Ellen Page, the star of Juno, and Oscar nominee at the tender age of 21, was set to star in Sam Raimi’s return to horror in the form of Drag Me To Hell. Unfortunately, it has now been announced that she is no longer available, and her part is being recast.
Bloody Disgusting first broke the story on Friday, and claimed that her reasons for not being available revolved around not liking the latest draft of the script. A few hours later, an official press release was published, which didn’t really tally with this. According to AICN, it read:
Ellen Page is no longer available for Sam Raimi’s supernatural thriller Drag Me to Hell due to scheduling conflicts caused by a change in the start date of the production.
The film is directed by Sam Raimi and written by Raimi and his brother Ivan.
In a joint statement from Ghost House Pictures and Mandate Pictures:
“We were racing to start production so that we could accommodate Ellen’s schedule. But like so many other productions trying to start before the potential SAG strike date, this one needed more time and we had to push back the start of production.”
So the truth is anyone’s guess. It really depends if you believe an inside source or an official press release: both are open to abuse.
I think it may simply have been a case of Page realising that a horror flick wasn’t quite the follow up to Juno that people would have been expecting of her.
Maybe she realised that the chances of another Oscar nod for a role in a horror film, no matter how good it may be, is very unlikely.
The film should still kick some serious ass, with or without Page involved. Production will be starting soon, for a scheduled release date of sometime in 2009. Yes, I know it’s vague, but what can I do about it?
