Key Takeaways
- Elliot Page says Hollywood has struggled to cast him since he came out as transgender, and even The Odyssey’s $1.5 billion success has not brought a surge of offers.
- Page says he can now deliver some of his best work without the personal discomfort he felt while playing Ariadne in Inception.
- His brief but emotionally resonant turn as Sinon reunited him with Christopher Nolan after more than 15 years, but Page still has no major project lined up.
Elliot Page may be riding high after his standout turn in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, but the actor says the film’s blockbuster success has not translated into a flood of new offers. During an appearance on Kevin McCarthy’s On Film podcast, Page acknowledged that Hollywood has struggled to find a place for him since he came out as transgender. “It’s a little tricky for me to get cast right now,” he said, adding that the reasons were “pretty obvious.”
The admission came after McCarthy suggested Page must be fielding “a zillion calls” following the reception to The Odyssey, which has crossed $1.5 billion at the worldwide box office.
Page quickly corrected him. “No, Kevin, I’m not,” he said before jokingly inviting filmmakers to call.
Page also confirmed that he does not have another major project lined up and is not looking for a break. “I’d really love to do, ideally, good work,” he said.
That disconnect is especially striking given Page’s history with both Nolan and Hollywood at large. Credited as Ellen Page earlier in his career, he broke through with Hard Candy before earning an Oscar nomination for Juno.
He later starred in major studio projects including X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and Nolan’s Inception.
Page came out as transgender in 2020 and went on to play Viktor Hargreeves in Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy, which incorporated the character’s transition into its third season.
Page said the change has affected not only which roles Hollywood considers him for, but also how he approaches acting. Reflecting on playing Ariadne in Inception, he recalled enjoying the production while feeling “personally really uncomfortable.”
Returning to a Nolan set for The Odyssey was different. “I feel like I could maybe do some of my best work now,” Page said. “I’m not having to literally work through a performance that I don’t even quite know I’m doing to get to a performance.”
In The Odyssey, Page plays Sinon, a Greek soldier whose limited screen time carries major emotional weight—particularly during the film’s Hades sequence. Page said viewers have repeatedly approached him to explain how deeply the scene affected them.
“I’m not in the movie a ton,” he noted, but seeing Sinon resonate with audiences “has really meant a lot.”
The performance also marked a full-circle reunion with Nolan, more than 15 years after Inception. Page revealed that Sinon’s first shot, filmed on a Moroccan dune, was also the first material captured for the entire movie.
Now, Page is considering whether waiting for filmmakers to approach him is still enough. “I was seen in a certain way before, and it is different now,” he said.
