Ellen Page has spoken out about sexism in Hollywood. We all know it’s there, as the grim statistics show that less than 5 per cent of Hollywood directors are women, despite films which pass the Bechdel Test doing better at the box office than films which don’t.
‘In a lot of the roles, especially now that I’m getting older, women are devices for the men in the story and very sexualized,’ she says. ‘That’s what it’s all about – being seen through this male, patriarchal gaze. Let’s just get real; that’s just what most scripts are.’
However, she’s going to be part of the change when it comes to women in film because not only does she take on roles which go beyond being a love interest, she’s about to produced Freeheld, which has been in development for six years. Focusing in on lesbian civil rights, it will star Julianne Moore as a cop dying of cancer who fights to have her pension benefits transferred to her partner, who will be played by Ellen Page. Based on a true story, the film is written by Ron Nyswanner, who got nominated for his screenplay for Philadelphia, a 1994 film starring Tom Hanks which looked at gay people’s rights during the HIV epidemic in gay communities in the late 80s and early 90s.
On Julianne, Ellen said she ‘is so fucking badass’ for playing a lesbian two times before, and admits that she even doubted her willingness to 'go gay' again: 'A part of me thought, "Oh, she played a lesbian not a long time ago in The Kids Are All Right, and she did Chloe, where she and Amanda Seyfried had a thing -- and she's not going to want to do another." Which is a horrible thing to think. I mean, I am the gay person and I thought that.'
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, accompanied by yet another photoshoot of her in sharp monochrome tailoring (BTW we’re really happy with these sorts of photoshoots, do keep them coming) Ellen, who famously came out a couple of months ago, also explained her excuses for not coming out for so long: ‘For so long I thought, “Oh, I have to keep it private because my job is about creating an illusion” and kind of all those bullshit excuses.’
Why are they bullshit? ‘Because I don't see heterosexual actresses going to great lengths to hide their heterosexuality.’
Brb, just counting the ways we think Ellen Page is great.
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Picture: Getty
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.