He’s relaxed. He is chatting with his wife, who is filming. His biceps are bulging out of his black polo shirt as he shakes a cocktail shaker.
It’s Stanley Tucci making a Negroni, and it is how he briefly upended the internet in the pandemic spring of 2020.
“I hadn’t really drank Negronis before that moment,” Felicity Blunt, Mr. Tucci’s wife, said in a phone interview. But, she added, “they tasted great.”
These days, though, she favors a martini (with a twist) as her go-to aperitif.
“I think we overdosed on Negronis during lockdown,” Ms. Blunt said. She now associates the taste with the pandemic. But, she added, “I’m sure I’ll circle back around eventually to my lockdown liquor of choice.”
In the video, Mr. Tucci explains how to make a Negroni “up” (“You can do it on the rocks, but it’s kind of really nice to have it up”): Put a generous amount of ice in a shaker, followed by a double shot of gin and a shot each of “a good sweet vermouth” and Campari. Shake vigorously, strain into a coupe and garnish with an orange slice, squeezing some of the juice into the glass.
Originally, Ms. Blunt sent the video to her colleagues at the publisher where she works as a literary agent, seeing it as a distraction from the challenges, fears and sadness that came with the early months of the pandemic.
It was her idea to post it on Mr. Tucci’s Instagram account (which, according to Ms. Blunt, was “a bit moribund” at the time) on April 20, 2020.
After the actor Chris Evans shared the video, and other people picked it up, it took on a life of its own. In the depth of the pandemic’s dark early days, with a lack of any work gossip or other regular distractions, the internet quickly jumped on the bandwagon. The Guardian published an article asking, “Why is Stanley Tucci making a Negroni so hot?”
“It was lovely and funny,” Ms. Blunt said. “It felt very unreal.”
There was so little to do at the time — does anyone need to be reminded? — and many people found their escape by jumping headlong into hobbies that have since been discarded like used tissues. (Who is still tending a sourdough starter?)
For Ms. Blunt and Mr. Tucci, part of their pandemic escape came in the form of Negronis. They marked the end of the workday during a time when personal life, work life, weekdays and holidays all blended together.
Looking back at those weeks and months and years of the pandemic, Ms. Blunt said there are parts that she treasures. Besides those Negronis, there was something “quite magical about having so much time in the presence of your family every day.”
But that time was also edged with fear and worry that her children wouldn’t grow up to live normal lives. “It was bitter and sweet at the same time,” she said.
Kind of like a Negroni.
