The New ‘Indie Girl’: Ellen Page

She seduced Patrick Wilson in Hard Candy (and then almost sliced off his manhood). Now, the young star is back with Juno, a movie about getting pregnant first and asking questions later.

By Nick Haramis

Click here to read our full interview with Ellen Page, and see some exclusive candid shots she took for BlackBook magazine!

Page, left, with the Dancing Elk Condors track team, Toronto.

First thing's first: Ellen Page needs to get something off her chest. "It's so funny when people try to label me a cool, indie girl," she giggles. "No, I'm pretty sure I was in a movie called I Downloaded a Ghost."

At ten, the Canadian actress was noticed by a local casting director who showed up to her school looking for a short girl with brown hair. But it was her delicious role as Hayley Stark in Hard Candy that caught the attention of, well, just about everyone.

Cool or no, Page, now 20, has blossomed into a proper festival darling, thanks to star turns in Juno—this year's Little Miss Sunshine, according to people who say stuff like that—and An American Crime, a harrowing period drama alongside Catherine Keener. Add to that a handful of high-profile projects for next year (including Smart People with Sarah Jessica Parker) and it's hard to disagree that Page is on her way to becoming a household name.

“I’ve become a little more exposed, vulnerable,” she says, conscious that success has its downside. “To a certain extent, you have to remain private about things. Sometimes it makes me question people more. It’s like, ‘Oh, that’s so funny that these people who never talked to me in high school are now talking to me.’ Fuck you.” Equally uninspired by red carpets, she sneers, “I think people who grow up surrounded by that self-important, self-indulgent, surreal lifestyle forget that the majority of the world could give a rat’s ass.”

She also has something to say about Hollywood’s unlikely representations of young men and women. “I hope that with Juno, we might start a trend in film in which the main character wears sweater vests and flannel, and listens to the Stooges. That’s not even a quirky character. That’s what me and my friends were like in high school. That’s normal.”

Photo courtesy Fox Searchlight Pictures.