© 2026 ABC News

The actress said it was important that the film's storyline stayed true to Yoon's book.

\"As somebody who absolutely loves books,\" Shahidi said, \"I think a book is just a scared thing, so it was important to both Charles and I, having read the book first, even though there are some obvious departures from the novel, that we maintain the essence of it. So that people that read the book enjoy it, people who haven't read the book enjoy it and then want to go read the book.\"

\"The Sun Is Also a Star\" hits theaters Friday.

","canonicalUrl":"https://abcnews.com/GMA/Culture/yara-shahidi-charles-melton-talk-upcoming-film-sun/story?id=63051140","legacySlug":"/culture/story/yara-shahidi-charles-melton-talk-upcoming-film-sun-63051140","noIndexNoFollow":false},"publishTime":"17:33","publishDate":"05-15-2019","updatedTime":"03:50","updatedDate":"05-16-2019","socialImage":{"alt":"Yara Shahidi and Charles Melton discuss their new movie \"The Sun Is Also a Star\" with Michael Strahan.","credit":"Paula Lobo/Walt Disney Television","ratio":"16x9","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/shahid-melton-abc-ps-190515_hpMain_16x9_1600.jpg","width":992,"height":558},"datePublished":"5/15/2019 17:33:32 GMT","video":{"live":false,"id":63051140,"headline":"Yara Shahidi and Charles Melton talk new film","mediaAssetTitle":"The Sun Is Also A Star","description":"The film focuses on topics like immigration and identity.","duration":"4:19","posterImg":{"url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","width":608,"height":342},"video":{"feed":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2019/05/190515_gma_yara_0841_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8"},"playlist":["60117327","61632162","52120734"]},"relatedItems":[{"contentType":"story","date":"January 2, 2019","headline":"How 'Grown-ish' star Yara Shahidi plans to expand her activism in 2019 ","section":"culture","slug":"/culture/story/grown-ish-star-yara-shahidi-plans-expand-activism-60117327","id":60117327,"image":{"alt":"How 'Grown-ish' star Yara Shahidi plans to expand her activism in 2019 ","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/190102_gma_yara1_hpMain_1x1_240.jpg","credit":"ABCNews.com","ratio":"1x1"}},{"contentType":"story","date":"March 13, 2019","headline":"Yara Shahidi reveals who she'd like to honor with a Barbie after getting her own","section":"culture","slug":"/culture/story/yara-shahidi-reveals-woman-shed-honor-barbie-doll-61632162","id":61632162,"image":{"alt":"Yara Shahidi reveals who she'd like to honor with a Barbie after getting her own","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/yara-1-abc-er-190312_hpMain_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"ABC","ratio":"1x1"}},{"contentType":"story","date":"January 3, 2018","headline":"'Grown-ish' star Yara Shahidi talks tackling tough topics in new show","section":"news","slug":"/news/story/grown-ish-star-yara-shahidi-talks-tackling-tough-52120734","id":52120734,"image":{"alt":"'Grown-ish' star Yara Shahidi talks tackling tough topics in new show","url":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/Entertainment/yara-shahidi-abc-jt-180103_4x3t_240.jpg","credit":"Jeff Neira/ABC","ratio":"1x1"}}],"relatedContentSection":"news","schemaContent":{"name":"Yara Shahidi and Charles Melton talk new film","description":"The film focuses on topics like immigration and identity.","duration":"4:19","uploadDate":"05-15-2019","publication":"05-15-2019","images":"https://s.abcnews.com/images/GMA/default-img-undefined.png","url":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2019/05/190515_gma_yara_0841_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","contentUrl":"https://service-pkgabcnews.akamaized.net/opp/hls/abcnews/2019/05/190515_gma_yara_0841_,500,800,1200,1800,2500,3200,4500,.mp4.csmil/playlist.m3u8","link":"https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/culture/story/yara-shahidi-charles-melton-talk-upcoming-film-sun-63051140"}},"playlist":[{"id":"133958398","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133929295","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133882828","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133810954","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133779647","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133810835","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133749799","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133777519","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133748258","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133730535","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133712423","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133694181","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133688738","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133616358","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133616342","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133522899","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133584123","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133579397","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133482839","contentType":"story","section":"news"},{"id":"133390157","contentType":"story","section":"news"}],"kvps":{"pgtyp":"article","lang":"en","sp":"goodmorningamerica","programmatic":"true","bundleId":"com.abcnews"}},"analytics":{"accountID":"wdgnewwdgnewgmaweb","ns":"gma","pageName":"gma:culture:video","pageType":"video","globalSpecVersion":"v1.08","siteDifferentiator":"gma:site","tagID":"g_page01","userABCookie":"0","section":"culture","title":"Yara Shahidi and Charles Melton talk new film","pubTime":"13:33","pubDate":"05-15-2019","modTime":"23:50","modDate":"05-15-2019","taxonomyTags":"none","id":63051140,"editorialOtherSubjects":"","wordCount":"none","columns":"none","authors":"","authorsUnit":"none","authorsBureau":"none","subBrand":"Good Morning America","provider":"Good Morning America","videoName":"Yara Shahidi and Charles Melton talk new film","mediaAssetTitle":"The Sun Is Also A Star","videoId":63051140,"mediaOnPage":"video","legacySlug":"/culture/story/yara-shahidi-charles-melton-talk-upcoming-film-sun-63051140"},"taboola":{}},"request":{"headers":{},"httpVersion":"1.1","method":"GET","url":"/video/63051140","vary":{"host":"www.goodmorningamerica.com","cached":true,"path":"/video/63051140","forwarded-proto":"https","device":"desktop","userab":"0"}},"viewport":{"width":1260,"height":0},"user":{}};