• Posted September 18th, 2012 at 07:45 EDT by Mike Harradence
• 3 Comments

Quantic Dream big cheese David Cage has revealed that Canadian actress Ellen Page was his first choice for starring in the upcoming Beyond, despite the fact she isn’t particularly interested in videogames.

Speaking with CVG, Cage said that he managed to convince Page, best known for her roles in Juno and Inception, to sign on to the project by sending her Beyond’s script plus a copy of Heavy Rain.

"I only had one name on my list and it was Ellen Page," said Cage.

"If she had said no I would have been in deep shit. For me it was really obvious it could only be her. We contacted her agent, we sent her a package with the script of our new game, a copy of Heavy Rain and a list of reviews for Heavy Rain, and a nice letter saying 'please, please, please, please, please'.

"And the agent came back really quickly and said Ellen read the script, and that she loved it and she would be happy to be part of it."

For her role in Beyond, Page took part in an extensive period of full-motion capture at Quantic Dream’s Paris studio. And Cage reveals that the actress keen to take risks as evidenced by her diverse filmography, making her the ideal candidate for something like Beyond.

"It was the script and her role that got her interested. I mean, I don't think she's into videogames - she played when she was young but she stopped like a lot of people do when they get older. She isn't excited by games in particular because, like a lot of people, she thinks games are all about guns, guns, guns.”

"But when she read the script for Beyond she knew it was a story, a script, something she can understand. Ellen is really adventurous; if you look at her filmography, she likes to take risks. She was in Inception, but also Juno and Hard Candy. She likes new things, she likes to experiment, and I think that's why she chose to act in a game,” he continued.

"So I met her in LA, in a strange bar next to a highway. When she came, it was a shock for me because it was like I was sitting in front of a character I had had been writing for a year.”

"The discussion went great but afterwards I was really depressed because I knew she was perfect for the role, she has the talent, the face, she's very smart. But fortunately, she said yes."

Beyond: Two Souls is scheduled for release exclusively on PlayStation 3 in 2013.