There's more to Simon Spier's story.
E! News has an exclusive deleted scene from 20th Century Fox's Love, Simon, available on Digital May 29 and on 4K UHD, Blu-ray and DVD June 12. In it, a recently outed Simon (Nick Robinson) goes to his first gay bar along with his straight BFF Nick Eisner (Jorge Lendeborg Jr.). Ironically, but not surprisingly, Nick seems to be more comfortable in the bar than Simon does.
"I think that guy is checking me out," an underage Nick says.
Rolling his eyes, Simon says, "You've said that about literally every guy since we got here."
"Well, what can I say?" Nick asks. "The gays love me!"
Moments later, a college co-ed named Kevin (Colton Haynes) approaches Simon to ask if he'd like to dance. Nervous, Simon says no—but Nick isn't about to let him pass on the opportunity.
To see what happens next, watch the clip now.
Even though his only scene was cut, Haynes is proud of the film's message:
Given the actor's natural chemistry with Robinson, why was the scene cut at all?
"It just played as it wasn't his character," director Greg Berlanti told Gay Star News of Simon. The actors were "great," he added, "but it just slowed down the narrative. It felt like we were jumping the gun about what his experience was." Isaac Aptaker, who co-wrote the screenplay with Elizabeth Berger, provided additional context in a Q&A with The Hollywood Reporter. "There was a big sequence that we wrote and filmed where Nick takes Simon out to a gay bar after he comes out and before he goes back to school for his first day. The guys were great in it, and Greg did a great job with it, but in terms of the momentum of the movie, it was this long sequence that took you out of the world we'd been in for this long, eight-minute thing," Aptaker said. "It messed up the pacing and the momentum of the movie, so we had to cut it."
Love, Simon is nominated for Best Kiss at the 2018 MTV Movie & TV Awards.