“Right now it’s a bit complicated for me to be cast for a role. Probably for quite obvious reasons: this being Canadian…”. With humor but openly, actor Elliot Page (Halifax, Canada, 39 years old) has denounced his current work situation after being one of Christopher Nolan’s chosen for his success Oppenheimer. Page, who in the director’s epic film plays the Greek warrior Sinon, was recently invited to the podcast On Film… With Kevin McCarthy to share his professional experience, especially since he came out as transgender in December 2020. During the interview, published last Tuesday, September 1, the actor spoke about the benefits of being part of the cast of Oppenheimer, but also about the less pleasant side, especially considering the controversies generated around the film and, specifically, those related to the casting choices in Nolan’s version of Homer’s poem.
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The harshest criticism came from one of the most powerful men in the world: magnate Elon Musk, who did not hesitate to use his megaphone on the social network X to attack the choice of Page. To his obvious prejudices, a confusion that precipitated the criticism was added: a false leak that attributed the role of Achilles in the film to the Canadian actor, with the consequent physical comparison to the last Hollywood actor to play him, Brad Pitt, in Troy (2004). Before this was clarified — by the way, Achilles does not appear in the movie — Tesla’s CEO called the possibility of the actor playing the hero “one of the most stupid and twisted things” he had heard.
Moreover, Musk dedicated himself to reposting the most conservative opinions about Nolan’s casting, referring to Page himself, such as the one that said: “I’m not mocking his masculinity. I’m denying its existence”; and also to the choice of Lupita Nyong’o for the role of Helen of Troy. On this, Musk retweeted the conservative and controversial Matt Walsh, who posted: “Not a single person on the planet really thinks Lupita Nyong’o is ‘the most beautiful woman in the world.’ But Christopher Nolan knows he’d be called racist if he gave the role of ‘the most beautiful woman’ to a white woman. Nolan has technical talent, but he’s a coward.”
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The anti-woke anger unleashed on social media towards the two actors did not, however, prevent the British-American filmmaker’s blockbuster from earning more than one and a half million dollars (more than 1.3 million euros) at the box office. In his interview with Kevin McCarthy, Page, whose role as Ulysses’ cousin actually lasts only five minutes of the film’s 173 minutes (almost three hours), also dedicates some words to the director, whom he says he is grateful to for letting him “be part of this.” “Of course, I realize I’ve been very lucky,” adds the actor, who is not the first time he has spoken about his privileged position compared to other trans people.
In May 2023, weeks before his memoir Pageboy was published, the actor from Juno and another Nolan film, Inception — among many other titles from when he was still known as Ellen Page — confessed to People magazine that his journey has been very different from that of other trans people. “My life as a trans person and the privilege I have do not represent the reality of most trans lives,” he revealed then to the outlet. “The reality is that they are disproportionately unemployed and experience much more homelessness. Racialized trans women are being murdered. People are losing their right to healthcare or cannot access it,” he also lamented.
“I love being trans. And I love being queer. And the more I fully embrace who I am, the more my heart grows and the more I thrive,” wrote the actor, then 33 years old, in the December 2020 statement in which he came out as transgender and asked to be called Elliot.
