Close to You: Release date, cast and latest news for Elliot Page film
The film was largely improvised.
Elliot Page’s new film Close to You has landed in US cinemas, marking the Oscar-nominated actor’s first movie role in six years, following 2017’s Flatliners.
Close to You revolves around Page’s character Sam, who goes home to visit his parents and siblings for the first time since his transition, forcing him to confront unresolved wounds.
The official trailer was recently released, giving viewers a first glimpse at some of these long-avoided reintroductions, including one in which a relative claims he doesn’t know all the “rules” of interacting with a transgender person.
“What do you mean rules? I’m just a person, just talk to me,” Sam says.
Sam also runs into his old friend Katherine (Hillary Baack), prompting unresolved romantic feelings to bubble to the surface.
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“You look so good, you really do. You look the same just more you. I love it," Katherine tells Sam in the trailer.
Close to You was largely improvised, with hardly any written dialogue.
Speaking about this decision, director Dominic Savage recently told RadioTimes.com: "I think it's really how I've made all my work... what I really enjoy is to be able to put the actors in the story in a way that they are kind of living the story, rather than acting the story. That's what I think the the removal of dialogue does – it allows the actor to completely lose themselves in the scene."
He continued: "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 change all the time. 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 added: "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.’
"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."
Wondering when the film is coming out in the UK? Read on for everything you need to know.
Close to You UK release date
Close to You landed in cinemas in the US on 16th August, and is set to release in the UK on Friday 23rd August.
The film had its world premiere at Toronto International Film Festival in 2023, and its UK premiere at London’s BFI Flare LGBTQ+ film festival earlier this year.
Close to You cast
The full cast list is as follows:
- Elliot Page as Sam
- Hillary Baack as Katherine
- Peter Outerbridge as Jim, Sam's dad
- Wendy Crewson as Miriam, Sam's mum
- Janet Porter as Kate
- Alex Paxton-Beesley as Megan
- Daniel Maslany as Michael
- Sook-Yin Lee as Emily
- Andrew Bushell as Stephen
- Jim Watson as Daniel
- David Reale as Paul
- Amanda Richer as Margot
Elliot Page (The Umbrella Academy) stars as lead character Sam, a transgender man who's forced to grapple with unresolved wounds when he visits his family for the first time in four years.
Speaking about what personal experiences he brought to the film, Page, who came out as transgender in 2020, told RadioTimes.com: "Almost every character job feels personal. Meeting someone from your past – when I was in Grade 10 and a big high school, as far as I knew, not a single kid was out in the whole high school, and I did have feelings for someone."
He continued: "So there's certain things that you are drawing. For me, that was like, 'what would that be like if you hadn't seen each other in a long time and now you're seeing each other and potentially having conversations that you couldn't have before?' And certain aspects of that definitely felt personal."
Alongside Page, the film also stars Hillary Baack (You & Me, Sound of Metal) as Katherine, Sam's old high school friend and love interest.
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Is there a trailer for Close to You?
Yes there is, and it gives fans a glimpse of what looks to be an incredibly moving performance from Page as Sam, as the character navigates some of those awkward interactions with family members he's been putting off for so long. Watch below:
Close to You is coming to cinemas in the UK on Friday 23rd August.
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