WHILE many actresses fantasize about wearing Valentino or Zac Posen on the red carpet, Ellen Page has a completely different idea.
ATTENTION JOAN RIVERS If you see a carrot strolling down the red carpet, it may be Ellen Page, star of “Juno.”
“I always want to dress up like an animal or something really obscure, like a carrot or a wrench,” she said last weekend. “That would be awesome.”
True to her insouciant nature, she was strolling through the Theater District in a classic Members Only jacket and knit cap, looking very downtown. Ms. Page, the young star of the new coming-of-age film “Juno,” was on her way to see her first Broadway show, along with Maud Deitch Rohrer, her best friend from her hometown Halifax, Nova Scotia.
In “Juno,” which opened on Dec. 5 in limited release, Ms. Page plays a teenage outsider who gets pregnant by her best friend, played by Michael Cera from “Superbad.” Her growing belly was played, alternately, by foam inserts and a heavy prosthetic. “That,” Ms. Page said, “was incredible. It was almost like a corset in the back.”
In the film, she decides to give her baby to a yuppie couple, depicted by Jason Bateman and Jennifer Garner. Ms. Page had taken a shine to Ms. Garner and was on her way to see her Broadway debut as Roxane in “Cyrano de Bergerac” opposite Kevin Kline.
“You know,” said Ms. Deitch Rohrer, as she flipped through her Playbill, “that movie ‘Roxanne’ was based on this play. With Steve Martin?”
“I must have missed that one,” said Ms. Page, whose conversation is peppered with references to favorite films, like François Truffaut’s “400 Blows,” which she called “quiet, but stunning.” No film snob, she also was quick to point out that she “had a blast” watching “Snakes on a Plane.”
Ms. Page and Ms. Deitch Rohrer loved the show. Afterward, they congratulated Ms. Garner, who had changed into jeans. “I’m so glad you’re here,” said Ms. Garner, embracing Ms. Page. “I remembered you were here half way through and I got nervous.”
“You were fabulous,” said Ms. Page, and then adopted an exaggerated British accent when she said, “And I feel like I want to talk like this,” eliciting a giggle from Ms. Garner.
Next, the girls from Halifax (or as Ms. Page calls it, “Hal Town”) headed down the street to O’Flaherty’s Ale House, where Ms. Page felt the limitations of American law. Three months shy of 21, she could order only soda water with her plate of raw vegetables.
“The other night I was going out to a bar in Canada,” she said, “because I can drink in that country.”
Even so, at 5-foot-1, Ms. Page has a difficult time convincing bouncers that she meets the age requirement of 19. “I look so young they think I have a fake ID. Sometimes they just won’t let me in the bar.”
When she does gain entry, she often feels a bit singled out. Not that she really minds. “People know who I am now,” Ms. Page said. “So when people are, like, socially lubricated they’re very like, ‘Hey, you’re that girl in those movies.’”
“I remember the first time I saw that,” said Ms. Deitch Rohrer, who has been Ms. Page’s friend since they met in science class at Queen Elizabeth High School. “There were a million drunk people from high school who were like ‘Ellen, Ellen.’”
“Yeah,” Ms. Page said. “People who didn’t even talk to me in high school.”