Agreed, but during his interview with Kevin McCarthy on his podcast On Film with Kevin McCarthy, even though Hollywood isn't showing up, Elliott says he's in a better place than he once was because he is now living his authentic life.

I'm not having to like literally work through a performance that I like don't even quite know I'm doing to get to a performance.

Wow.

So like the experience of feeling of walking onto a Chris set this time versus in the ways of like it being cathartic.

And like when, when people stop you in the street for this movie, what is, what has been the thing that's been brought up, the Hades sequence? Like, what, what are you hearing most?

Yeah, people seem to be really, um, which is obviously so lovely, it's, uh, such a w- the best [laughs] thing you could hear as an actor is people feel, uh, I think, quite, have been affected by the Hades scene.

And so that seems to be consistently what people wanna talk about and how it moved them.

It made them think about something in their own life, and it's been, um, a really beautiful thing to connect with people, I think 'cause it is, you know, I'm not in the movie a ton.

[laughs] You know? And it, and it's just, like, feeling this, uh, uh, character be able to, to, to resonate with people has, has really meant a lot and is obviously, um, a reflection of, of Chris and, uh-

Okay.

And, like, really trying to connect to, like, the depth of that, whether it be, you know, their pain or their joy or their ambition or their rage or their resentment or, like, what have you.

And, like, really, really trying, you know, to sit with that.

It was a roller derby movie, yeah.

Which we shot in Detroit, and it was so hot in this warehouse.

And I just remember you- Whether we were shooting or not, like keeping everyone entertained, giving so much of your just energy, your talent.

You were so-

What's his directing style like?

I mean, it's so impeccable.

I love how focused his sets are.

You can just only be present.

Yeah

... on set, you know? Um, and I, I think working with someone who just a- a- wants to tell the best story they can possibly tell, you know, gathers extraordinary talented, you know, people and, and, and crew together to, to, to make the, the vision possible and, um, yeah, there's really nobody like it.

Yeah.

Obviously from, you know, a physical standpoint and, you know, tiny little adjustments you're making with your body to, to get the outcome that you want mixed with the, the mental intensity of it and I can't really think about anything else when I'm doing that.

[laughs]

I want to go to a final clip from Second Nature.

There are approximately 8.7 million living animal species on Earth.

For centuries, we have been told that when it comes to gender and sexuality, all these millions of species follow a certain set of rules.

We have been told, for example, that they can be divided into two rigid categories, male and female.

We have been taught that males are naturally promiscuous, aggressive and dominant, driven by an insatiable urge to compete for the favor of females.

Females, on the other hand, are depicted as passive and coy.

They are uninterested in sex, but acquiesce to males in order to pass along the best genes to their young.

How do you see this all now? And what do you say to young people who feel the way you do?

I want to go to a final clip from Second Nature.

There are approximately 8.7 million living animal species on Earth.

For centuries, we have been told that when it comes to gender and sexuality, all these millions of species follow a certain set of rules.

We have been told, for example, that they can be divided into two rigid categories, male and female.

We have been taught that males are naturally promiscuous, aggressive and dominant, driven by an insatiable urge to compete for the favor of females.

Females, on the other hand, are depicted as passive and coy.

They are uninterested in sex, but acquiesce to males in order to pass along the best genes to their young.

How do you see this all now? And what do you say to young people who feel the way you do?

Let's go to another clip from Second Nature about reef-dwelling fish, the bluehead wrasse.

The bluehead wrasse can change from female to male.

There's one male in the group, and the same day he dies, the largest female starts to change her behavior.

She stops making estrogen and starts making androgens.

Ovaries that produce eggs turn into testes that make sperm.

Then that fish is the male of the group and can procreate with the remaining females.

So if you've been diving on a coral reef, you have seen sex-changing fish.

Talk about this and the groundbreaking trans scientists that inspire this.

Let's go to another clip from Second Nature about reef-dwelling fish, the bluehead wrasse.

The bluehead wrasse can change from female to male.

There's one male in the group, and the same day he dies, the largest female starts to change her behavior.

She stops making estrogen and starts making androgens.

Ovaries that produce eggs turn into testes that make sperm.

Then that fish is the male of the group and can procreate with the remaining females.

So if you've been diving on a coral reef, you have seen sex-changing fish.

Talk about this and the groundbreaking trans scientists that inspire this.

Let's go to another clip from Second Nature about reef-dwelling fish, the bluehead wrasse.

[gentle music] Bluehead wrasse can change from female to male.

There's one male in the group.

And the same day he dies, the largest female starts to change her behavior.

She stops making estrogen and starts making androgens.

Ovaries that produce eggs turn into testes that make sperm.

Then that fish is the male of the group and can procreate with the remaining females.

Talk about this and the groundbreaking trans scientists that inspired this.

Let's go to another clip from Second Nature about reef-dwelling fish, the bluehead wrasse.

[gentle music] Bluehead wrasse can change from female to male.

There's one male in the group.

In the same day he dies, the largest female starts to change her behavior.

She stops making estrogen and starts making androgens.

Ovaries that produce eggs turn into testes that make sperm.

Then that fish is the male of the group and can procreate with the remaining females.

Talk about this and the groundbreaking trans scientists that inspired this.

Did you feel like once you started becoming public about aspects of your identity, your gender, your sexuality, did you feel like, okay, I have to speak up for others? What was that pivot like for you as somebody who carefully protected their privacy? Yeah.

Yeah, I feel like it was a feeling of I have to, but very organically, just like a reflex.

And I'd say, even as I was a teenager, I feel like maybe my first protest I marched in was probably I was 16 against the Iraq War.

And I feel like I... was engaged and and I'd say in like my early 20s and becoming closeted and in Hollywood and adjusting to this like Los Angeles world was disconnected me from myself i'd say in many ways you know and focuses or you know uh what you know uh where your priorities are what have you um and so i feel like the aligning of finding my voice so to speak um getting to a place of being able to share who I am and no longer considering those noise, that noise, you know, external and internal, um, that was causing me so much harm and, you know, finally getting to that kind of place in my life.

And I think it made me able to engage more with the world in so many ways.

And, um, And I think because of the amount of privilege I've, you know, had my access to resources in regards to the care I've received.

And thinking of, you know, individuals who are just not in that position.

One thing I feel really

They, they needed that certain aesthetic, and we're never really gonna get into that aesthetic again.

again.Yeah, like the chunkier, bulkier shoe, right? Okay, bulkier or just the, the mesh material, like the V2, like- Mm ...

it, it's a lot of the s- things that are in style now, like ASICS or New Balance don't really go with that.

You needed a shoe that was considered, like, expensive or hype kind of to go with those pants.

Yeah.

You can't be seen with your everyday, like, trainer or Jordan wearing those style pa- It just doesn't...

That aesthetic doesn't really flow.

What kinda, what kind of people have you been able to meet since you, you started doing that, and any kinda cool content you've been able to, to do during doing that?

Right

...

there can be so much, like, attached to, to it.

Or it's 'cause I w- want people to obviously be as w- you know, freaky and queer and be y- you know, I, I just, I guess that's why I get hung up on the word in terms of how it's been used by people maybe.

But I think if we're looking at it in this just what it means to be present on Earth, a part of the world, in r- in our bodies, in our behaviors with one another, you know, queerness, transness, I hate to break it to you, but the science shows [laughs] that this is a, a very normal part of what it means to live and exist on planet Earth, no matter, you know, what species you are-

What do you hope skeptics take away? What do you hope fundamentalist people would take away from this?

I really hope they could, like, lean into their discomfort, even though, um, I get it.

I'm a human being, too.