BBC article on Elliot Page

& that's quite problematic in itself, to be fair - being a 12yo old boy who gets cast in a role because you look the part, are biddable & directable to the extent that you can deliver the lines & not fall over the scenery, does not mean that you're necessarily someone who'll be able to convince as an adult actor. With a long, long line of unhappy adults who had some success as acting as children & then had a sharp dose of reality.

But there's never going to be a casting decision where it's 'we've got a long list of 13yo boys to play the part of the 13yo boy protagonist, or alternatively we could talk to E Page's agent & see if we can market a mid 30s actor as a teenage boy to a cinema full of early teens'.

It wouldn't work for any male actor. No one would cast, say, Daniel Radcliffe, who is also quite small & reasonably young looking, if he had a shave, as a teenage boy.

I think Page will be offered roles very specific to Page. Whether or not they will come to anything I don't know. Page may reject them.

There was a trans boy in The OA. Some time ago I mentioned a video I had seen where the actor said they sometimes liked to be a feminine presenting trans boy - wearing jewellery and makeup, which seemed confusing. Just looked the actor up and found they are now NB and in Star Trek Discovery, which is the kind of series I think these actors get pigeonholed in.

I could see Page maybe playing a geeky teen boy, but I suspect that would be a limited time thing. Even with a boyish frame and look once you get into your 40s I don't think anyone pulls that off.

But a large proportion of the the marketing is to teenage girls, & always has been. There is no bank in casting a petite female born actor in their 30s as a teenage boy. It won't happen.

Agree. Actors need to be fanciable, it's a fairly universal rule.

There's a difference between being small and thin, and looking young.

Teenage boys are cast with an eye to their bankable, marketable potential. They either grow up into leading men (Robert Pattinson, Daniel Radcliffe) & build a career on it, or they quietly vanish. But a large proportion of the the marketing is to teenage girls, & always has been.

There is no bank in casting a petite female born actor in their 30s as a teenage boy. It won't happen.

They’re far too old to be playing a teenager.

"I agree, Hollywood won't cast Page as a male. Delicate bone structure, diminutive stature, plus a viewership a large % of whom will most likely still see Page as female, or at least find it hard to see as male, knowing that Page was born a girl."

There could be roles they'd be perfect casting for, I'm thinking adolescent boys. Michael J Fox (5'4") was 24 in Back to the Future playing a 17 year old. Using actual child-actors carries a lot of requirements (chaperones etc.) so if they can cast a young-looking adult in such a role, they would. Whether Page would want those roles remains to be seen.

One of these pictures shows a person feeling distress and anguish and the other shows a person who is feeling liberated and happy.

To be honest I have been concerned by their thinness in the last few years in general. It really changed their face.

Not to mention that given the media focus, any slip up by cast or crew that could be seen as misgendering or transphobia would be absolutely pounced on. Why would you add that level of difficulty to a project? Page isn't a big enough star to justify the additional hassle casting Page would likely entail. Maybe a role or two in a Netflix production, then transition to activism.

Surely a panic attack at wearing a dress indicates a much deeper dislike of your body and self esteem issues. Like body dysmorphia

This was very much me at the peak of my anorexia. Having to try on or buy clothes would make me extremely anxious. I collpased crying sevaral times.
The solution was obviously not to tell me, yes, you are probably still too fat....

quiteathome and FakeColinCaterpillar I agree, especially given that even prior to transition Elliot was smaller and slighter than the average woman. As a male actor and compared to natal male actors that different physicality is going to be very apparent. It might be nice to think it would be an opportunity for Hollywood to expand the bandwidth for action heroes or romantic leads, but I can’t see it happening. I can see EP becoming more of a campaigner/figurehead than an actor.

I think they will carry on with Umbrella Academy, possibly get one niche role.
Then disappear. There isn’t roles for tiny frail men generally.

I wonder how this will affect his career. There are not many roles that are for transmen, and I wonder how many films will cast a trans man in a role for a man.

Jesus, Mary and Joseph and the wee donkey: LUCKY.

And by lily my, clearly I mean unlucky.

“At what point does “acting” mean “being another version of yourself” instead of “interpreting a character using imagination”
I thought that reading an article on Rafe Spall in the Observer- he talked about playing a character in ‘Trying’ dealing with the torment of infertility-then thanking his lily my stars as he came home to his three kids each night. At what point is it ‘unacceptable’ for someone to act someone else’s life?
(Disclaimer: IMO, acting = acting: you play a part regardless of who YOU are because you assume the character and it’s them that matters-you /the actor are just the mechanism to give the character life. )

No, reading the actual comments themselves.
Not reading stuff into anything.

Has anyone said he shouldn’t have transitioned? I don’t think that the removal of health breast tissue is a good idea but that doesn’t mean that I disagree with transitioning.

Page has had extreme ups and downs and been acutely emotional as long as they've been in the public eye, extraordinarily tightly wound. I have a hard time not seeing this as another manifestation of the same.

Do people really think that no one will see the logic? And that actors stuck playing only roles that could plausibly be a certain ethnic group will be pleased about that? Poor old Jason Momoa will be stuck playing only Hawaiian roles, no medieval European settings for him...

I felt sympathy for Elliot Page who seems to be having a tough time of it, but none at all for the BBC who should not be promoting anyone’s unevidenced inflammatory assertions of the ‘x will die unless y happens’ kind, however sincerely the celebrity concerned might believe this as an article of faith.

Wow that interview from a couple of years show is quite the eye-opener. I note the way Page refers to their own marriage (now over), then says LGBT people are killing themselves and being beaten on the streets. And then (after a pause) says she's travelled the world and she's seen those things.

So I'm guessing Page doesn't mean lgbt people are killing themselves when they live in a western liberal country like Page does but the implication is there. Sneaky.

Is there an organisation like the Samaritans in the US/Canada that works with the media to tell them about the negative impact of quoting suicide stats? They really should have spoken to Page before the Oprah interview because this is clear form.

I'm sure Page doesn't want to be responsible for upping the mental distress of LGBT community but that is exactly why this kind of stuff is so bloody dangerous.

[quote SunsetBeetch]Tbf, this isn't unusual from Page. They do get very passionate/emotional when talking about issues.

I do think someone in Page's position needs to be more careful with their words, definitely.

This clip is two years old (hasn't aged well for a couple.of reasons, but still...)

www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/ellen-page-jussie-smollett-fallout-guest-column-1191006[/quote]
In the Hollywood Reporter piece you link to Page describes themselves as a "white cisgender woman". The piece is from 2019

So in less than two years Page went from publicly describing themselves as "a cisgender woman" to deciding they're trans and getting irreversible major elective surgery.

I mean, that's pretty extreme.