Transgender actor Elliot Page revealed he has not received any role offers despite starring in Christopher Nolan's blockbuster feature film The Odyssey.
The 39-year-old Canadian actor opened up about the bleak reality of his career following the release of the epic, admitting it has been tough to land new acting roles.
Speaking on a recent episode of the On Film... With Kevin McCarthy podcast, the Oscar-nominated actor reflected on his current standing in Hollywood despite appearing in what has been described as one of the greatest movies ever made.
"I think it’s a little tricky for me to get cast right now," Page said on the podcast. "I think that’s probably for pretty obvious reasons."
The actor, who came out as transgender in 2020, showed he retained his sense of humor about the industry's response by quickly adding, "The Canadian thing."
Lack of role offers
Page's comments come after his casting in director Christopher Nolan's adaptation of Homer's ancient Greek epic sparked widespread online debate. Tesla chief executive Elon Musk, who owns the social media platform X, engaged in a months-long tirade over the inclusion of Page and co-star Lupita Nyong'o in the film.
While Page did not directly address the frequent attacks from the billionaire tech entrepreneur regarding the production's perceived "woke" casting choices, he acknowledged that he has noticed the massive cultural impact of the blockbuster movie.
"I mean, I’m just an observer like everyone else," Page explained. "Whether I’m watching the news when I’m in Canada, and CBC is making a reference in terms of politics, or you know the endless memes."
In the 173-minute feature film, Page portrays the Greek soldier Sinon. Despite his prominent billing, his performance accounts for only about five and a half minutes of the overall runtime.
Page has taken on only a handful of acting projects since publicly announcing his transition four years ago. His post-2020 credits include portraying Viktor Hargreeves in seasons 3 and 4 of the hit Netflix superhero series The Umbrella Academy, as well as starring in the 2023 independent drama film Close to You.
The epic historical drama marks Page's second major feature collaboration with Nolan. The duo previously worked together 16 years earlier on the 2010 Oscar-winning science fiction thriller Inception, in which Page starred alongside Leonardo DiCaprio.
Online tirade over casting
Despite Nolan's reputation as one of modern cinema's most acclaimed filmmakers, his adaptation of the Greek myth has faced intense online backlash concerning its diverse casting choices.
Musk was among the most prominent public figures to voice strong opposition to the casting of Mexican-Kenyan actress Lupita Nyong'o as Helen of Troy. In Greek mythology, Helen is the daughter of Zeus whose legendary beauty is said to have launched a thousand ships when her departure with Prince Paris of Troy ignited the Trojan War.
Nyong'o, who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her break-out performance in the 2013 historical drama 12 Years a Slave, also appears in the film as Helen's sister Clytemnestra.
Her casting ignited a fierce reaction on X, where conservative political commentator Matt Walsh criticized the decision. Walsh posted that nobody "on the planet" views Nyong'o as the world's ultimate beauty, claiming Nolan "knows that he would be called racist if he gave 'the most beautiful woman' role to a white woman."
Musk publicly backed Walsh's claims by replying "True" to the post. That endorsement drew immediate pushback from high-profile Hollywood figures, including actor Alec Baldwin and late-night television host Jimmy Kimmel.
Reactions to Lupita Nyong'o
Nyong'o subsequently faced a second wave of online criticism following a promotional interview on the video series Jake's Takes. When asked what single question she would pose to the ancient poet Homer if given the chance to meet him today, Nyong'o offered a feminist critique of the classic text.
"So, Homer, how do you feel about the screen time given to these women considering how little you spent with them? Remember us?" Nyong'o said during the interview.
Social media users quickly poured scorn on the actress's comments. Critics online mocked the statement as being "straight out of idiocracy" and claimed she "thinks it's still 2016 and everyone is going to stand up, clap and yell, 'YAAAASSSSS QUEEN.'"
Rumors and Christopher Nolan's praise
Page, who first shot to global fame under his birth name Ellen Page after earning an Academy Award nomination for the 2007 coming-of-age comedy Juno, was similarly targeted online prior to the film's release. False rumors circulated across social media platforms claiming he had been cast as the legendary Greek warrior Achilles.
When the unverified speculation was at its height, Musk blasted the rumored casting choice on X, calling it "one of the dumbest and twisted things I've ever heard."
Even after official cast lists confirmed Page was playing Sinon rather than Achilles, Musk continued his online commentary. The Tesla executive reposted a tweet targetting the actor's gender identity that stated, "I'm not mocking her masculinity. I'm denying its existence."
In July, Page attended the high-profile New York premiere of The Odyssey alongside his girlfriend, comedian Julia Shiplett.
In contrast to the online hostility, Nolan expressed immense satisfaction with Page's work on the film. Speaking to Rolling Stone magazine earlier this year, the veteran director described reuniting with Page as "thrilling."
"I felt with his character [Sinon] in The Odyssey, he brings something really special to it," Nolan told the publication. "Because, in a way, you're looking to put a face on certain elements of what Odysseus has done, what that means for the world as a whole."
Nolan added: "You're looking to put a face on the tragedy of war. And I think he did an incredible job."
Creative choices and restricted comments
Page and Nyong'o were not the only non-traditional casting decisions made by Nolan for the massive production. In May, the director addressed his decision to cast world-famous hip-hop artist Travis Scott, despite the musician having no prior professional acting experience.
"I cast him," Nolan explained during an interview with Time magazine, "because I wanted to nod towards the idea that this story has been handed down as oral poetry, which is analogous to rap."
The star-studded ensemble cast for Nolan's epic also features Hollywood A-listers Zendaya, Robert Pattinson, Tom Holland, Anne Hathaway, and Charlize Theron.
However, as public debate surrounding the film's creative choices and casting decisions escalated across social media, the backlash became so severe that administrators of the official X account for Nolan's The Odyssey were forced to restrict public comments on their posts.
