Elliot Page may be enjoying major attention following his standout role in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, but the actor says the movie’s massive box-office success hasn’t exactly led to a wave of new opportunities. During an appearance on Kevin McCarthy’s On Film podcast, Page acknowledged that Hollywood has had difficulty figuring out where he fits since he came out as transgender. “It’s a little tricky for me to get cast right now,” he said, noting that the reasons were “pretty obvious.”
The comment came after McCarthy suggested Page must be receiving “a zillion calls” following the strong response to The Odyssey, which has surpassed $1.5 billion at the global box office.
Page was quick to set the record straight. “No, Kevin, I’m not,” he responded, before jokingly encouraging filmmakers to pick up the phone.
Page also revealed that he currently has no other major projects lined up, making it clear that he isn’t stepping away from acting. “I’d really love to do, ideally, good work,” he said.
That reality stands out considering Page’s long history with both Nolan and the broader Hollywood industry. Credited as Ellen Page earlier in his career, he first gained attention with Hard Candy before receiving an Oscar nomination for Juno.
He went on to appear in several major studio productions, including X-Men: The Last Stand, X-Men: Days of Future Past, and Nolan’s Inception.
Page came out as transgender in 2020 and later starred as Viktor Hargreeves on Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy, with the character’s transition incorporated into the show’s third season.
According to Page, that change has influenced not only the roles he is offered but also the way he experiences acting. Looking back on his time playing Ariadne in Inception, he said he enjoyed working on the film while also feeling “personally really uncomfortable.”
His return to a Nolan production for The Odyssey, however, felt very 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 portrays Sinon, a Greek soldier whose relatively brief appearance packs an emotional punch, especially during the film’s Hades sequence. Page said audience members have repeatedly approached him to share how much the scene affected them.
“I’m not in the movie a ton,” he acknowledged, but he added that seeing Sinon connect with viewers “has really meant a lot.”
The role also brought Page back together with Nolan more than 15 years after Inception. He revealed that Sinon’s opening shot, filmed on a Moroccan dune, was actually the first footage shot for the entire production.
Now, Page is questioning whether simply waiting for filmmakers to reach out is enough. “I was seen in a certain way before, and it is different now,” he said.
