Elliot Page Turned Down Role Requiring Feminine Clothes: ‘I Would Want To Kill Myself’
Elliot Page Turned Down Role Requiring Feminine Clothes: ‘I Would Want To Kill Myself’
“It wasn’t easy to explain to my reps that I couldn’t take on a role because of clothing.”
I remember reading about Page's situation before seeing the 'coming out' episode in Umbrella Academy. I was really happy to see how they handled it in the show, including what seemed to echo some of his own issues with people who had trouble accepting him. Hollywood seems to have taken on the "token gay person" in nearly every show, but very few actually take the time to explain any of the problems faced in the daily lives of those who transition.
And Hollywood's gay character is ALWAYS the same: "gay" voice, fashionable, sassy, uptight, obsessive, but no real emotions or depth. It's like someone once told them what gay men are like based on a 90s stereotype and they just stuck with it.
And lesbians are always ugly and butch
Honestly I'm really tired of it. OK cool, some story lines benefit from having gay characters, or their universe is broad enough that yeah you're going to run into them at some point... But Hollywood seems to have decided that EVERY show must have a gay character, no matter how forcefully or awkwardly you had to add them to the cast. Great, you've openly embraced the LGBTQ community, we get it. And yes there are a lot more of us than most people realize, but the larger percentage are NOT out, not immediately accepted by all of their friends and coworkers, and most certainly not safe to show their true nature in general public. I mean it's cool that Hollywood wants to show an ideal world where those things are possible, but it seems to me that if they really wanted to make an impact then they should be showing what really happens, how people are getting hurt physically and emotionally, how children are being disowned by their families... Show the real-life drama that is driving people to suicide and give us shows that actually make people think about their actions towards the community. I know, it's really too much to hope for because -GASP- it might hurt their ratings.
I always think of Brooklyn 99 to counteract those stereotypical characters.
I was happy to see he's currently on the cover of People magazine. I live in a pretty conservative neighbourhood, so it was cool seeing some representation waiting in line at the grocery store (even if its just a little bit). :)
Yeah and the first chapter of his memoir is available on the People website
I thought the same when i saw it in my grocery store in Texas. but i do live in houston and not the really really maga areas.
Well, you’re an actor. Just put on the f–king clothes.
I bet they say this to vets who don't want to play military roles that might trigger their PTSD and shit too, right? ...right? Like, is it that difficult to understand that people have different experiences, and that it's completely reasonable for actors to avoid roles that relate to their past and present trauma? (No, of course it's not that difficult to get: it's just the transphobia.)
Not only that, but I'm sure actors turn down roles for literally any reason all the time and it is never controversial.
Them: Hey wanna be in our movie?? Elliot: Nah. Them: BUT- BUT- BUT- 🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬 insults you rather than asking ANYBODY else
Really can't imagine it going that way for anybody else.
Good for him.
Also, reading the sexual harassment comment from the "unnamed A-list celebrity" made my jaw drop. I completely get why Elliot can't name who it is, but damn, I wish there was a safe way to leak it so we know who that bastard is 🤮👿I fully relate to his statement fr, if I had to dress like a boy again I'd feel the same way tbh
It's weird. There was a time when I would desperately read any trans memoir I could get my hands on, and then by the time my transition was "done" (inasmuch as we can ever call transition "done"), I had moved to really not caring about other people's trans narratives, especially as they tend to be written for cis consumption. But I actually do want to read this one. Perhaps because he's roughly my age.
Good for him.
I loved some of his earlier work before his name change and all associated with that. While I haven't watched anything he's made recently, Umbrella Academy is supposed to be good, but I haven't set aside any time to watch it yet, I hope that he continues to find success and finds material he wants to be in and which matches his talent as an actor.
just my 2 cents, but honestly, UA was only very good for the first season. the second was okay, but the third (beside elliot’s bits about his character being trans) reaaaally dropped the ball. characters doing terrible things and being brushed off as well as VERY out of character actions to name a few glaring points.
i wouldn’t personally recommend it unless they really clean up their act in the final season.
He’s a little older than me, and his transition (especially since he was so public performing womanhood for so long) hit so close to home for me as I began mine. I’m really excited to read his book and consider him something of a personal hero; for the most part I don’t really care about queer narratives much, but this I do.
Understandable-
How could he play feminine roles onscreen when the role he “played in [his] personal life was suffocating [him] already.”