- Alison Lohman, Drag Me To Hell, 2008. Ellen-at-the-time quit the so-so horror number by Sam and Ivan Raimi to star as a roller derby star in Drew Barrymore’s directing debut, Whip It. (Sounds like another good Raimi title!)
- Anna Kendrick, Up In The Air, 2009. Auteur Jason Reitman wrote Natalie for Anna after admiring her in Rocket Science, 2007 – but still considered his Juno star – and Emily Blunt.
- Rooney Mara, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, 2010.
- Mia Wasikowska, Jane Eyre, 2010. She was Jane until production delays and eyre she wasn’t.
- Juno Temple, Killer Joe, 2010. Page was keen on being Dottie. Director William Friedkin was keener after seeing her “stunning” performance as the rapist torturer in Hard Candy. She said sure; her agent said no. Much the same with Jennifer Lawrence. Then, Temple sent an unsolicited video to casting director Denise Chamian. Billy had never heard of her but loved her seduction test scene as Dottie – opposite her ten-year-old brother as Joe (!). “She was pitch-perfect. (Her brother wasn’t bad, either). A little kooky, blonde and cute. Perfect To my surprise she had a British accent. Yet she could sound like a Texan as well.”
- Riley Keough, Jack and Diane, 2011. The suits didn’t look very far… The screen Juno was schedule-substituted by the London Juno… opposite Elvis Presley’s grand-daughter. (Yes, Jack was a girl).
- Clara Delevingne, Suicide Squad, 2015. After 19 possible Deadshots and 14 Harley Quinns, director David Ayer searched through eleven young beauties for June Moone, aka Enchantress (the DC villain, not Marvel’s rival to Thor). The contenders were Page, Troian Bellisario (tied to Pretty Little Liars) Emilia Clarke (nothing without her Game of Thrones’ dragons), Alexandra Daddario, Megan Fox, Brie Larson, Krysten Ritter, Saoirse Ronan, Emma Stone, Alicia Vikander, Shailene Woodley. And told the winning Delevingne toprepare for the role by stripping naked in the woods and walk in mud, preferably during a full moon. Takes all sorts. Film still flopped!
- Rebecca Ferguson, The Greatest Showman, 2017. Being Swedish, Ferguson had, oh, the slightest of edges over Page and Carey Mullgian for opera singer Jenny Lind – The Swedish Nightingale. She first toured the US in 1850, under the aegis of master showman PT Barnum – Hugh Jackman’s dream rôle since 2009.
Footnloe>>> “I feel overwhelming gratitude for the incredible people who have supported me along this journey. I can’t begin to express how remarkable it feels to finally love who I am enough to pursue my authentic self.” On December 1, 2020, Ellen Page announced the new name of Elliot Page, that they are transgender and identify as non-binary, a term used to describe a person’s gender as neither man nor woman; their pronouns are “he” and “they.” In March 2021, Page became the first openly trans man on the Time cover. He said when he came he was recovering from top surgery – “not only life-changing but lifesaving.”
Birth year: Death year: Other name: Ellen PageCasting Calls: 8