[IMG:L]She really digs the toughie teen girl ’70s film The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane–how appropriate for someone who’s clearly not “the girl next door.”
There’s a certain muscularity to her petite frame and an unspoken swagger to her utterly casual aura. Both intelligent and dead-pan at once, boyishly cute alterna-girl Ellen Page is the 20-year-old Nova Scotian actress whose name has been recently bantered about–for buzz studio indie Juno–in all sorts of critics’ circles that are predicting everything from a Best Actress Indie Spirit award to an Oscar nom. She’s the one to watch.
Yet you get the feeling she’d more rather disappear into the fabric of her acting work–precisely what she achieved in her deft portrayal of Juno, a curiously glib, musically-inclined teen, who discovers she’s pregnant with her best bud’s baby–and subsequently embarks on a daunting mission to set-up her unborn child with loving, secure adoptive parents–who have some ‘edge.’
Costarring Michael Cera as her subdued, runner boyfriend Bleeker, Jennifer Garner, Jason Bateman and Allison Janney to name a few, Juno has been the It film of the season; perhaps making Page–who first garnered critical attention in 2005’s Hard Candy–the It star of this awards-films season.
Then again, don’t bother assigning any clichés or labels to this sharp starlet as she’s one-of-a-kind. On that note, in strolls vested, hoodied-up Ellen…
[IMG:R]Hollywood.com: Are you as witty and on your feet as the character you play?
Ellen Page: Well … hmm … probably not as consistently. I’m more of a “Milk Dud” as my friend and I would call it. Milk Duds to us are one of those candies that are like, “Who eats Milk Duds?” Sorry if you really like Milk Duds. So when someone tries to be funny and it doesn’t work we go, “Millllk Duuuud!!”
HW: You have a great guitar duet with your onscreen bandmate ‘boyfriend’ Bleeker; how did the musical aspect come about?
EP: The whole ’70s punk aspect is in the script which was great because I like that kind of music. It’s not crazy that Juno was into it. One of the first times I met Jason Reitman [director] he asked what kind of music I thought Juno listened to and I said The Moldy Peaches and he hadn’t heard of them so I played them for him and he fell in love and next thing I knew that song was going to be in the movie.
HW: Are you musically inclined?
EP: Oh yeah, I play the guitar.
HW: What other musicians have inspired you as an artist?
EP: I’m a massive Patty Smyth fan. I love Radiohead, love their new album … I could go on, and on–and on.
[IMG:R]HW: Did you have to audition for this role?
EP: Umm well, no. Basically Jason Reitman was really interested. I did a screen test with him and Michael Cera. We just filmed a bunch of the movie, literally 45 pages I had to learn, basically half of the movie. That’s on the DVD actually.
HW: How did you get into acting?
EP: I fell into it when I was ten. I was asked to audition for something by a local casting director just because I was short and had brown hair basically … It was for a CBC [Canadian Broadcast Corporation] movie-of-the-week entitled Pit Pony.
HW: For an awkward teen couple, your characters Juno and Bleeker have such an organic chemistry. What do you attribute that to?
EP: I think it’s just the genuine admiration. I think they just really do love each other. There’s nothing contrived about it. They have a really beautiful connection and it’s such a wonderful thing. My best friend in junior high school was a boy and he was extremely sweet and sensitive and kind of a nerd–well, he was like fourth in his age group in the National Canadian Chess competition … so fill in the blank. And I can actually recall people would be like, “Why do you hang out with him?!” He was truly my absolute best friend, and we did absolutely everything together.
[IMG:R]HW: Did your relationship on-screen with Michael Cera spill into real life?
EP: Yeah, I adore Michael. We get along great. He is one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met. I really, yeah, I love spending time with Michael. He is just a tremendously genuine, honest, lovely guy.
HW: Have you seen Arrested Development? And what about Cera on the cult show?
EP: Huge fan. I’d seen every episode … Working with him and Jason [Bateman] was wonderful.
HW: Do you appreciate giving a certain fresh voice to female teens in your role?
EP: Especially, Diablo talks about this a lot, how teenage girls are misrepresented often, and so are boys. It’s definitely some of them but it’s nice that it gets represented here.
[IMG:L]HW: It seems like things just fell together. Was that the case?
EP: This was one of those rare filming experiences where everything felt pretty wonderful all the time. I feel like everyone read Diablo Cody’s script and fell in love with it. Everyone was coming together because everyone was so excited about the project and being involved. So there wasn’t any ego attached.
HW: What did you love with about the script?
EP: Although it was unique and witty and all those things, it was unbelievably genuine and honest. I felt that it was devoid of stereotype. Whenever you think you know where it’s going to go, or you think you know what a character is going to do, it doesn’t do that. It had a teenage female lead that we’ve never seen before–so I was pretty stoked.
HW: Can you expand on how teenagers are misrepresented?
EP: I’ve been really lucky and I’ve gotten to play some really great young women. I always get this label that I play such “strong, feminist roles.” If I was a guy no one would ever say, “Emile Hirsch? He plays such strong, young men.” The fact that question would even be asked to me is insulting and I get it a lot. It clearly shows that we [as a society] have a lot of work to do. I just feel like teenagers for instance aren’t really treated like human beings. I don’t know. It’s a drag.[PAGEBREAK][IMG:R]HW: However, isn’t it a compliment to your stage presence that you just take over the screen and there’s a special power in that?
EP: I don’t know. That’s nice. I don’t know though! I’ll get someone saying, “A teenage girl can’t be like that.” And I just think that’s bullsh*t; especially [since] there’s a good film, Jodie Foster’s The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1976), and she’s ridiculous [powerful] in it–and she’s so f-f-f’n good!
HW: Have you turned down those more stereotypical roles?
EP: It’s funny cause I really don’t see a lot of them because the people I work with know what I like. So, it’s kind of obvious when something comes that I’m not going to like it. There are a lot of times you’ll see a script that’s really good but the role is only good for the guy. It’s like, “C’mon. You guys have your Igby Goes Down and your Catcher in the Rye. Girls don’t get to have that very much!”
HW: Do you think the writer being a woman had an effect on the strength of this script centered on pregnancy?
EP: It probably helps a little. It makes sense why there aren’t that many good roles for women or it’s always “the wife.” I’ve worked with two female directors, but it’s just like, they’re not around [commonplace].
[IMG:R]HW: Can you talk about your relationship with Jason Reitman and working with him as a director?
EP: I adore Jason Reitman. Working with him was amazing. He was extremely assured and he knows what he wants but he’s also unbelievably collaborative and he has an enormous heart. I feel like this film needed a really specific tone because if you take a script like Diablo Cody’s that is really unique, somebody could have forced it and made it that pseudo-indie, American, contrived, stab-a-fork-in-my-eye, I can’t handle this movie sort of thing. I feel like he really created a balance and a tone and help achieve that really fine line you need with such a unique script.
HW: Have you thought about the impact this film and your role might have on a 16-year-old girl watching this?
EP: I’m excited, to be honest, that was one of the reasons I loved the script and why I wanted to play the character. I was really adamant that the wardrobe was nothing we had seen. It doesn’t go clichéd with the dressed-in-the-black “unique” girl … who listens to Good Charlotte, and that’s about as unique as she gets. It makes me want to vomit. For example [when suggesting it to production] I was like, “She’s [Juno’s] wearing sweater vests.” I don’t know why but for some reason I wanted a sweater vest. The fact that you have a teenage lead in the film, and she’s wearing a sweater vest–and that’s okay?..
[Smiling, Ellen Page shakes her head affirmatively, yup].
[IMG:R]HW: She’s totally unique and singular, your character Juno.
EP: Although she’s unique and interesting, the film doesn’t go overboard on that; she is who she is and that’s okay. I’m really excited that that will be out in the world; and I’m just sick and tired of there being a void of young, genuine females…or something [storyline] that’s different than just trying to bang the guy…or girls being vindictive bitches to each other … It’s so frustrating or at the end of the film when the weird girl becomes beautiful…I can’t even tell you how mad that makes me! It makes me want to stab myself.
HW: Like when you referenced The Breakfast Club earlier?
EP: You know what’s funny is that I don’t have a TV in my house and so when I’m staying at a hotel I’m like, ‘Television!!’ It’s really bad. I turned it on and it was literally, literally last night and The Breakfast Club was on. People had been talking to me about it: this is an iconic. And the coolest character, Ally Sheedy, is awesome, who I love–so this is nothing against that and sorry to those who love this movie–but when I first watched that movie and I knew this was kind of iconic movie, breaking down the borders, and bringing people together–and she goes from being this interesting, quirky girl to being made “hot” so she can just make out with fu*ckin’ Emilio Estevez. Give me a break!
HW: You don’t have a TV? What’s your guilty pleasure, what do you do for entertainment?
EP: [Smiles] I don’t mean to say it like, “Look at me I’m special [I don’t watch TV].” I don’t mean it like that at all. It’s just not something I’m big on. I mean if I like a show I’ll buy it on DVD or something.
HW: Books?
EP: Yeah, I’m a big reader. Fiction I’m a big [Huraki] Murakami fan. Probably my favorite books are like Steppenwolf and pretty much anything I’ve read by Murakami. Right now I’ve just been reading non-fiction a lot The Spell of the Sensuous by David Abrams–it’s one of the best books I’ve ever read.
[IMG:R]HW: Can you touch upon working with Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman who portray the Lorings, the couple whom you’ve chosen to raise your child?
EP: Sure–especially [about] the relationship with Jennifer’s character, Vanessa–a couple of scenes with her are my favorite scenes in the movie. The scene in the mall where Jen is listening to Juno’s belly and talking to the belly, I found it incredibly beautiful, and I remember it being really awkward to shoot and I had to trust Jason [Reitman] because in the moment, in the mall, it felt bizarre.
HW: Understandably.
EP: Jen‘s so good and so good in this movie. It was so amazing to feel that transition in the way Juno saw this whole situation–and felt the love that she [Vanessa] has [for the unborn baby]–and how deeply touched she became by that. Juno, herself, was kind of left by her mom and it’s definitely an aspect of her character. In regards to Mark [Jason Bateman’s character], it’s such an interesting thing. And so many people see it in a different way, where I really do think that Juno just was kind of fascinated by his and Jen’s life which was so different from what she was used to. She was definitely a little naive in regards to that situation.
HW: Are you nervous about the celebrity-ism that may come with this role?
EP: Yeah, that’s weird. I’m excited because I love to act. I feel like when all of this [buzz] happens, it just means you’re be able to have more control and more choice and for an actor, at any age, that’s an enormous gift. I’m really excited about that. Do I get a little overwhelmed at times? For sure. About that whole losing an element of privacy…but I think you can go as far as you want in that sense. I think because of my interest in my general life, I don’t think it could get too out of control.
HW: So, we won’t be seeing you on TMZ or anything?
EP: [Earnestly] I don’t know what that is.
