Remember that first-crush feeling? Hulu’s new teen rom-com Crush aims to capture it.
The movie stars Rowan Blanchard as Paige, an aspiring artist with an all-consuming crush on her popular classmate Gabriela, played by Love, Victor‘s Isabella Ferreira. But after a misunderstanding at school forces her to join the track team, Paige finds herself getting closer to Gabriella’s sporty twin sister, AJ.
Auli’i [owl-LEE-ee] Cravalho, who identifies as bisexual and plays the bisexual AJ, tells ABC Audio she was drawn to the story’s relatable take on queer love, thanks to a mostly queer-identifying cast and crew.
“It was a really safe space to play and also I think that’s why the voice that I heard when reading the script and what we put on screen is so vivid and genuine,” the Moana star says. “It’s because there was representation in front of the camera and behind it.”
That authenticity is something fans will surely appreciate as well, with reaction to the film’s core love triangle already buzzing on social media.
“We’ve already been getting tagged in edits, like video edits — Team Gabby, Team AJ, Team Whatever…” Ferreira says. “And I think it’s so sweet and it’s so cute, because that’s kind of the outcome that we wanted. We wanted people to really love the film.”
Blanchard has similar hopes for the film, telling ABC Audio, “I just really hope that it makes people feel that butterfly feeling of when you have a crush on somebody for the first time.”
Crush, also starring Megan Mullally, Michelle Buteau and Aasif Mandvi, debuts on Hulu this Friday, April 29.
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