Love, Simon: The groundbreaking first studio teen film to feature gay protagonist
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.”
Just got out of @lovesimonmovie where people were SCREAMING and CLAPPING like I’ve never seen at a movie before. One kid announced during the credits that he came out to his parents today to rounds of applause. Thank you @GBerlanti for giving me hope for the future. Love, Sergio
— Sergio Lopez (@theserge) March 17, 2018
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 in UK cinemas on 6 April
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