Since coming out in 2014, Ellen Page has become a warrior for human rights. Before she was starring in the upcoming movie Flatliners, she hosted Vice's Gaycation. However, long before she came out, she was the lead in what's still considered her most notable movie, Juno. The 2007 hit feels like it was decades ago (instead of just a decade), and there are particular moments in the film, like when Page's character calls the name Madison "a little gay," that feel dated as well.
"It wasn’t something I totally registered at the time, but, of course, now that I’m older I do," she told Bustle about that line in the movie. "So many movies I loved as a kid are just rampant with homophobia and transphobia and biphobia, and I’m not excusing it by any means."
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Of course, we can make the usual excuses that, 10 years later, things are getting better, but Page warns people from falling into that trap.
"There’s always that conversation that it’s changing, but sometimes I’m like 'is it?'" she continued. "I think Hollywood can love to think of itself as the most progressive force, but… it’s not always that way."
This is why she is constantly pushing for diversity in her movies, even though it's taking longer than any of us would have thought.
"I think the holdup is fear and people don’t want to take risks," she explained. "They want to make money. And there’s a lack of people [of colour] hired in every single aspect of the film industry. It really hurts the industry and it really hurts film. We need more stories. We need more representation. We need more points of view."
Catch the actress in Flatliners when it hits cinemas September 29, and read the full Bustle interview here.
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