Why ‘Crush’ Filmmakers Made a Queer Rom-Com That’s Not About Coming Out
“Crush” crucially moves past the coming out stage of queer life and into the part where those who have come out can be themselves.
The co-writers, who both identify as queer, started working on the project after meeting at BuzzFeed in 2018 and starting a queer writers group. “We just felt there was a real gap in the culture for queer rom-coms that aren’t about coming out,” King told TheWrap. “I feel like life after the coming out moment is when stuff gets really good for queer people.
Absolutely coming out stories have a place in queer cinema and are necessary and are helpful and are a part of what it means to be a queer person, but this film is so centered on the joy for us.”The Hulu original film follows high school junior Paige Evans (Rowan Blanchard), who joins the track team in the hopes of spending more time with her crush, but who inadvertently gets paired up with a different girl.
Suddenly, Paige is caught in a classic love triangle.“It was really exciting to tell a very human story about falling in love that isn’t necessarily about coming out,” director Sammi Cohen told TheWrap. “I think for Paige, this is more than the chapter in life where she’s letting the world know about something.
