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Close Up: Ellen Page
Posted by Rob Ortenzi on 10-Mar-08 @ 05:15 PM
Straight outta Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, 20-year old ELLEN PAGE captivated film audiences-and future offenders on TV's To Catch A Predator-through her infamous role as a ruthless 14-year-old pedophile-hunter in 2005's Hard Candy. However, her latest role is a tad less cringe-worthy and sees her playing the smart-ass title character in Juno, a coming-of-age film about a high school girl who becomes pregnant after having sex with her perpetually nervous friend Bleeker (played by Superbad's Michael Cera) and decides to give up the child for adoption to a dysfunctional yuppie couple (played by Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner). After seeing the movie, we rang Page up to talk about Buddhists, fat suits and pork swords. You know-the usual.INTERVIEW: J. Bennett PHOTO: Roberto Chamorro What was it like attending a Buddhist high school? Well, I went to a high school in Nova Scotia called Shambhala that was created by members of the Buddhist community here. There's quite a big Buddhist community in Halifax-actually, Halifax and Boulder, Colorado, are the two Shambhala centers in North America. It's not really a Buddhist high school, though. I didn't take a Buddhism class or anything, but it definitely incorporates parts of the ideology [into the coursework]. For example, I felt like my individual desire to learn was catered to. It was very much about removing judgment from a high school situation. There was a sense of warmth-we all meditated together. No shit? Yeah, at the beginning of every day we'd meditate, and after school breaks, we'd come back and the whole junior high and high school would go to the gym and meditate for a good half an hour. It was a really small school-there were 14 kids in my graduating class. It was a privilege to go there because a size like that allows for so much learning. What do you do for fun in Nova Scotia? Well, it's beautiful here, so camping is always an excellent activity. Other than that, I just chill out with friends, read-you know, the usual. It's getting colder here, but I actually really love the briskness of fall because I get to wear sweaters. So you're an outdoors kind of girl? Yeah. I like trees. [Laughs.] I don't know-it smells amazing here. I was walking in the woods near the ocean yesterday, and it was just stunning. The leaves are incredible right now, and the air is extremely fresh. What did you think of the Juno script when you first saw it? It made me feel extremely excited. It's one of the best scripts I've ever read, and I adored this character. I really wanted to play this role. My heart was pretty obsessed with getting to be that girl, so I couldn't be more grateful. Did you meet Diablo Cody, the script's author? She used to be a stripper [as outlined in her 2006 memoir Candy Girl: A Year In The Life Of An Unlikely Stripper]. I know! I did meet her, but not until I was cast in Vancouver, British Columbia. I was in awe, but I was also extremely intimidated by her. Like I said, it was one of the best scripts I'd ever read. She's so friggin' cool and I'm playing this character that she's created, so I thought she was gonna hate me, but I think we hit it off. Were any of your scenes with Michael Cera awkward to shoot? He seems like he could make any situation awkward. [Laughs.] It's funny because, like, that's the thing he does, and that's what makes him so... I mean, everyone seems to love Michael Cera, and they should because he's one of the sweetest human beings I've ever met, and I really love the guy. He's actually not that awkward in reality, though. He's extremely honest and just a wonderful person to spend time with. Shooting scenes with him was just a gift because he's so talented. One of the most memorable lines in the movie occurs when you're sitting outside and the track team runs by with their junk bouncing up and down and you're like, "All I can think about is pork swords." I'm guessing that's the first time you'd used that term. [Laughs.] Yeah, I'd never said "pork swords" before. Diablo is really amazing with dialogue, and that's one of the things that really stood out when I read the script. I'm obviously not like Juno in the way I personally speak, but when I was 16, my friends and I definitely had our own little language, our own unique way of speaking that wasn't the same way we communicated with our parents. So, to me, lines like that seemed very real. Your character spends most of the movie pregnant. How long did it take you to get used to the fat suit? [Laughs.] Well, it wasn't so much a fat suit... It was more like a strap-on belly? Yeah, the back was almost like a corset. There were two sizes, and then one real prosthetic one that you see in the ultrasound scene. It was interesting to wear. I put it on as soon as I could just to get an idea of what it'd be like, and immediately all my mannerisms changed. It was an interesting thing to feel and go through, for sure. The larger one had a thickness and heaviness to it-although nothing like the real thing, I'm sure. Pregnancy is beautiful, but I'm glad I got to take it off every night. ALT CHEAT SHEET >> After appearing in a handful of episodes of the Canadian TV series THE TRAILER PARK BOYS and REGENESIS, this Nova Scotia native broke into the U.S. box office with 2005's HARD CANDY and 2006's X-MEN: THE LAST STAND. This month, Ellen Page stars as the title character in JUNO alongside Jason Bateman, Jennifer Garner and Michael Cera. THE UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE The day we spoke with Ellen Page was less than a week after the new Radiohead album, In Rainbows, became available online. A diehard Radiohead fan and self-described music geek, Page had already listened to the album several times. "It's really, really good," she admits. "I read a review that said it wasn't a classic like OK Computer, and I completely disagree with that. I actually love their later stuff, like Hail To The Thief and Thom Yorke's solo album, too." In addition to Radiohead, Page also includes Cat Power, Sleater-Kinney and Peaches ("She's the shit.") among her current favorites, but singer/songwriter Patti Smith is in permanent rotation. "She's definitely someone who has really inspired me," the actress enthused. "Horses is definitely one of my favorite albums, and it's one of those records that's always in my life. Some things you listen to and they fade away and then they come back or they might not. But I'll never stop loving that album." [JB] |
