Teala Dunn on How Hulu’s ‘Crush’ Will Break Boundaries [Interview]

Hulu’s next hit is on its way, and it’s queerer than ever.

The film that will quickly be known for breaking boundaries in queer cinema is Crush. Following the film’s lead, Paige (Rowan Blanchard), Crush tells the tale of a young woman navigating the messy world of high school crushes and the lengths one will go to find love.

When an opportunity arises for her to get closer to her long-time crush, Paige joins the track team. However, she soon finds out that she may have had her eyes set on the wrong person the whole time.

I recently had the opportunity to chat with Teala Dunn about her role on Crush and why the film will be part of queer history.

You may recognize Dunn from her roles in Are We There Yet, Enlisted, and Good Trouble. Or you might know her from her popular YouTube channel, where she has grown a massive following thanks to the variety of content that explores her life.

On Crush, Dunn plays Stacey Clark, Paige’s long-time best friend and girlfriend to Dillon, played by Tyler Alvarez. 

“Stacy Clark is one of the queen bees of the school. She’s running for student body president. Her parents do very well for themselves, and Stacey loves to have fun. She’s dating Dillon, played by Tyler Alvarez, and I’d say Dillon and Stacey are absolutely in love with each other. But they are also best friends with Paige, and we are ride-or-dies. We just want Paige to find love. We don’t care who it’s with. We just want Paige to be happy,” Dunn said.

While Dunn may have an array of roles under her belt, Stacey is a different but rewarding venture.

“Playing Stacey was just a dream come true. Not only did I love the wardrobe, the hair, and makeup — all of it — it was just really cool to play such a different character. I love playing characters that aren’t stereotypes. And when I got the breakdown for the audition, it said Stacey Clark — open to all ethnicities, rich, popular, star of the track team, best friends of the lead. And I was just like, ‘the odds sound against me on this breakdown, but I’m still gonna go for it because I’m obsessed with this role.'”

“Lo and behold, I booked it, which is so inspiring. I want to inspire young African American girls that you can book any role. You don’t need to be typecast, or it doesn’t have to be a certain type of role for you to book because of your race. So, I think that’s part of why I love Stacey so much because a lot of other races auditioned for this role, but Stacey Clark’s Black,” Dunn continued.

Stacey, along with Dillon, is part of the track team, which means there’s a lot of physical labor involved in the role, something Dunn quickly realized once filming began. “I do work out a lot. I love yoga and all those things. But I never did any track growing up.”

“I have a lot of friends that did track, and I was just like, ‘oh, you just run.’ But boy, let me tell you, when we were in those track scenes, my respect level for track stars went up tremendously. It is so much work. And I have asthma too, so I kept having all the PAs running, grabbing my inhaler in between takes. But it was fun and super rewarding because we truly worked so hard on this movie; literally blood, sweat, and tears in this film,” Dunn continued.

Aside from the physical aspects, Crush is a film that doesn’t enlist typical queer film narratives. Dealing with the weight of moments like coming out is not a factor in the movie, and it’s a fresh feeling.

“I think the way they normalize sexuality, and the fact that they have so many supportive roles of the queer characters is so important. I feel like you don’t see that a lot with a lot of queer movies,” she said. “I feel like sometimes there’s a bully or somebody making fun of their sexuality, and there’s none of that in this film, which is amazing.”

“The teachers are supportive of everybody’s sexualities. The parents are supportive. There are no characters that are making anybody feel uncomfortable because of their sexuality whatsoever, and I feel like that is so important in a coming-of-age rom-com. Also, it’s hilarious. I mean, it’s definitely out there and not what you expect. There are a lot of shocking, surprising moments in this film, which is great. It’s a very unpredictable movie,” Dunn continued.

Crush is also one of the first teen rom-coms to feature a canon sapphic love triangle, breaking boundaries and making history for queer cinema, something Dunn is excited to be part of. “It feels absolutely amazing. And I know so many of my fans are so excited for me to be a part of such a groundbreaking movie.”

“Not only is it funny, not only is it a diverse cast, but this is a movie that’s going to make history, and to be a part of something like that just feels so, so exciting and rewarding. The fact that so many people are already so hyped about the trailer, and they just can’t wait to see it is just music to my ears, honestly, and I couldn’t be happier with how it all came out,” Dunn said.

Working alongside Tyler Alvarez and Rowan Blanchard was a highlight of Dunn’s time on set and an experience she won’t soon forget. “First of all, shout out to Ro-Ro [Rowan Blanchard]. I love her so much. I’ve never met a girl like Rowan in my whole life. She really turned it up.”

“She would bring this big boombox to set every single day, queue up her music, and we would be twerking in the hair and makeup room every single morning. She would just be blasting it nonstop. We would be doing night shoots, and she would still bring the boombox, and we would be dancing in between takes. She just really set the vibe of the movie, and she was a dream to work with,” Dunn said.

“Working alongside Tyler has been incredible because we are both insane, and I feel like we balance each other out so well. And our chemistry is just through the roof. We got so close filming this because in every scene he’s in, I’m in, honestly, like we are attached to the hip. I naturally became so close to him, and he’s a dream.”

Besides Crush, Dunn has another film she recently wrapped filming on, one that pushes her talents to the limits. “Werewolf Games I just wrapped yesterday. We’ve been filming it for a little bit of last month, and all this month, until yesterday. Working on Werewolf Games has been a dream come true. I’m a lead; I’m number two in that movie.”

“Werewolf Games is something I’ve never done before. It was so intense because everything I do is usually drama, comedy, or things like that. I’ve never done something to this intensity, and it was so rewarding. That’ll be coming out next year,” Dunn said.

In a quick little tease, Dunn also revealed that her character on Good Trouble will take on a more significant role in Season 4.

“I can say that my character Zelda’s coming back on Good Trouble for multiple episodes, which is really exciting. I’m filming that right now. Zelda is amazing, and I love Good Trouble. Working on it is incredible,” she said. “My character is very involved with Cierra’s character, Mariana. I love working with Cierra. She’s the best.”

Of course, I also had to talk to Dunn about her presence on social media. Dunn’s reign on YouTube began simply as an outlet for her boredom between her classes and filming. Soon after, her other social media accounts began to experience the same traction once she booked her first role on Disney.

“My Instagram started to take off because I got started on Shake It Up, Dog With A Blog, and a lot of Disney shows. Zendaya and Bella were so sweet. They would always help me with like different Instagram angles. I think my very first Instagram photo way back in 2014 is a photo of me, Zendaya, and Bella in Zendaya’s dressing room on the set of Shake It Up,” Dunn said. “So that was my very first Instagram post ever, which is so crazy looking back on it now to see how well Zendaya has done for herself. I’m just so proud of her.”

“As far as social media, it was always just a side thing. I’m super lucky that my fan base has grown the way that they’ve grown, and as far as TikTok, I feel like that has just transformed my following a lot. So, I feel very, very blessed because my fans are incredible, and they’ve been with me through thick and thin. I can’t wait for them to watch this movie.”

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Crush premieres on April 29th on Hulu.

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