‘Hard Candy’
Page in her breakout role in 2005’s Hard Candy.
Page in her breakout role in 2005’s Hard Candy.
‘Inception’
After winning the attention of Jason Reitman in Hard Candy, Page was cast in his quirky teen comedy Juno. For all involved in that movie — Reitman, Page, her co-star Michael Cera and the stripper-turned-screenwriter Diablo Cody — life never would be the same. Reitman still marvels at Page’s tremendous talent and work ethic: “She is completely emotional and lost in the moment and simultaneously has the ability to hit every mark. I haven’t worked with another actor like her since.”
Page co-starred in the 2008 comedy-drama, in which she played an overachieving teenager, with Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker and Thomas Haden Church. The film premiered at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.
Page riffed on the gay rumors in a 2008 Saturday Night Live skit, telling her boyfriend, played by castmember Andy Samberg, about the great time she had at a Melissa Etheridge concert.
Directed by Zal Batmanglij, the 2013 thriller stars Brit Marling, Alexander Skarsgard and Page. Produced by Ridley Scott and executive produced by his late younger brother, Tony Scott, The East premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and hit theaters in May 2013. Page became close to the handsome True Blood star, provoking a fresh round of tabloid rumors. “People really thought we were dating,” says Page.
Woody Allen chose Page to play a self-absorbed actress in 2012’s To Rome With Love — a part that required her to deliver a rapturous monologue about having sex with a woman. “He’s a very different director to work with,” says Page of Allen. “He doesn’t really communicate with you. He just kind of lets you do it. There’s not a lot of direction happening.”
2009 bomb Whip It, a sweet, messy roller-derby comedy from first-time helmer Drew Barrymore, was notable for a press tour throughout which director and muse held hands and kissed. (Page denies a romance with Barrymore.)
Page says she was shocked to be asked to reprise Kitty Pryde, a part she originated in the Brett Ratner-helmed Last Stand in 2006, the final installment of the X-Men trilogy. “I was 18, and nobody knew who I was — just this kid and working with this insane cast,” she says of the star-packed installment.
“It was so fun to go back and be with everybody again,” she says of returning to the X-Men franchise. She delights in the sweet antics of stars Patrick Stewart and Ian McKellen and says of Jackman, with whom she shares the majority of her scenes, “You know how they say things like ‘the nicest guy in Hollywood’? But it’s true!”