Page and director Dominic Savage talk about their improvised film, which follows a trans man in his late 30s who returns home for his father’s birthday for the first time in years.
Elliot Page, who first appeared on screen at the age of ten, has arguably never been idle. Even his coming out as transgender in 2020 – which is known to reduce job offers even in the best of times – has hardly slowed him down. The fourth and final season of Umbrella Academyin which he plays the role of Viktor Hargreeves, was just released on August 8th; in 2021 he founded his own production company; his bestselling memoir, Pageboywas a New York Times Book of the Year 2023. But there is a noticeable gap in his current schedule: acting in film. (Page last appeared in the Flatliner remake in 2017, which he described in his memoirs as a traumatic and unsafe production.)
For his first film role as Hollywood’s most famous trans man, Page chose an unconventional medium: a film that is almost entirely improvised. Near you The film is directed by Dominic Savage, a BAFTA award-winning television and film director known for his frequent use of improvised dialogue and creative collaboration with actors. Page came to Savage’s work through I am… Kirsty – a collaboration between Savage and actress Samantha Morton – and the two worked together to write the story and produce Near you(The film was shot in Toronto at Page’s request; “I moved there when I was 16,” Page notes, and he maintains a close working relationship with the city.)
Near you is a thoughtful, sensitive drama about Sam, a trans man in his late 30s who comes home for the first time in years for his father’s birthday. His family is nominally supportive, but the film shows how fragile that support is in practice, as new tensions and old grievances quickly make the house feel claustrophobic. Meanwhile, Sam reconnects with an old high school friend, Katherine, who feels torn between her settled life and her desire to follow Sam to Toronto. Full of intimacy and complex conflict, and heavily shaped by the choices of its leads, the film is an ideal, gentle return to the big screen for Page: a film designed to celebrate and explore transsexuality as a process.
Dazed spoke with Page and Savage about the fundamentals of making an improvised film, representation on screen, and why trans stories captivate people—sometimes too much.
Almost the entire dialogue in Near you is improvised. What was it like to shoot an improvised film on set? How did you go about it?
Dominic Savage: The key is to build trust with all the actors. Everyone in the film is chosen very carefully based on how they fit into this type of project. I explained to them very clearly how it works and they were very interested and involved in the process.
The film was shot chronologically in the order of the story, and the setting and atmosphere of the film evolved as we were shooting – in a way you just feel your way through, it’s a very organic process, there are no absolutes. It’s just about making it so that everyone feels as free and as close to the character as possible, and about allowing for pure moments of interaction, and anything that gets in the way of that, I eliminate.
We just kept trying things out and using quite long takes, which allow a lot of freedom and movement in the scenes. I don’t like hard resets – the only scene we had to do that was the one with the food, you have to reset that if you want to do a different version – and I like early takes. There’s something new and raw and unknown about the first take, which is very wonderful.
Filming lasted about four weeks – actually quite short by normal standards. The days were very full because it’s good to have that energy when you’re working; it’s very exciting, the actors are fully involved, it’s quite intense.
“I hope with all the characters in Near you that it is clear that there is something else going on, something unspoken, behind what they say and do. I always hope that comes across in all my work” – Dominic Savage
There’s this character, Paul, Sam’s brother-in-law, who is at the center of a lot of the conflict at the family reunion. He’s just more transphobic than the others, but there’s a lot more going on with him – he’s very anxious, very antagonistic, he’s trying to fit in with the family and failing miserably. And it feels like he’s very fixated on Sam as an obstacle. What do you think is such a threat to Paul about Sam?
Dominic Savage: I hope with all the characters in Near you that it is clear that there is something else going on, something unspoken that lies behind what they say and do. I always hope that this comes across in all my work. With Paul, his whole life is threatened, his whole Right to exist is under threat, and he probably hasn’t done much work on himself, he hasn’t taken care of himself. That’s one of the reasons I cast the actor who plays him (David Reale); I liked him a lot, but he’s complex, he had a lot going on, he was able to embody the conflicts and complexities of the character, which I find much more interesting than just being someone who is quite unpleasant.
Elliot page: Paul has this unease, this paranoia, this emptiness that he resents because it persists even though he supposedly “follows all the rules.” And then he sees this person who doesn’t follow the same rules that he does, who just lives their life and is themselves and doesn’t have the same worries that he constantly displays. I think that’s threatening to people.
Trans people face this visual vulnerability, this urge to dissect and interrogate ourselves. As a trans person in the public eye, you’ve obviously experienced this vulnerability more than most, Elliot. How does this vulnerability influence your experience of filmmaking today?
Elliot page: I think that’s a big part of this film, exploring those reactions and those forms of paranoia in a nuanced way. As Elliot, of course, I’m constantly grappling with the same issue and wondering about it… hopefully, more representation of ourselves, more stories, and a much greater diversity of trans experiences represented in film will allow some of those things to maybe relax a little bit and people can just live their lives.
It felt like the style of the film was designed with that in mind – there are a lot of long shots, a lot of focus on people’s faces and movements; it counteracts that paranoid impulse, ‘oh, what is this person, what does he do?‘and makes you aware of various issues, such as ‘How do they feel, how do they experience this environment?‘.
Dominic Savage: That’s something I’m really proud of in this film. The films I like are the ones that really make us feel something rather than make us understand something – I hope that comes across when we watch, that kind of heartfelt connection to what the characters are feeling. As long as we feel something, that’s enough for me.
“I’m so glad that as a transgender person I had to dig deep inside myself, process my internalized transphobia and come to terms with the person I am” – Elliot Page
One aspect of Near you what I found really compelling – and what is underplayed in other superficially similar stories – is that Sam’s transsexuality is threatening, especially within the family, but also very seductive to many of the cisgender characters. With his sister, with the brother-in-law who follows him out of the house like an excited puppy, and of course with Katherine… this way that Sam lives his life is very compelling and makes them question a lot of things they didn’t want to do in their own lives. Why do you think transsexuality creates this effect?
Elliot page: I think everyone, I would imagine, knows the pressures of how to behave, exist, speak, or care about what you’re supposed to be doing in relation to your gender. I’m so glad that as a trans person, I’ve had to dig deep within myself, process my own internalized transphobia, and come to terms with the person I am. But that was really hard work, especially now where we are – but it’s always hard work.
I think people can’t help but be fascinated by what’s inside someone who can get to that point and be comfortable with themselves despite society telling them they’re fake or unreal or that they don’t deserve to exist, and who says screw it, I know who I am, I know what I’m doing. That joy is a threat to people. It can create this huge, confusing negative reaction, this state where you’re so damn annoyed that people just exist. And then on the other hand, there are people who get a little too into it… But it’s very generally interesting.
The film is released in the UK this week. Is there anything you hope audiences take away from it, or anything you think they might miss?
Dominic Savage: I think the film is a true reflection of the journey we’ve been on together. We made the film in a very unusual but wonderful way. We focused on making it completely collaborative and taking into account everything that came up during the filming process and the story we wanted to tell. We did everything we could to make this film and in some ways it shouldn’t be more than that. When you love something, this is it.
Elliot page: Of course you want to give the audience something. Of course we lack representation, you want people to feel comfortable with it… but like Dominic said, we put our heart and soul into it. We made the film we wanted to make. I hope that when people see the film, they feel it deeply and go on a journey with it, like I did when I first saw Dominic’s work.
“Close to You” will be in UK cinemas from August 30th.