‘Being intimate with her helped my shame dissipate’
Elliot Page said he had sex “all the time” with one of his Juno co-stars whilst they were filming.
Juno was released in 2007 and stars Elliot Page as the titular character Juno.
Directed by Jason Reitman and written by Diablo Cody, the movie follows Juno as she deals with an unexpected pregnancy and finds a failed rockstar, Mark (Jason Bateman), and his wife (Jennifer Garner) who plan to adopt the unborn child.
The film was a huge hit and received critical acclaim. Along with winning the Oscar for best original screenplay, it was nominated for best picture and Page received a nomination for best actress.
Juno also stars Olivia Thirlby as Leah, Juno’s friend, and it sounds like her and Page got on very well during filming.
In his recent memoir, Pageboy, the actor recalled his relationship with Thirlby during their time together on set.
He said they had “palpable” chemistry, and after one encounter in her hotel room they started “having sex all the time.”
Page wrote: “I was taken aback the moment I saw Olivia Thirlby. We stood in her hotel room. Billie Holliday played. She was about to start making lunch, when she looked directly at me and said point-blank, ‘I’m really attracted to you.’
“‘Uh, I’m really attracted to you, too.’ At that we started sucking face. It was on… we started having sex all the time: her hotel room, in our trailers at work, once in a tiny, private room in a restaurant. What were we thinking?
“We thought we were subtle. Being intimate with Olivia helped my shame dissipate. I didn’t see a glint of it in her eyes and I wanted that – done feeling wretched about who I am.
“Ironically, playing a pregnant teenager was one of the first times I felt a modicum of autonomy on set. I was wearing a fake belly but not being hyperfeminised. For me, Juno was emblematic of what could be possible, a space beyond the binary.”
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Elliot Page says he had 2-year secret relationship with his co-star
