The actor played the pregnant teen in the cult classic film
Elliot Page has opened up about feeling ‘complicated’ towards their breakthrough film Juno.
The actor appeared in a number of shows and films before gaining critical acclaim as the title character in the 2007 movie.
Page played the pregnant 16-year-old who decides to carry on with school and carry the baby for an adoptive couple.
At the time, the now 37-year-old went as Ellen and began publicly identifying as a trans man in 2020.
Page in Juno. (Searchlight Pictures)
The star previously claimed he had sex ‘all the time’ with one of his co-stars during the cult classic and in an interview with SiriusXM, admitted the film had them ‘boxed in’ as they launched to fame in the female role.
While it could have been like living ‘a dream come true’, Page said he ‘felt guilty for feeling the negativity that he did’.
“It was a deep self-loathing that made me very unwell in that time.
“I did not know how to articulate that to people because I was just perceiving that as not being grateful.”
The Umbrella Academy star explained there was ‘love’ he felt for the film, the acting and the ‘moments shared’ with people involved in making Juno.
But the ‘difficult period’ took Page a ‘long time to bounce back’ from with such a ‘massive change’ in his life.
And since transitioning and getting to publicly live as his true self, the star opened up on stories of their life in memoir Pageboy last year. Following its release, Page confessed he is ‘loving acting again’.
“Thank goodness,” he said. Nowadays, the actor feels ‘inspired’ in a way he never thought would have been ‘possible’.
“I did struggle to see a future and what that was going to look like,” the star said.
Page released their memoir last year. (Youtube/SiriusXM)
“In a body that I feel at home in and can feel present in, all of that makes me more inspired creatively and artistically.”
Page added that releasing their memoir would ‘not have been possible before all of this’.
And since their transition, he’s found that he’s able to ‘resonate in a deeper way’ with characters as he reads scripts.
In Pageboy, the actor claimed they had sex ‘all the time’ with Olivia Thirby (who played Leah) while filming Juno.
“Her hotel room, in our trailers at work, once in a tiny, private room in a restaurant … We thought we were being subtle. Being intimate with Olivia helped my shame dissipate. I didn’t see a glint of it in her eyes and I wanted that — done feeling wretched about who I am,” he penned.
LADbible has contacted representatives for Thirby for comment.