Ellen Page: ‘Now I’m gay, I can’t play a straight person?’
Ellen Page attends the premiere of Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy at ArcLight Hollywood on February 12, 2019 in Hollywood, California. (Rich Fury/Getty)
Oscar nominated actress Ellen Page has accused Hollywood of double standards against gay and lesbian actors.
In an interview with Elle magazine, the star spoke out against being ‘pigeon holed’ in gay roles, after playing a series of heterosexual females in all of her previous films.
“No one asks: ‘Ellen, you’ve done seven straight roles in a row – shouldn’t you shake it up and do something queer?’” she told the magazine.
“There’s still that double standard. I look at all the things I’ve done in movies: I’ve drugged a guy, tortured someone, become a roller-derby star overnight.
“But now I’m gay, I can’t play a straight person?”
Page’s comments echo that of Sir Ian McKellen, who recently expressed sympathy with the current Oscars racism debate.
However, the actor pointed out that the issue is a wider one – effecting all minorities, including gay people.
“I have great sympathy with any group that feels that they’re under represented…I think the Oscars is just part of a bigger problem,” he said.
“No openly gay man has ever won the Oscar; I wonder if that is prejudice or chance.”
Page has been busy promoting her new movie Freeheld recently.
The LGBT rights drama charts a New Jersey Police officer’s attempt to secure her pension benefits for her same sex partner when she is diagnosed with terminal cancer.
It was the struggle to get the movie made – a battle which took the actress six years – which she says pushed her towards coming out.
“What blows my mind is how my own personal journey paralleled the development of that movie,” she said.
“It felt wildly inappropriate to be playing this character as a closeted person. Coming out was a long process, though.”
