When “Inception” hit in 2010 most of its major players wasted no time in cashing in on the boost to their profile that it gave them. Leonardo DiCaprio obviously just carried on being a massive star, but the likes of Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Marion Cotillard all made some smart career moves that have seen their stars exponentially rise since — not least by signing on to Nolan’s follow-up, “The Dark Knight Rises.” Someone we haven’t seen of much of though is is the film's Araidne, Ellen Page. Maybe she was put off by the blockbuster experience (as if “X-Men: The Last Stand” wouldn’t have already done that), because instead, she has simply lined up a part in a Woody Allen flick and a couple of other small features including Zal Batmanglij's "The East," rather than follow the same blockbuster path as her castmates.
That trend looks set to continue for Page after one of her long-gestating projects has finally secured the funding it needed to make its way to the screen. Way, way back when The Playlist was inhabiting a whole different place on the Internet, it was reported that Page was attached to star in a dramatic feature-length version of the Oscar-winning short documentary “Freeheld” with Catherine Hardwicke attached to direct. While Hardwicke seems to have since moved on, Page is still on board to star as Stace Andree, a woman who was denied the pension benefits of her longtime female partner and New Jersey police detective Laurel Hester when the latter became terminally ill. The story chronicles the pair’s legal battle for the benefits to be assigned to her partner. And if you want to see if for yourself, just close your office door, click below and watch the 40-minute documentary.
Deadline reports that Incognito Pictures has come through with the money needed and they will now produce the film, which has a screenplay penned by Ron Nyswaner – a writer who has experience writing about gay rights cases after being Oscar-nominated for his “Philadelphia” screenplay. Now that the film has financial backing the search for the rest of the cast (most importantly for Andree’s older partner) and for a director, assuming that Hardwicke will not find her way back to the project. When this will roll remains to be seen, but for now, Page is finishing up on Lynn Shelton’s “Touchy Feely” alongside Scoot McNairy, Allison Janney and Rosemarie DeWitt.