Last October, Lionsgate and Buzzfeed announced they were starting a unique partnership to make movies with socially and culturally relevant concepts to appeal to millennial and Gen Z audiences. First out the door will be 1Up, a comedy centering around eSports. Elliot Page was set to appear, but now it’s been reported that The Umbrella Academy star has stepped away from the project due to unknown reasons. And in his place, former Batwoman actress Ruby Rose has signed on.
1Up follows Paris Berelc (Hubie Halloween) as Valeria Lee, a gamer who quits her college eSports team due to sexism from her male colleagues. In order to keep her scholarship, she must assemble an all-female team with the help of a coach – the role formerly occupied by Page, now Rose – who has a gaming scandal in their past. Taylor Zakhar Perez (The Kissing Booth 2), Hari Nef (Assassination Nation) and Nicholas Coombe (Dora and The Lost City of Gold) co-star, and Kyle Newman (Barely Lethal) is directing.
It’s possible that Page’s exit has at least something to do with his coming out as transgender in December or perhaps the current personal upheaval in their private life – they just filed for divorce from wife Emma Portner. The movie actually started shooting in Toronto in November, so it must’ve been a difficult decision to step away at this stage. Rose, meanwhile, will likely be required to reshoot a certain amount of material that Page had already covered prior to his leaving.
Though they may not be a part of 1Up anymore, Elliot Page has already been confirmed to be reprising Vanya Hargreeves in The Umbrella Academy season 3, with it reported that the show may have the character similarly come out as trans. Meanwhile, Rose is no stranger to stepping away from roles herself, after leaving Batwoman behind just one season in, with the Javicia Leslie-starring sophomore run currently unfolding weekly on The CW.