Elliot Page Insists That Queer Stories Are “Not Niche”

At the London LGBTQIA+ film Festival BFI Flare, Elliot Page premiered his next film, Close to You. The Hollywood Reporter posted some highlights from an interview with Page at the British capital’s Douthbank Centre. 

Page pushed back on the idea that Queer content is inherently niche. “Thirty percent of young people identify as LGBTQ+, so I’m sorry, this is not niche. That really, really irks me. If you told really specific stories about cis-het people, I’m not calling that plot niche.” 

Page is part of a very small sect of publicly facing queer celebrities (and an even smaller sect of Transgender male celebrities) and has faced much criticism for his transition. Although many fell in love with him for his Oscar-nominated turn in 2008’s Juno, Page was struggling with fame at that time. The public spectacle of being nominated for an Oscar was “some of the most miserable I’ve ever felt,” Page said. “You certainly don’t feel like you can tell people you feel miserable.” 

Page’s mental health began to improve after he embraced his Queer identity. Page first came out as queer in 2014, but did not publicly transition into a man until 2020. Coming out was “a massive step forward, to getting closer to who I really am. That lifted so much weight off my shoulders.” Page’s coming out process was long and difficult. “I was very closeted. I didn’t go out on a date or hold someone’s hand up to when I was 27 years old. I was very closeted. And it felt like, if I don’t do anything, something really bad is going to happen. I’m not okay.” Page specifically, said that coming out as trans involved “finally ridding myself of my own internalized transphobia and accepting my identity and really choosing to live my life.”

Close to You is Page’s first feature film since 2017 (Page has spent the last few years focusing on TV projects like Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy). The film follows Sam, a trans man, who returns home to small-town Canada and confronts his feelings for an old school friend. Close to You’s United States release strategy is still being deliberated