Previously, we’ve discussed whether straight actors like Nick Robinson should play gay roles like his character in Love, Simon. But, at least we can be sure that Robinson is thankful for the role.
That’s not only because of the major spotlight its giving him, but also because it ended up bettering his personal life and those around him.
While on the Ellen DeGeneres show, Robinson revealed that while he was filming Love, Simon, someone close to him came out of the closet.
And who was that? Robinson’s brother.
“He came out around the same time we started filming, yeah. I think that he had been dealing with this for a long time and the timing was coincidental, but one of the best things that came out of this movie was being able to talk to him,” Nick said.
“I think that’s the strength of a film like this is that it starts conversations, and I hope it can do that for more people and start a conversation that might not have been there.”
On top of that, Robinson shared his initial hesitation at playing a gay role when he personally is straight. The actor says that after much debate over the issue, he decided to go through with it because of the importance of the film.
“It was a conversation with Greg [Berlanti], our director, we went back and forth and we talked about it,” he said,
“But I really think that with a project like this, especially today, there’s been so much progress in the last 20 years, a lot of which is thanks to you and everything that you’ve done. If you hadn’t come out when you did we might not have this movie now.”
You can watch more the interview down below.
h/t: GayTimes
You know, I’ve noticed
You know, I've noticed something different about the promotion of this film. Unlike "Call Me by Your Name," it seems the promoters of "Love, Simon" are doing everything they can to embrace the gay/queer performers and crew. So far, there are two openly gay actors in the film and one bisexual. Sure their supporting characters but still, promoters for "Call Me by Your Name" went out of their way to highlight how straight everyone involved in the film was. Even Nick Robinson connects the film to his gay brother. I don't know. I just get a different, more positive queer vibe with this movie than "Call Me by Your Name." I hope this works.