Another reason I love this movie so much is what Issa Rae told me (that brag was anything but humble, no regrets) about the tweaks she and Nanjiani made to the script. Leilani and Jibran weren’t written to be a Black woman and a Brown man. When the duo was cast, they made sure certain notes were added (like the reason for the couple’s hesitation to go straight to the police) so that their races informed their characters, without it being the focus. They also made sure that the rest of the cast, from extras to the people who play their friends, were also people of colour. Rae and Nanjiani wanted to make a romantic comedy that didn’t centre on whiteness, like so many in Hollywood do , and they succeeded.