First studio teen film goes gay

Jacob Stolworthy

Love, Simon is the first mainstream teen romantic comedy to feature a gay lead character. The new film from director Greg Berlanti — showrunner of The Flash and Riverdale — has outpaced expectation in the US where Variety reports it’s expected to take approximately $10-12m (£7-8.6m) on its opening weekend alone against a budget of $17m (£12m).

It marks something of a groundbreaking move considering the 20th Century Fox release’s status as the first studio film to feature a gay protagonist, something which Berlanti was adamant they did not downplay the orientation of the titular lead character — played by Nick Robinson — instead giving the film the same attention “they would have given any other teen romantic comedy.”

The film focuses on Simon’s coming out in a world so obsessed with social media, sparked by an email exchange with an anonymous student at his school who is also closeted. Jennifer Garner, Josh Duhamel and 13 Reasons Why breakout Katherine Langford also star.

Berlanti — who is raising a two-year-old son with former LA Galaxy football player Robbie Rogers — sought the project after learning novel Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli was to be adapted into a Hollywood film. Love, Simon arrives will be released on April 6.

           — The Independent