Lola Tung To Star In New Sapphic Soccer Romance ‘Ripe!’
Lola Tung will star in ‘Ripe!,’ a lesbian soccer romance produced by USWNT star Kelley O’Hara, giving us sweaty tension and summertime yearning.
Featured Image: Photo by Marcus Ingram/Getty Images
Lola Tung really went from The Summer I Turned Pretty to The Summer I Turned Gay, starring in upcoming queer, indie romance film, Ripe!
Despite the teaser being approximately seven seconds long, it was powered mostly by tension, sweat, and eye contact—which is more than enough for the sapphic girlies.
The clip shows Tung’s character on the soccer field doing the classic hot athlete shirt-lift maneuver before locking eyes with co-star Rita Roca.
And remember back in 2019 when former NWSL player Kelley O’Hara went viral for running to the stands to kiss her then-girlfriend, as a way to celebrate the USWNT’s 2019 World Cup victory? Guess what? She’s the executive producer of this movie.
And if the premise sounds deliciously familiar, that’s because Ripe! is based on the acclaimed short film of the same name, directed by Tusk and also produced by O’Hara. It followed an American exchange student in Spain whose competitive soccer rivalry with a local girl slowly spirals into a summer crush. The gays just seem to love a classic enemies-to-lovers trope.
O’Hara previously said she was drawn to the project because she wanted to help tell “a story with a happy ending,” noting that many queer love stories tend to center pain and heartbreak instead.
The short film already made serious waves, winning Best Narrative Short at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival, and now the feature-length adaptation is expanding the story with Tung leading the charge straight into our queer little hearts.
No release date has been announced for Ripe! yet, but lesbians are seated, patiently (impatiently) waiting.
