After a few years away, Sam (Page) returns to his family home to attend a gathering in Close To You. While his family accepts him, it becomes clear that there are still some unstated ideas, especially those relating to the married father of his sister. On the way home, he also bumps into old friend Katherine (Hillary Baack) and it’s clear the pair have history.
Speaking exclusively to RadioTimes.com about whether he can separate his work from the struggles that trans people face, Page says: “I don’t think it can ever be separate, because our lives and bodies are politicized, criminalized, all of those things, and it’s just becoming progressively worse, which is so horrific and devastating.
“So I suppose it’s constantly on your mind significantly, and all you can hope is that this film…really, mainly I just love the thought of even someone who needs to see this sitting in a theatre and being able to have something about their experience reflected, or maybe there is somebody who says they’re an ally, but does have those thoughts lingering like the brother-in-law, and]it] helps them possibly understand not only the impact, but just, quite frankly, that they’re wrong.
You can never type of independent the reality of the issues facing transgender people.
Elliot Page in the movie Close To You Courtesy of Me+You Productions
In December 2020, Page formally revealed his gender and gave his name.
Speaking about what specific experiences he brought to Close To You, he explains: “About every character work feels individual. Meeting people from your history: When I was in Grade 10 and a large high school, as far as I was aware, not a single student was out throughout the entire high school, and I did feel for them.
“So there’s specific points that you are drawing. What would that be like if you hadn’t seen each other in a while and now you’re seeing each other and potentially having conversations you couldn’t have before was what it was like for me? And there were some things about that that surely felt individual.
Despite Page’s years of experience in the film industry, the fresh picture was far from easy for him due to Savage’s distinct and innovative design, which saw all of the speech improvised.
Hillary Baack and Elliot Page at the show’s premiere. Joe Maher/Getty Images
Savage asserts to RadioTimes.com that “I think it’s really how I’ve made my work.” What I really enjoy doing is putting the actors in a way that makes them act more like they are. That’s what I believe the absence of dialogue accomplishes: it makes the actors completely self-absorbed in the scene.
“The scenes all have a purpose, that’s very clear from the script, but what I love is when an actor is often reacting to things that are happening as well as it’s going along, it’s a very organic process. Things constantly change. What I think this way of working does is it brings up real emotions, and real feelings. And it’s an it’s an emotional journey like no other.”
Page admits, though: “Literally all of the cast and everybody before going into it were just terrified. Like I really was s***ting myself. ‘I don’t know how to improvise. What am I doing? Dominic’s gonna be so disappointed.’
At the premiere of Close To You, Elliot Page, Hillary Baack, and Dominic Savage. Simon Ackerman/WireImage
“And then what’s amazing is when it starts happening, it just starts happening, like you disappear into it and]Baack and I] had a little bit of communication, we’d talked a little bit about what the relationship could have been like in high school and all those things, but we kept it pretty fresh for when we made the film.”
In terms of backstory for her character Katherine, Baack explains: “I didn’t have one specific story like Elliot has in terms of thinking about someone from my past, but at the same time, of course, I have several experiences I felt like I was drawing on and was bringing]in] with what was happening in the present with Sam and Katherine.
“It just felt like a bringing together of parts of myself and who Katherine is as well. And then, of course, Katherine’s deafness and being in the hearing world and speaking and signing a little bit, that’s one thing that I’ve experienced that I could bring to the character.
Also, I thought that being a little bit on the outside or a little bit different from the mainstream was one of the things that drew Katherine to Sam.
It’s clear how the film as a whole could educate about the experiences of trans people, with Page recalling of his first conversations with Savage: “We didn’t want to have parents that didn’t accept Sam, but to show something just a little bit different, that’s still complicated, and uncomfortable for somebody. We essentially wanted to make a deeply personal, intimate story about the desire to be seen and what it means to choose to truly love yourself, in my opinion.
Baack adds: “I’m just proud of how much we poured our hearts into it, we gave it everything, and had an amazing experience. It was so much fun, and challenging and intense and beautiful. And I’m happy that we did this and that we are retelling a complex human tale.
