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the British actor seems entirely unfussed by the celebrity of it all. Instead, he finds pleasure in the aspects of his career that remind him of when he first began, hustling through Los Angeles from audition to audition.
“I really enjoyed the rhythm of pilot season,” he recalls. “Three auditions a day, they just keep coming and you’re hopping from world to world, from character to character. I see that as really adventurous. I like living in other people’s lives. I like taking me- mentoes from that. I like the Indiana Jones of it all, where you go into a world and you learn things, then you bring back these artifacts, you share those with the audience in the final piece.”
In combination with his intention to explore new worlds, Page’s recent work has largely been fuelled by the desire to work with actors of a particular pedigree. In Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves (2023), he starred alongside Chris Pine, an actor driven by an Old-Hollywood sensibility to the work that resonates with Page.
“What Chris taught me is how much intense work goes into making a movie feel light, making the ‘fun’ seem natural,” he explains. “It’s a film that carries a lot of humour and Chris makes it come across so easily, so effortlessly. A lot of the time, it’s a far bigger challenge to make the light work seem natural compared to heavier scripts. But his knowledge of film is encyclopedic. He knows everything and he’s like a heat-seeking missile for what a
scene needs. [...] He’s in constant consideration of the audience.” Although Page admits his film knowledge doesn’t quite reach Pine’s notoriously “encyclopedic” levels, his love for the craft and respect for his peers is clear. As the conversation shifts from the “industry talk” that so often clouds Hollywood’s young stars to
the work on set, Page’s face lights up.
“I read the [Black Bag] script and then I knew Cate and
Michael were on board and I thought to myself, ‘Oh, okay, some very high-level people are about to create some very high-level work. How can I be a part of this?’” he says. “Maybe other people don’t view it this way but, for me, I’m still so early in my career, so I want to surround myself with the best people and pick up as much as I can by osmosis.”
Coincidentally, Page and his co-stars — Brosnan and Fassbender — each attended Drama Centre London after years of theatre work. But while the formal training gave him the foundation to land his initial starring roles, he asserts that it’s those starring alongside him in Black Bag who offer a more practical education.
“There is this intense curiosity that both Michael and Pierce bring to set, but in very different ways,” he says. “Pierce is remarkably generous and playful. Michael can be more piercing, though. His mind works so quickly. And he’s so generous with his curiosity, which sounds abstract, but he’s so willing to share these observations that he’s having about the characters or the script. [...] That’s where I get to nerd out. You know, that’s my Ivy League.”
If Fassbender and Brosnan operate on two different ends of a spectrum in terms of education for Page, where then, does two-time Oscar winner Cate Blanchette fall?
“Everywhere,” Page exclaims. “Cate is everything. She is overwhelming to observe as an actor and a human being. It’s very hard to put into words how impressive Cate is as an artist. [...] It’s one of the most generous casts that I’ve ever worked with.”
For Page, the past few years have partly been about seeking out those very kinds of sets, the ones where the generosity overflows to create a space for him to grow as an actor. But what motivates him more than stretching his own abilities is the opportunity to explore ideas of representation. With such a gregarious personality and the 2023 distinction of “World’s Handsomest Man,” one wouldn’t assume Page would be accustomed to “outsider” status. Yet growing up in Zimbabwe and moving to London for secondary school, Page is cognisant of just how vital representation is when it comes to exploring these worlds.
“I think it’s more simple than it is complex,” he says in detailing his approach to new roles. “Kate Winslet in Mare of Easttown, right? [She is] representing that city to the rest of the world. [...] It’s the fact that you represent that place, that culture, that so- cio-economic background, that historical context. You represent the world they live in. And you have to do your homework with that. [...] You recognize that you’re an ambassador in the work that you’re showing. I think that’s the bar to which I hold myself.”
As for what or who Page and his castmates will be representing in Soderbergh’s Black Bag, his ever-growing audience will be waiting with anticipation. All we know for certain is that the exploration will be a purposeful departure from what he’s done before, and whatever lies on the horizon will be yet another. In 2022, it was reported that Page would star in an upcoming Amazon adaptation of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, with the British actor portraying Cassidy and Glen Powell taking on the role of Sundance. If true, the role is yet another opportunity for Page to bring his audience to a new story — pivoting from the newly-constructed world of
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