Aneesh Chaganty and Kiera Allen on Hulu’s ‘Run’

Director Aneesh Chaganty wanted an actress who really uses a wheelchair to star as a teenaged girl with disabilities in his new thriller, “Run.” Columbia University student Kiera Allen had a strong audition, but producers want to know whether she could do action scenes. Allen channeled her inner Sylvester Stallone and made a short video of herself doing action moves with the “Rocky” theme song playing in the background.

Allen’s video got her the part. “Run,” now streaming on Hulu, is the first thriller to star an actor who uses a wheelchair since the 1940s. Allen and Chaganty talk about shifting away from an ableist perspective to make “Run,” which tells the story of a mother-daughter relationship gone extremely awry.