Lana Condor may have closed the chapter on Lara Jean back in 2021 when the final To All The Boys movie was released, but the actress continues to take her experiences from the trilogy with her. When we spoke to Condor for her leading role in Dreamworks’ Ruby Gillman, Teenage Kraken, she opened up about how her famed rom-com role impacted her portrayal of the undersea warrior princess.
While the characters look worlds apart from the outside, upon further investigation, one could draw a few comparisons between Lara Jean and Ruby Gillman. For one, both of them are attempting to navigate the rough waters of high school amidst having secret crushes and … other secrets. During our interview with Condor, she shared this about how the two roles collided for her:
I learned a lot of things from All The Boys, but I think one of the things that I learned from that experience is how to create a character that genuinely has a really good heart and that people can feel for. And, I love playing characters that are just genuinely good people. And, so I think for Ruby it was my intention to make her someone that you don't ever really question her intentions. Like, you know, at the end of the day, she's going to do the right thing regardless of if she's scared or not. And, I think you can depend on a person like that. And, I like the fact that you could depend on a character like that. So, I don't know. I think maybe just learning how to make a character be likeable.
Release Date: June 30, 2023
Directed By: Kirk DeMicco
Written By: Pam Brady, Brian C. Brown, Elliott DiGuise
Starring: Lana Condor, Toni Collette, Annie Murphy, Sam Richardson, Nicole Byer, Colman Domingo, Will Forte, Liza Koshy, and Jane Fonda
Rating: PG for some action, rude humor and thematic elements
Runtime: 91 minutes
Per the actress, the To All The Boys movies were a lesson in creating likable characters that people want to root for at the end of the day. Teenage girls (or krakens) don’t often have the most foresight and could easily be written off. However, for Lana Condor, between the two roles, she’s felt that she’s really learned about playing heroines the audience can depend on to do the “good” thing.
Lana Condor was thrust into mega fame at the age of 21 when 2018’s To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before hit Netflix. She’s previously opened up about it in retrospect, speaking to how the movie was received “better” than she had “ever imagined” in her “wildest dreams.” She sprung into more projects immediately after in an effort to “capitalize” on it, but she became burnt out by all the “stimulation” of stardom.
It's been two years now since To All The Boys’ conclusion, and Lana Condor got to start from scratch with an animated high schooler who learns one day she has the ability to turn into an all-powerful kraken. The 2023 new movie release sees the nervous teen learning of her undersea origins, and she is warned about “evil mermaids,” which is obviously much different than the tales Disney tells of who’s the good and bad guys of the ocean.
Following Ruby Gillman, Lana Condor is set to star alongside John Cena in a Looney Tunes movie called Coyote v. Acme, a The Bachelor-inspired thriller called The One and a rom-com called Worth The Wait. We have to wonder if Condor will continue to play “genuinely good people” or start to experiment with the other side throughout her career, as well.
