“It makes or breaks the movie because … we’re putting on screen an experience that can’t be fudged. Suddenly it made sense like, ‘Oh, this is why the script is written so vibrantly.’ It’s because we’re represented behind the camera as well as in front of it, and I felt that when reading the script,” she said. The actress thinks it definitely helped that the movie’s writers Kirsten King and Casey Rackham and first-time director Sammi Cohen are queer as well. So many LGBTQ+ movies and television shows have leaned heavily on the coming out storyline, but Crush not only doesn’t repeat those clichés, it also features a character established in her bi identity. But she’s also come out already, she is bi, that’s just who she is. I remember reading the script for the first time and being like, ‘This is really sweet, and the humor is on the nose and kind of edgy.’ And I also loved that while being a young teen queer rom-com, it also did not center around a coming out story, because I’ve seen that… got to learn from AJ, and I got to put myself in her shoes.
Cravalho shared her thoughts on starring in Crush: In Crush, Auli’i Cravalho stars as AJ, the co-captain of Miller High School’s track team, who is assigned to train the team newcomer Paige, played by Rowan Blanchard, who also identifies as queer.
