Megan Lawless to lead rom-com Crushed in Chicago
Megan Lawless will lead Crushed, a romantic comedy from first-time cinema director Stephanie Donnelly, Deadline reported on 17 September 2026.
Lawless plays Joss. Her character sets out to track down one perfect crush who might turn out to be the perfect person for her.
Cameras are already rolling. The film is currently shooting in Chicago, and the project marks Donnelly's feature directorial debut, meaning her first time directing a cinema film.
The casting follows Lawless's turn as Sarah in Obsession, the horror film directed by Curry Barker. In that film, Inde Navarrette played Nikki and Michael Johnston played Bear, with Cooper Tomlinson and Andy Richter also in the cast.
Obsession travelled a rare path from festival to multiplex. Focus Features acquired it out of Midnight Madness, the late-night genre section of the Toronto International Film Festival, for US$15 million, Deadline reported.
It then grossed well over US$500 million at the global box office. As reported on 17 September 2026, it stands as Focus Features' highest-grossing film ever and the highest-grossing film acquisition ever made out of a festival.
Barker also wrote Obsession. The film had been set for release on 15 May 2026.
Lawless previously starred opposite Amandla Stenberg and Sabrina Carpenter in The Hate U Give. She also appeared in the Hulu limited series The Girl From Plainville, a self-contained television story told across a single season.
What makes this stand out is the switch in tone. After a festival horror hit built for late nights, her next lead is a daylight love story now in production.
