I love that both of your characters accept that they need to wave through their own trauma before even thinking about a relationship. Why do you think it was so important to have this positive mental health message in a film for teens when so often, they focus on toxic tropes a lot of times and those kinds of things that maybe aren’t relationship goals?
Cameli: In the relationships that Eli has with Auden and all of the relationships that Auden has with the people of Colby, you’re able to grow through these relationships. I thought that was really important. Even in Auden and Eli’s relationship, there’s resistance to grow because you’re growing closer to somebody, and you may be actualizing a part of yourself that is good for you, [one] that you’re not prepared to actualize. Having that community in Colby, everybody, especially over the course of the summer, [allowed them] to deal with those demons that they had, especially the two of us. Under the cloak of night that the two of them are able to work through their prior traumas in a healthy and exploratory way, and that was something that I really appreciated via [the] screenplay and novel.
Pasarow: What’s so special is that these are two people who clumsily figure out how to think through their past, create new relationships, and they’re not always right. It doesn’t always come out right verbally, but through each other and making mistakes and checking each other when communications fail, they’re able to figure out how to healthily work through life.
“Along For the Ride” releases on May 6 on Netflix.
This interview has been edited for clarity.
