Ellen Page Discusses Her 'Freeheld' Red Carpet Debut With Girlfriend, Battling Homophobia
The actress recalls how the role helped her come out publicly as gay.
-- Ellen Page stars alongside Julianne Moore in the new movie, “Freeheld,” which is based on a true story about a same-sex couple fighting for equality that also tells a compelling love story.
Not only does Page, 28, star in the film, but she’s also one of the producers on it. She actually signed on to work on the project years ago when she had first seen the trailer for this Oscar-winning documentary short.
“I was fortunate because Michael Shamberg and Stacey Sher, who are producers on the project, came to me with a documentary,” Page said on “Good Morning America” today. “It had just won the Oscar and asked if I’d be interested in attaching myself to play Stacey. Before I even got my hands on the doc, I watched the trailer online and I was weeping and I said ‘yes’ right away.”
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She says that Laurel Hester and Stacie Andree, the two women who Moore and Page play in the movie, “are just incredible people who did something so crucial and so important,” adding that “they did it in a time when they were dealing with a circumstance that’s unimaginable.”
“As an actor,” Page explained, “I just so wanted to be a part of telling their story and feel grateful that I got to do that.”
The actress herself came out in February 2014. She credits the movie, in part, for helping her make that decision.
“It makes you want to do the right thing and live your life in a true, authentic way and be a visible person to the community,” said Page.
Page and her girlfriend, Samantha Thomas, made their red carpet debut at the “Freeheld” premier on Monday night.
“It was really special,” said Page. “There was a certain time in my life when something like that seemed impossible, honestly.”
The “Juno” star also said she cried when she found out that Julianne Moore was going to be starring in “Freeheld” with her.
“When you’re trying to make this movie happen and then Julianne Moore says yes to playing Laurel, I mean, you kind of know your movie’s going to get paid,” she quipped. “And she is just one of the most special people you could possibly meet. You rarely meet people who are as generous, so deeply kind, [and] protective. I feel so grateful that she’s now in my life. She’s really, really an extraordinary person.”
When asked what Page wants viewers to tak away when they see this film, she replied, “Well, I think first and foremost it’s a beautiful, beautiful love story. And the dedication that these women have towards one another is really stunning. And of course that’s the emotion through-line of the film.”
Moore’s and Page’s characters go through a lot of homophobic struggles in the movie, which is something Page has dealt with in her own life.
“Well, nothing where I was personally in a situation where I was directly fighting for rights that were so overtly being denied to me in any means,” she explained, “But yeah, of course. I mean, of course I deal with various degrees of homophobia in my life.”
"Freeheld" opens in theaters nationwide October 9.