Elliot Page Says He Felt Pressure to Get Trans Representation Right In His New Movie, ‘Close To You:’ “As One Should”

When asked if he feels pressure to “get it right” when it comes to trans representation on screen, Elliot Page responded with a weary sigh.

“Yes,” he said emphatically, in a recent Zoom interview with Decider. “As one should. Particularly at this time, and the unfortunate lack of it.”

Page and director Dominic Savage are doing their part to combat that lack of representation with their new movie, Close To You, which opens in select U.S. theaters tomorrow, August 16. Page and Savage, who share a “story by” credit on the script, came up with the outline together: Sam (played by Page) returns to his childhood home in Lake Ontario, Canada for the first time in years—and for the first time since coming out as a transgender man. Though not autobiographical, Sam’s journey shares similarities with Page. Like Sam, Page is a Canadian native who, in 2020, came out publicly as transgender. But while the Academy Award-nominated actor known for Juno and The Umbrella Academy dealt with a torrent of public opinion after he came out, Sam has a smaller battle to fight. As Sam explains to his roommate before his train journey home, his proud liberal family “accepts” him—but that doesn’t mean they see him.

Sam’s family, however well-meaning, fails to protect him from his obnoxious, transphobic, soon-to-be brother-in-law, Paul (played by David Reale). But it’s not all bad: Sam reconnencts an old love interest, Katherine (played by Hilary Baack). Like many of Savage’s projects, none of the dialogue in Close To You is scripted. (The British director prefers to closely collaborate with actors to create a story together.) Instead, the cast worked off an outline, and improvised long scenes together. The result is organic, natural, and painfully familiar to anyone who’s experienced a tense family gathering.

As for the film’s trans representation, Page hopes he and Savage created something “positive—not just this trauma piece, those sorts of things we’re used to seeing—but still realistic. There are obstacles. There is grief. There is all of these aspects to a whole human experience, as trans and queer people.” Decider spoke to Page and Savage about the process of creating the film, Sam’s decision to walk out on his family, and Page’s reaction to The Umbrella Academy series finale.

DECIDER: Dominic, what were early conversations with Elliot were like about this project? And Elliott, were you on board right away? Was there anything specific you did or did not want to do with this movie?

DOMINIC SAVAGE: I think it was 2021 that we met. We were introduced by a casting director, for a general meeting. I came agendaless, and without any preconceptions. I was just meeting somebody. That’s what I really liked about it, because we clicked almost straight away when we started talking. I remember it being quite an emotional and deep conversation that we had. So I thought, well, that’s a good start! That’s very nice, but then it can not lead to anything, necessarily. But it did. We just kept going with it—kept talking, suggesting ideas and story lines, which is what one does in this business. There are films, projects, that you really feel compelled to make, they feel just so right to do them. This felt like that. Once we’d established the story we wanted to tell, it felt there was no turning back. We had to keep going with it. I think one of the big things is that we felt a kind of mutual trust in the process, and it requires that. It also requires sort of a hundred percent commitment throughout. You’ve just got to really believe in it in it all. I felt Elliot’s belief, and I think he felt mine. That was a very powerful thing to go through, to carry on this process with.

ELLIOT PAGE: The first thing I saw by Dominic was the film that he did with Samantha Morton [“I Am Kristy,” from the 2019 anthology series I Am…], which just completely blew my mind. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I couldn’t stop feeling it, and was so excited to just get to meet him and hear more about this process, how he creates. I felt mutual, in terms of this immediate connection and trust. It organically evolved from there. In terms of what we were and weren’t going to do—the first idea that we both really were interested in is, ultimately, the love story of someone running into someone from their past. A love that, because of where and when they grew up, couldn’t be fully realized. What would it mean for them to see each other again? And it just organically grew. We’d have discussions in terms of the parents’ attitude, family attitude toward Sam. It was just this very organic, natural, evolving experience.

Right, even though this is a family drama, Sam almost turns his story into a romance for himself in the end. Why was that romance so important to his journey?

DS: That’s just the way it evolved. It became tied in with meeting Katherine—and it was always a train, actually. I like trains in my films, or stations. I quite like stations as well. There’s something very filmic about stations and trains, and so I always imagine this meeting would be on a train. Where would that train be going? It would be going back to the son’s hometown. Then the whole idea of family became involved, because one goes back to one’s hometown and reunites with family. So, that became another element grew in its size as we made it. The script changes as you shoot—ideas come in, ideas change. The nature of the scenes evolve in a different way to what you’d originally imagined. Certain things have a greater importance than others. It’s a wonderfully organic journey of discovery.

You’ve both spoken about the process of long, improvised takes without a script, and you’ve mentioned a 53-minute long take—which scene was that, first of all? And Dominic, why does your process lend itself to such long takes like this?

DS: I mean, there were a few 53-minute takes. [Laughs.]

EP: If it wasn’t 53 minutes, another take could have just been like 48 minutes. There was definitely a few. But I think [the 53-minute long take] was the build up to the fight with the soon-to-be brother-in-law. There was a whole long thing before of us playing a game of pool, which was a great scene. What’s so funny, as an actor who’s there and making it, is it’s almost as if—you don’t see it, but it’s still in the movie. Because the tension—I was weirdly playing pool really well, and then being cocky about it. That was irritating the character of Paul. All of that was getting layered, until it starts into him going into his provocative mode.

DS: It was the catalyst. There’s obviously a lot that we film that’s not in the eventual piece, but they are really informative, for what’s in there. They are part of it. It lingers within the minds and hearts of the actors. Whatever we film before—there are lots of scenes that also don’t make the the cut, but they were really important to do, because they inform so much about what the scene that comes after that becomes.

At the end of the movie, when Sam doesn’t board his train home, we think maybe he’s going back to his family. I was so relieved when that wasn’t the case—instead, he finds Katherine. Was there ever a version of the movie where Sam did go back to his family?

DS: No, there wasn’t. Once he’d gone, we knew that was it.

EP: It makes me happy to hear you respond that way, because I felt so excited to do something a bit different. There’s nothing wrong with people resolving things. That’s great, if they can. But I think we’re used to, particularly the queer/trans person, having to go and be like, “OK, I get it. You have a different opinion.” Versus, what [Paul, played by David Reale] is saying and doing is really awful. Sam makes a choice that some people might agree with. Some people might not. Some people might think he’s being too extreme, some people might not.

I saw it as someone who’s made a choice, who is putting up a boundary, and is following through with it. And then we watched this person go spend time with someone who truly sees them. We see it in Sam when he’s around Katherine—his body—you see this joy of what it means to feel really, truly seen by this person. I was happy to do something a little bit different in terms of handling that family dynamic.

Some people will watch this movie and see themselves in Sam, but some people might see themselves in Sam’s family. For families in similar situations, what do you both feel Sam’s family needs to for Sam to feel safe to visit his family again?

EP: That’s a good question.

DS: Well, I could imagine that they would come to Sam. That’s the only option for them, really, is that they have to come to Sam. That would be quite interesting!

ES: That potentially—yeah, a gesture of just understanding…

DS: It may not change things. I mean, I don’t think it would. But there’d be some sense, for them, some resolution that they’d shown that they were humbled by it all. In a way, what’s important is that people can make up their own minds about that. They can imagine that, or not. Or they can be very pleased that the film ends as it does. The film ends in a way that there isn’t an ending. Life carries on, and whatever happens will happen.

What are you hearing from audiences? What reactions have surprised you, or moved you, or both?

EP: I definitely was surprised, and delighted, by the amount of laughter in the screenings—particularly the one at BFI FLARE [an LGBTQIA+ film festival in London]. Watching it with a what I imagine was a predominantly queer and trans audience—I really enjoyed that aspect of this laughter and recognition of all these awkward moments. You could hear people feeling seen. That surprised me, just the degree of laughter. And people have shared some very lovely things with [Dominic]. People have been extremely emotional.

DS: It means so much to certain people. The audiences that have come have felt incredibly moved by it in a way that made me feel like it had profoundly affected them. That makes you feel a really gratified. They showed gratitude for its existence. They thank us for having made it, because it means so much to them. That’s incredible to be able to do that and have that effect. I didn’t ever think it would have that sort of effect, because you tend to think that people can be cynical, but they’re not. It means so much. And I just want so many people to see it. That’s the point. The more people that see it, the more hopefully that something can change for them.

Because this movie does mean so much to so many people, and because your career and popularity mean so much to so many people, do you feel pressure to “get it right” when it comes to trans representation?

EP: Yes. [Laughs.] As one should. Particularly at this time, and the unfortunate lack of [representation]. It’s that balance of wanting to be able to feel—especially when you’re working in this way—to feel free to move with feeling, to be present and honest in the moment, and get to be lost in that space. But of course, I always want to be mindful about what we’re putting on screen and the stories we’re sharing. But I feel like we discussed a lot of that, you know, before going into it. What’s the dynamic with the parents and the siblings? What are the parameters here? How can we do something new and interesting? And how can we have it be positive—not just this trauma piece, those sorts of things we’re used to seeing, but still be realistic. There are obstacles. There is grief. There is all of these aspects to a whole human experience, as trans and queer people. I certainly hope people feel happy with it. We tried our best to find that that balance, of making something, hopefully, truthful, and also mindful.

Elliot, I can’t let you go without asking about that emotional series finale of The Umbrella Academy. What was your reaction to that reading that final, shocking scene? And have you seen any of the fan reactions to the finale?

EP: Oh, I haven’t, really. I’m not really an online person. That’s been something I’ve removed a bit of from my life these last couple of years, to be honest. So I don’t necessarily always engage with those things, for reasons you probably can imagine. When I first read it, of course, I was—I mean, I guess I wasn’t shocked. The ending actually made sense to me. I think it’s more the overall feeling of just the show ending. I’ve never been on a series this long, or done a job this long. Just being in LA, for all the press was with everybody, and reflecting on the whole show. It was definitely sad to say, goodbye, of course.