For you know, lesbian, gay, queer, transgender kids
the imagined explosion that can happen from something
like saying that out loud,
is pretty intense.
What much loved actress, Jennifer Garner is talking about is
how hard it can be for some young people to come out.
Right now young Australians and Americans who identify as
LGBQTI
are at least five times more likely to have attempted suicide.
And the fear of coming out at high school is one of the reasons things can get so dark
for so many.
I remember being in high school and watching these
movies and having to imagine sort of,
secondary and tertiary characters that might be gay.
We're putting something there that just wasn't there before.
So, I'm just like you except I have one huge ass secret.
Hey!
I like your boots!
I said I like your boots!
Goodbye!
Nobody knows I'm gay.
Have you seen the new post?
About the closeted gay kid at school.
What?
Simon discovers via an underground blog shared among his classmates
that there's another gay dude at school too.
Dear Blue,
I'm just like you.
This was a mistake.
They flirt online anonymously,
until their exchange gets uncovered at school
and that's when the closet door comes flying open.
Si, look at your computer.
Someone leaked your emails on the school blog.
I'm sorry Simon.
I can't do this anymore.
Nick Robinson plays Simon and our very own Katherine Langford plays his on screen BFF.
They're both in Australia for the films premiere here.
Katherine, Nick it's lovely to meet you both.
-Thanks for being on the show. -Thank you for having us.
Katherine you've said that you feel this film is really important because
it normalises the LGBTQI experience.
What do you mean by that?
I feel like the LGBTQI community is so underrepresented in the media
and has been for such a long time
and film as a whole, it has such power.
Because I think what films do wonderfully is that it helps us understand
and to ultimately promote acceptance is
hopefully this film is a step in the right direction for that.
She's cute but she's not really my type.
Not because she's black. I love black women.
Not like, you know I have a thing for black women I just love all women.
I think its challenging these stereotypes in a way that's
subverting these tropes and cliches that you typically see in a high school film
by making the protagonist a young gay man.
It's a little bit radical in that sense.
Katherine I wanted to ask, you play Leah
and her character I guess is quite insecure and fragile,
does that resonate with you as a young woman I guess
that's in someways still also finding your feet?
It feels like what a lot of us went through.
There's that insecurity in yourself, your body and who you are as a person
and that idea in high school that you have of everyone
and everything around you changing and growing at such a rapid rate
that you feel like your hanging on to this really fast ride and you don't know where you're going.
So there's a lot there that I could definitely draw from that I feel like a lot of people have experienced as well.
Nick, coming out can be a really difficulte experience for anyone right
but particually in high school it's a terrifying thing.
I went through it myself and I remember thinking
I'm never gonna tell anybody about what I'm feeling right now.
I guess you went really deep in that mindset playing this character.
How did that feel for you?
Simon is someone who is just constantly on guard
and that's what it forces him to do, he's protecting this secret of his
and the movie as you'll see, is those walls slowly coming down.
I'm done living in a world where I don't get to be who I am.
I deserve a great love story.
Do you feel this movie genuinely has the power to change the minds of people
in terms of how they see the LGBTI community?
Cause at the end of the day it is just another rom com right?
I definitely think that there's power in representation and there's power in having your story told.
I've heard for a lot of people that it's resonated with them in a way nothing else has before.
So I hope that if anything it can help people feel more confident within themselves
and maybe this film can help them feel less alone.
Katherine it was so lovely to meet you. Thank you so much.
Thanks so much Nick. Lovely to meet you both.