{"id":135911,"date":"2020-05-21T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-21T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gaytimes.co.uk\/?p=135911"},"modified":"2020-07-02T17:58:22","modified_gmt":"2020-07-02T17:58:22","slug":"michael-cimino-opens-up-about-how-his-gay-cousin-inspired-love-victor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/culture\/michael-cimino-opens-up-about-how-his-gay-cousin-inspired-love-victor\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Cimino opens up about how his gay cousin inspired Love, Victor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Michael Cimino has opened up about the inspiration behind his Love, Victor character.<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Rising star Michael plays the lead role in the upcoming Love, Simon spin-off TV series. It’s set to be the biggest LGBTQ+ show of the year, exploring the highs and lows of young gay love and the difficult process of coming out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As he covers the new Solidarity Issue of Gay Times Magazine<\/strong>, Michael reveals that his character Victor was inspired by his cousin, who shared his experiences as a gay man to help give the story more authenticity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI asked him about his story, and how it affected him, and we kind of went on a deep dive into what affected him in what ways, and so in the end we kind of based Victor on my cousin because I wanted to represent his struggle,\u201d Michael says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think my cousin is quite possibly my favourite person in the whole entire world, he’s my best friend and way more than a cousin, he’s like a brother. We do everything together. I respect him to the utmost degree and really appreciate him as a person.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For showrunner Brian Tanen, whose previous credits include Grey\u2019s Anatomy and Ugly Betty, the Love, Simon universe is a perfect fit for the TV format. After all, coming out is a process far more complicated than a one-off movie can fully convey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou get to live with the characters for longer than just two hours, you get to see them blossom and develop over time,\u201d he tells us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe journey of coming out and realising this thing about yourself when you’re that age, it is a bit of a long process. We really get to spend time with the character, and watch them grapple and watch them grow and finally embrace who they are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I also really loved the idea of working on a show where the protagonist was an LGBTQ+ teenager. I feel like, had this existed when I was in high school, I would have really appreciated it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael Cimino’s Gay Times Magazine cover is available worldwide, and you can buy it here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\n

Photography Forrest Leo<\/strong>
Words Daniel Megarry<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael Cimino has opened up about the inspiration behind his Love, Victor character. Rising star Michael plays the lead role in the upcoming Love, Simon spin-off TV series. It’s set\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":207,"featured_media":135915,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[205,531,665],"tags":[694,641,647,646],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMichael Cimino opens up about how his gay cousin inspired Love, Victor<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/culture\/michael-cimino-opens-up-about-how-his-gay-cousin-inspired-love-victor\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Michael Cimino opens up about how his gay cousin inspired Love, Victor\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Michael Cimino has opened up about the inspiration behind his Love, Victor character. Rising star Michael plays the lead role in the upcoming Love, Simon spin-off TV series. It’s set\u2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/culture\/michael-cimino-opens-up-about-how-his-gay-cousin-inspired-love-victor\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"GAY TIMES\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gaytimes\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-05-21T16:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-07-02T17:58:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Michael-Cimino-Gay-Times-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"784\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"489\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Daniel Megarry\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@danielmegarry\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@gaytimes\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Daniel Megarry\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/culture\/michael-cimino-opens-up-about-how-his-gay-cousin-inspired-love-victor\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/culture\/michael-cimino-opens-up-about-how-his-gay-cousin-inspired-love-victor\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Daniel Megarry\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b8396c4b5bf9144ca3fc4b8bea527b25\"},\"headline\":\"Michael Cimino opens up about how his gay cousin inspired Love, Victor\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-05-21T16:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-07-02T17:58:22+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/culture\/michael-cimino-opens-up-about-how-his-gay-cousin-inspired-love-victor\/\"},\"wordCount\":378,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Celebrity\",\"lgbtq tv shows\",\"Love Simon\",\"Love Victor\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Culture\",\"Originals\",\"Television\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/culture\/michael-cimino-opens-up-about-how-his-gay-cousin-inspired-love-victor\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/culture\/michael-cimino-opens-up-about-how-his-gay-cousin-inspired-love-victor\/\",\"name\":\"Michael Cimino opens up about how his gay cousin inspired Love, Victor\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-05-21T16:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-07-02T17:58:22+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/culture\/michael-cimino-opens-up-about-how-his-gay-cousin-inspired-love-victor\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/culture\/michael-cimino-opens-up-about-how-his-gay-cousin-inspired-love-victor\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/culture\/michael-cimino-opens-up-about-how-his-gay-cousin-inspired-love-victor\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Michael Cimino opens up about how his gay cousin inspired Love, Victor\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/\",\"name\":\"GAY TIMES\",\"description\":\"Amplifying queer voices.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"GAY TIMES\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cd-gaytimes.j.layershift.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/GT_ICON_ILLUSTRATOR_BLACK_RGB-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cd-gaytimes.j.layershift.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/GT_ICON_ILLUSTRATOR_BLACK_RGB-1.png\",\"width\":11710,\"height\":11710,\"caption\":\"GAY TIMES\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gaytimes\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/gaytimes\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/gaytimes\/\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/gaytimes\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.co.uk\/gaytimesmag\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/GayTimesChannel\",\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gay_Times\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b8396c4b5bf9144ca3fc4b8bea527b25\",\"name\":\"Daniel Megarry\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4d712a1964344f203c0af54b14d2925d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4d712a1964344f203c0af54b14d2925d?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Daniel Megarry\"},\"description\":\"daniel@gaytimes.co.uk\",\"sameAs\":[\"danielmegarry\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/danielmegarry\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/author\/daniel-megarry\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Michael Cimino opens up about how his gay cousin inspired Love, Victor","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/culture\/michael-cimino-opens-up-about-how-his-gay-cousin-inspired-love-victor\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Michael Cimino opens up about how his gay cousin inspired Love, Victor","og_description":"Michael Cimino has opened up about the inspiration behind his Love, Victor character. Rising star Michael plays the lead role in the upcoming Love, Simon spin-off TV series. It’s set\u2026","og_url":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/culture\/michael-cimino-opens-up-about-how-his-gay-cousin-inspired-love-victor\/","og_site_name":"GAY TIMES","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gaytimes","article_published_time":"2020-05-21T16:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-07-02T17:58:22+00:00","og_image":[{"width":784,"height":489,"url":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Michael-Cimino-Gay-Times-header.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Daniel Megarry","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@danielmegarry","twitter_site":"@gaytimes","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Daniel Megarry","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/culture\/michael-cimino-opens-up-about-how-his-gay-cousin-inspired-love-victor\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/culture\/michael-cimino-opens-up-about-how-his-gay-cousin-inspired-love-victor\/"},"author":{"name":"Daniel Megarry","@id":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b8396c4b5bf9144ca3fc4b8bea527b25"},"headline":"Michael Cimino opens up about how his gay cousin inspired Love, Victor","datePublished":"2020-05-21T16:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2020-07-02T17:58:22+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/culture\/michael-cimino-opens-up-about-how-his-gay-cousin-inspired-love-victor\/"},"wordCount":378,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/#organization"},"keywords":["Celebrity","lgbtq tv shows","Love Simon","Love Victor"],"articleSection":["Culture","Originals","Television"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/culture\/michael-cimino-opens-up-about-how-his-gay-cousin-inspired-love-victor\/","url":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/culture\/michael-cimino-opens-up-about-how-his-gay-cousin-inspired-love-victor\/","name":"Michael Cimino opens up about how his gay cousin inspired Love, Victor","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2020-05-21T16:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2020-07-02T17:58:22+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/culture\/michael-cimino-opens-up-about-how-his-gay-cousin-inspired-love-victor\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/culture\/michael-cimino-opens-up-about-how-his-gay-cousin-inspired-love-victor\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/culture\/michael-cimino-opens-up-about-how-his-gay-cousin-inspired-love-victor\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Michael Cimino opens up about how his gay cousin inspired Love, Victor"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/","name":"GAY TIMES","description":"Amplifying queer voices.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/#organization","name":"GAY TIMES","url":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cd-gaytimes.j.layershift.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/GT_ICON_ILLUSTRATOR_BLACK_RGB-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cd-gaytimes.j.layershift.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/GT_ICON_ILLUSTRATOR_BLACK_RGB-1.png","width":11710,"height":11710,"caption":"GAY TIMES"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/gaytimes","https:\/\/twitter.com\/gaytimes","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/gaytimes\/","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/gaytimes","https:\/\/www.pinterest.co.uk\/gaytimesmag\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/GayTimesChannel","https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gay_Times"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b8396c4b5bf9144ca3fc4b8bea527b25","name":"Daniel Megarry","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4d712a1964344f203c0af54b14d2925d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/4d712a1964344f203c0af54b14d2925d?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Daniel Megarry"},"description":"daniel@gaytimes.co.uk","sameAs":["danielmegarry","https:\/\/twitter.com\/danielmegarry"],"url":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/author\/daniel-megarry\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135911"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/207"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135911"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135911\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135911"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135911"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gaytimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135911"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}