Nick Robinson felt responsible for playing gay character in Love, Simon

15 March 2018

Nick Robinson felt a "certain responsibility" playing a gay character in 'Love, Simon'.

Nick Robinson

The 22-year-old actor - who shot to fame in 'Jurassic World' - is starring as Simon Spier in the new LGBT+ coming-of-age movie, but although he is straight in real life, filmmaker Greg Berlanti was "adamant" to have Robinson as the titular character.

When asked by Vulture if he felt any responsibility playing this role, Robinson said: "Yes and no.

"I did feel a certain responsibility, not only for playing a gay character and trying to represent the community, but also to fans of the novel.

"When you're working with source material like this, people often have an idea of the character in their mind.

"You have to just do your own interpretation, the best way I know how. In conversations with Greg, he was really adamant that I was right for this part, and I had to trust him.

"His experience really informed my experience."

The film - which also stars Jennifer Garner and Josh Duhamel - follows 17-year-old Simon who hasn't told his family or friends that he is gay.

But his life changes when he falls for an anonymous classmate online, and Robinson knew he wanted to be part of the film because a "mainstream film with a gay protagonist" hasn't been done before.

He said: "It was really the director, Greg Berlanti. We'd discussed the concept behind it, how it was something we hadn't seen before.

"It was a new idea: a mainstream coming-of-age film with a gay protagonist. We also discussed the implications of that, how it could potentially be helpful to people.

"After our conversation, it got me excited about this project and all the people involved. I went back in to audition, we did chemistry reads with the rest of the cast.

"The main takeaway was that everyone involved in this thing was doing it for the right reasons.

"Greg is a gay man, and he had his personal story. Everyone seemed to have a personal story that they were bringing to this.

"I think it was a labour of love that made for a great work environment."