Elliot Page (Juno, The Umbrella Academy) has revealed that he is finding it difficult to land acting roles following his recent supporting turn in Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey.
Shortly after the first trailer was released, speculation mounted that Page must be playing The Iliad's mythical warrior, Achilles, who met his end during the siege of Troy after being shot in the heel with a poisoned arrow. The theory seemed to stem from a shot of Page's character speaking to Odysseus (Matt Damon) in the afterlife, but the Inception star actually played a young soldier named Sinon.
During a recent visit to the On Film… With Kevin McCarthy podcast, the 39-year-old actor was asked if he's "getting a zillion calls" following his acclaimed performance.
“No, Kevin, I'm not. If someone wants to call me,” Page said, before jokingly adding, “I know I get some pushback for being… Canadian."
"I don’t know what it’s about. I don’t know if this is weird or too personal, but when you do ask me about [Inception]… I had such a great time being in that movie. I had such a great time working with [writer-director Christopher Nolan], but I was also personally really uncomfortable,” he admitted. “Whereas, a part like Juno, I was able to feel more comfortable and embodied or something like that.”
“But I feel now, because that’s removed, and I don’t have to deal with that when I’m acting in my performances, I am like… I feel like I could maybe do some of my best work now,” Page added. "[I'm more comfortable] not having to work through a performance that I don’t even quite know I’m doing to get a performance.”
Last year, a rumor circulated that Page was on Marvel Studios' radar for a role in an upcoming project, but we haven't heard anything since.
As we're sure any fan of 20th Century Fox's now defunct X-Men franchise will be aware, this wouldn't be Page's first Marvel Comics role, as he - then still known as Ellen Page - played Kitty Pryde, aka Shadowcat, in X-Men: The Last Stand and Days of Future Past.
"Christopher Nolan’s next film The Odyssey is a mythic action epic shot across the world using brand-new IMAX film technology. The film brings Homer’s foundational saga to IMAX film screens for the first time and opens in theaters everywhere on July 17, 2026," said Universal Pictures in a statement when the project was announced.
The poem has been adapted (sometimes very loosely) a number of times before, starting with the 1911 silent film by Giuseppe de Liguoro, and followed by 1954’s Ulysses starring Kirk Douglas. The Cohen Brothers' O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) is also based on the epic adventure, as is 2024’s The Return starring Ralph Fiennes.
Anime fans may also recall the '80s Ulysses 31 series, which put a futuristic spin on the tale.