Elliot Page Calls His New Movie the ‘Complete Highlight of My Career’ at TIFF Red Carpet (Exclusive)

Elliot Page is back on the red carpet.

As Page, 36, appeared at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday, the actor told PEOPLE that he was feeling “grateful and nervous and excited, like I usually do before a premiere” as he made his debut Near youhis first film in six years.

“This was the absolute highlight of my career, personally,” Page says of the largely unscripted, improvisational film. “[Director Dominic Savage’s] process, the experience of making a film in this way is not something I have done before. I feel grateful to be a part of his work and hope to do it again.”

Page, who also stars in the Netflix series Umbrella Academyhe last appeared in a feature film in 2017 Flatliners.

Near you Page stars as a transgender man named Sam who returns to his hometown for the first time since transitioning.

While traveling home, Sam “runs into Katherine (Hillary Baack), a high school friend who now has her own complicated life, and feelings from their unresolved past begin to surface,” according to the official synopsis.

Elliot Page got shingles at the ‘beginning’ due to stress and internal struggles

Elliot Page attends the RBC House “Close to You” Cocktail Party at the 2023 RBC House Toronto International Film Festival on September 10, 2023 in Toronto, Ontario.

Kennedy Pollard/Getty

Page managed to appear at the film festival even though the Screen Actors Guild is still on strike against the Association of Film and Television Producers (AMPTP) since Near you is an independent production that received a temporary guild contract.

He was previously spotted joining striking actors on a picket line in New York in August, and separately shared a photo and video of himself on a picket line the same week.

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Page’s new film comes about three months after his memoir a little boy was published in June. At TIFF, the actor says he believes the book has helped him connect with fans.

“People have been very kind and supportive and sharing how it’s helped them or how they’ve related to it,” he tells PEOPLE. “It meant the absolute world to me, and, yes, the book coming out was one of the more anxious periods of my life.”

“It feels like a weight has been lifted,” Page adds.

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Elliot Page and Dominic Savage with cast and crew attend the premiere of ‘Close To You’ during the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival at Royal Alexandra Theater on September 10, 2023 in Toronto, Ontario.

Brian de Rivera Simon/Getty

Page also said Entertainment Weekly over the weekend that the film was a “liberating” experience three years after coming out as transgender.

“The way I feel working now is far more embodied from that foundation, versus going in and not feeling that way. It’s a huge shift. Doing something like this, complete improvisation, would have been next to impossible before.” He said.

Near you no US release planned yet; the film is also set to premiere at Canada’s Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival on September 23.

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education