January 21, 2017 - 11:00 AMT
Alexandra Shipp to join “Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda”

Alexandra Shipp who starred in “X-Men: Apocalypse,” is in negotiations to join Fox 2000’s coming-of-age story “Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda” with Nick Robinson and Logan Miller, Variety said.

The studio began developing “Simon” in October after it picked up movie rights to Becky Albertalli’s 2015 book about a gay teen who has not come out to his classmates. When an email he sends to a boy (that he’s never met) falls into the wrong hands, he finds himself in a complicated situation when he’s blackmailed by the class clown.

Greg Berlanti, one of the architects of DC’s television universe, is attached to direct from a script by Isaac Aptaker and Elizabeth Berger. Fox-based Temple Hill, which has produced the “Twilight” and “Maze Runner” franchises along with “The Fault in Our Stars,” is producing “Simon” along with Pouya Shahbazian’s New Leaf Literary & Media.

The first major casting came when “Jurassic World” star Robinson signed on to “Simon” in early December.

Shipp portrayed Ice Cube’s wife, Kimberly Woodruff, in the biopic “Straight Outta Compton” and joined the cast of Bryan Singer’s “X-Men: Apocalypse” as Ororo Munroe/Storm in 2015.

The news was first reported by Deadline Hollywood.