day saying how blessed we were.
Christina Milian shows off her pipes in ‘Resort to Love’.David Bloomer/ NETFLIX
SINQUA WALLS:Every day it was amazing.
We were just like, “We don’t want to leave.”
Sinqua, your character virtually is shirtless or wearing a very low-cut shirt the entire movie.
Christina Milian and Sinqua Walls have eyes for each other in ‘Resort to Love’.David Bloomer/ NETFLIX
WALLS:Christina was my trainer, so it was hard to keep up with her.
[Laughs]
MILIAN:He’s the one who’s in shape.
He was just so good.
Christina Milian and Sinqua Walls share a moment on the beach in ‘Resort to Love’.David Bloomer/ NETFLIX
He was eating good the whole time.
So the entire time, he was working his butt off in the gym, he was eating healthy.
I mean I worked out at the gym, but I ate what I wanted.
Because there was so much good food there.
WALLS:I was so envious.
It was definitely a challenge.
Obviously, you shoot out of order.
So, you never know when we’re gonna need to require the shirtless wonder to show up.
Does it taste good?
What’s it like?"
Christina, you get to return to your own roots as a singer in this.
What was that like?
Did you get to choose any of the songs you sing?
I totally got it and I loved all the songs they chose.
It was definitely one of the main attractions to why I did it.
Her song “No One” plays a crucial role in the plot.
Was it intimidating to sing her song and know she was watching?
MILIAN:I’ll admit I thought about it.
I still think about it.
I’m always impressed when I hear people sing my songs.
It makes me happy no matter what, how they sound or what language or anything.
Throughout the film, Erica is terrified of the geckos that populate the island.
Was that true to life or did you have any other wildlife encounters?
MILIAN:We did have geckos around; you would see those often.
You’d see like crabs and stuff.
I was trying to catch things in the water.
One time I saw this really scary thing, it freaked me out.
When I went back in the next day it wasn’t there, so it was definitely a spider.
And I ended up having a lot of things come into my villa at the time.
Or I’ve never seen them of that size.
The spiders were larger, the bees were bigger, the centipedes were longer.
Those are the things that kind of got me.
Both of you share a lot of screentime with Jay Pharoah.
Coming fromSNLand a comedy background, did he make you laugh all the time?
WALLS:Oh yeah, Jay is a super talented brother.
That’s the great part about working with someone who has that talent at their fingertips.
It was fun to work with him.
MILIAN:It was uncanny the impersonations that he can do.
Because you always think comedian.
I’m like, “Oh wow, there’s a soft spot to this guy.”
Christina, you needed to craft believable chemistry with both Jay and Sinqua.
How did you build that with both of them and differentiate it for yourself?
MILIAN:The script is your guide, which is great when it comes to that.
At the beginning, it’s really awkward.
With Sinqua, he actually hung out with us a lot.
We all went snorkeling.
We all hung out, we still hang out actually.
WALLS: Yeah we do.
I mean, I actually, I became Sinqua Milian by the end of the trip.
But was that real?
Were you really out on that thing with cameras and everything?
WALLS: We really were out there.
Christina actually did this really great impersonation of me crossing the bridge.
MILIAN: He was like power walking through it.
WALLS: I was like a running back trying to run for a touchdown.
I was going so fast.
MILIAN: I only went about like 30 percent of the way out.
I’m not really a heights person.
There’s a pretty fun karaoke scene.
Did that ever turn into the real thing after hours?
MILIAN: There was a karaoke night.
Our cast and crew did like a little “Kumbaya” by the beach one day.
Music did come into play off camera as well.
What is your go-to karaoke song?
WALLS: Bobby Brown, “My Prerogative.”
MILIAN: Ah, that’s a good one.
Christina,your previous Netflix filmFallingInn Love,you faced off with a goat.
Would you rather have a goat or a gecko for an animal co-star?
MILIAN: I’m a little less bothered by the geckos than I am by a goat.
Or they’ll jump on you, so I’ll go with the gecko.
