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Shawn Mendes reveals he almost auditioned for the lead role in ‘Love, Simon’

The 'Stitches' singer says he would have "loved" to take on the part.

By Will Stroude

As anyone who’s seen Love, Simon will know, Nick Robinson does a fantastic job of playing high school senior Simon Spier, the 17-year-old whose life is turned upside down when a classmates threatens to out him after discovering emails to his mysterious pen-pal Blue.

But while the 22-year-old Jurassic World star has made the role his own, it turns out things could have been very different had it not been for the schedule of one Mr Shawn Mendes.

The Canadian singer, 19, has revealed that he almost auditioned for the lead role in Greg Berlanti’s gay teen drama based on Becky Albertelli’s best-selling book, but that the timing “didn’t work out”.

Shawn made the surprising admission on in a radio interview on Thursday (March 22) after seeing the “incredible” movie the night before.

 

“Yeah, I would’ve loved to [have audtitioned for the role],” he told host Elvis Duran.

“Unfortunately, timing didn’t work out, but that would’ve been amazing.”

Mendes, who released his brand new single ‘In My Blood’ on Thursday, was quick to praise Robison’s performance, saying the actor did an “amazing” job.

“Watching last night, Nick just did an incredible job and it was really amazing,” he said. “Except for the fact that I was freaking out every two minutes, checking my phone, because [‘In My Blood’] was coming.

“I thought going to a movie would be a relaxing thing to do. The opposite!”

While Shawn may have missed out on a role in Love, Simon, he’s still set to appear on the big screen in the near future after it was announced that he’ll be starring in Ivan Reitman’s upcoming movie musical Summer of Love.

Love, Simon hits UK cinemas on April 6.