Ellen Page has joined a host of other actors and actresses, and said the Oscars diversity controversy extends far beyond just Hollywood.
May of Hollywood’s elite have issued voiced their concerns about the lack of actors of colour being considered for an Academy Award,
Talking to PEOPLE at the Sundance Film Festival, Page said that the issue “means a lot to me as an audience member and as a human being.”
Page, who was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar in 2008 for Juno, says that the Academy’s sweeping new guidelines, designed to address that lack of diversity among its voting body, are “crucial.”
It means a lot to me as someone who does this job. I think the issue is much more systemic and I hope that’s what changes, hearing more diverse stories, but I feel like finally there’s some steps going in the right direction.”
Page – who was at the annual Utah festival to promote her new drama Tallulah – also issued some suggestions for the continued implementation of positive changes across Hollywood.
There needs to be more diversity behind the camera, and more people getting hired in every aspect of the business, and more support for those stories and more opportunity. You look at something like Orange Is the New Black, and how many actresses we were introduced to who we may not otherwise have seen because they had no opportunity.”
That makes me feel like, how could you not feel angry at that, you know? And I hope that is what is going to continue to happen, and just as an audience member I want to go see more stories from different perspectives. We do this job, sure to entertain, but also to reflect aspects of what it means to be a human.”
