Sometimes life imitates movies.
In an interview with Ellen DeGeneres, Love, Simon actor Nick Robinson shared a sweet family moment about his brother.
Robinson explained to the host that his brother is gay, though he had no idea until he began filming Love, Simon. Robinson plays Simon Spier, a closeted high school senior on the brink of coming out to his family, friends, and school peers.
“He came out around the same time that we started filming,” the actor said. Despite the role being a major career-boosting feat — he co-stars alongside Jennifer Garner and Josh Duhamel who play his hot parents — Robinson explained to DeGeneres that his brother coming out to him was really the coolest part.
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“One of the best things that came out of this movie is being able to talk to him,” he said. “I think...the strength of a film like this is it starts a conversation. I hope that it can do that for more people and start a conversation that otherwise may not have been there.”
Robinson, who is 22 and one of seven children, also explained to DeGeneres that before he’d seen the Love, Simon script he vowed to never to take on another high school-aged role again. Clearly there was a deeper reason why it was important for him to break that vow.
The screenplay is based on Becky Albertalli's best-selling 2015 novel, Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, and is directed by Riverdale producer Greg Berlanti.
Love, Simon hit cinemas in the UK on 6th April and has been lauded for its heartwarming take on a rite of passage for countless teens around the world. Considering the lack of LGBTQ representation in Hollywood, the premise is a welcome change in an industry riddled with problems.
According to a GLAAD report published in 2017, only 23 of the 125 films surveyed in 2016 featured an LGBTQ character. Considering this information was aggregated from seven major studios ...something definitely doesn’t add up.
Here’s hoping films like Love, Simon and the Oscar-winner Call Me By Your Name — also celebrated for its take on coming-of- age as a gay teen — are more than a Hollywood trend.