From 20th Century Fox and producers Wyck Godfrey and Marty Bowen of Temple Hill Entertainment, producers of the phenomenally successful Twilight series and The Fault in Our Stars comes “Love, Simon”, the most socially relevant YA film ever to be produced, overflowing with universal feels based on the book by Becky Albertalli.
“Love, Simon” stars this generation’s coolest actors with Nick Robinson in the title role. Robinson’s recent films include “Jurassic World,” “Everything, Everything” and “The 5th Wave.” Along with Robinson, Katherine Langford also stars as Robinson’s best friend, she is best known for her role as Hannah Baker from the phenomenal Netflix series “13 Reasons Why”. Completing the impressive young cast are Keiynan Lonsdale (CW’s “The Flash”), Miles Heizer (“13 Reasons Why”), Alexandra Shipp (“X-Men: Apocalypse”), Jorge Lendeborg Jr. (“Spiderman: Homecoming”), Logan Miller (“Before I Fall”), Talitha Bateman (“Annabelle: Creation”) with Jennifer Garner and Josh Duhamel. Now a major motion picture, the movie opens up with seventeen-year old Simon Spier’s (Robinson) a little more complicated life: he’s yet to tell his family or friends he’s gay and he doesn’t actually know the identity of the anonymous classmate he’s fallen for online.
“The movie is about family and love. But it is also about secrets,” says Jennifer Garner, who plays Robinson’s mother in the movie. “It’s about letting them out, being who you are and having the courage to really stand up for yourself and say what you need to say. And the movie deals with these themes and the theme of being yourself but in a fun and refreshing way. There is definitely some fun in the movie and it’s not all drama.”
One of the major themes of “Love, Simon” is living your truth, learning to be and accepting yourself. As director Greg Berlanti explains: “It is never too early to be who you are. There are a lot of kids who don’t get to come out in high school and Simon is outed, pulled out, but he learns to accept who he is and live with his own truth and being himself.”
The movie encourages the audience to be courageous and true to themselves.
Nick Robinson agrees, “I think everyone had been through this at some point in their lives. Trying to find yourself and being the person that you were meant to be is very universal. I think everybody can relate to that.”
Alexandra Shipp who also forms part of Simon’s core group of friends adds, “I think a lot of teenagers can relate to the struggle because I think that a lot of teenagers are struggling with finding themselves. They don’t know who they are. They don’t have an idea of who they want to be when they grow up. It’s not just about sexuality. It’s about who you really are. Not who you sleep with but who you really are on this planet.”
“At the end of the day,” observes Langford, “This is a big studio making a pro-LGBTQ film and that’s just very cool, you know?” Adds director Greg Berlanti: “It wasn’t a story that I felt already existed. It reflects my own high school experience yet still feels like it’s for everybody, you know? Where the central point of view was something that rang close to home, but what the film had to say was something that everyone could relate to.”
“Love, Simon” opens May 9 nationwide from 20th Century Fox – with whole day sneak previews on April 30 and May 1.
