After being nominated for an Oscar for 2007’s Juno, it would have been easy for Ellen Page to nab any major role she wanted. She was an It-Girl—but thankfully, she didn’t let the new found fame go to her head. Page has found balance in her early and already-expansive career, bouncing between blockbusters like Inception, off-beat indies like Super and middle road pictures like Drew Barrymore’s Whip It.
Her next continues the trend of keeping us on our toes: she’ll join Alexander Skarsgard (I hear the masses collectively swoon every time I mention his name) and Another Earth star Brit Marling in a movie titled The East. Written by Marling and director Zal Batmanglij (who previously co-wrote in the other Sundance 2011 Marling-vehicle Sound of My Voice), The East follows an big business security firm’s undercover agent (Marling) as she infiltrates an anarchist organization known as “The East.” Skarsgard plays a member of the group who becomes enamored with Marling, while Page will play Skarsgard’s former lover who isn’t too thrilled by Marling’s presence.
As much as I enjoyed Juno, I’m happy to see Page try her hand at something a little more “adult.” This could be a meaty role for the actress and the writing pair of Marling/Batmanglij have proven with their previous film that they’re fully capable of building tension within small groups and spaces (Sound of My Voice revolves around the similar idea of a documentarian infiltrating a cult). That said, if the role requires her to use another hamburger phone, that’s cool—just as long as they let Page do her stuff.
Source: Variety
