Nick Robinson (Screenshot courtesy of YouTube)

“Love, Simon” star Nick Robinson revealed that the film’s subject matter hit close to home in an interview for “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.”

The 22-year-old actor, who portrays closeted teen Simon, told DeGeneres that his brother came out to him around the time of filming which gave the role more significance for him.

“He came out right around the same time we started filming. I think he had been dealing with this for a long time. The timing was sort of coincidental,” Robinson says. “One of the best things that came out of this movie was just being able to talk to him and I think the strength of a film like this is it starts conversations. I hope it can do that for more people.”

Robinson also addressed taking on a gay role as a straight actor. He credits DeGeneres for helping pave the way for mainstream LGBT representation in the media.

“It was a conversation with Greg [Berlanti], our director, we went back and forth and we talked about it,” Robinson says.“But I really think that with a project like this, especially today, there’s been so much progress in the last 20 years, a lot of which is thanks to you and everything that you’ve done. If you hadn’t come out when you did we might not have this movie now.”

Watch below.