The actor now refuses to say with a lot having changed since
Jess Battison
Unless you’re totally living young and free (lucky you), then it’s likely you have those nights laying in bed thinking of that one thing you said years ago.
Maybe it’s that terrible joke you tried to tell in year nine science or an awkward greeting with that person you really liked at freshers and never spoke to again.
And it’s not just us mere mortals who have these kind of regrets, but celebrities too.
Except they also regret lines they said on screen too. For Elliot Page, it’s a line from Juno which just ‘didn’t register at the time’.
It’s no secret that an awful lot has changed since the iconic coming-of-age romcom was released back in 2007, with a change in both the cast members themselves and film culture in general.
Page starred as the pregnant teen Juno MacGuff when he was 20-years-old.
13 years later in 2020, the actor publicly came out as a transgender man, with his memoir Pageboy becoming an instant Sunday Times bestseller last year.
And despite all of his achievements and roles since – like playing victor in The Umbrella Academy and advocating for LGBTQ rights – it’s his brilliant performance in Juno that many still know him for.
Juno is an absolutely iconic 00’s film. (Searchlight Pictures)
But for Page, it’s something he still has regrets over.
At one point during the movie, Juno and boyfriend Paulie Bleeker (Michael Cera) decide to put their unborn kid up for adoption.
They meet couple Mark and Vanessa (Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner), with Juno becoming close to the bloke.
And during one scene, they’re chatting about baby names when he says that his partner quite ‘likes Madison’.
But Juno really isn’t sold as she says: “Madison? Wait, hold on… Isn’t that like, a little, gay?”
In the years since the film’s release, Page has often spoken about that ‘joke’ and how much he regrets having to say it.
Page avoids saying the joke now. (Patricia Schlein/Star Max/GC Images)
Speaking to Bustle in 2017, he explained: “It wasn’t something I totally registered at the time, but, of course, now that I’m older I do.
“So many movies I loved as a kid are just rampant with homophobia and transphobia and biphobia, and I’m not excusing it by any means.”
He also has refused to read out the line during table reads of the film since as he swerves the homophobic comment.
Page has also previously spoken about feeling ‘complicated’ towards the breakthrough film, admitting it had them ‘boxed in’ with the female role becoming so major.