VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: Taylour Paige On Toxic Masculinity In ‘Magazine Dreams’ At Sundance Premiere

Magazine Dreams revolves around Killian Maddox (Jonathan Majors), a man who refuses to be shaken from his dream of becoming a bodybuilding star despite warnings that he’s causing permanent damage to his body. Due to his struggles to engage socially and keep his temper under control, he is disconnected from the rest of the world.

Competing at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Elijah Bynum‘s film explores the unrealistic expectations society puts on men to fulfill masculine roles as well as their struggles to make fulfilling human connections.

Actress Taylour Paige talked with uInterview founder Erik Meers about the film’s message on masculinity at the film’s Sundance premiere.

“I think it starts with us loving men in our homes and how we raise men,” Paige told uInterview exclusively. “There’s a lot of lovelessness and expectation on our society and our culture.”

She noted that society requires men to be strong but the pressure and isolation that they grow up under eventually break them down.

“I feel like we’re all so fragile,” she added. “Everybody’s just one day away or one moment away from losing it… We’re hard, we’re mean to each other — we’re cold.”

Instead, Paige believes that we must “take care of each other” to foster a healthy community that leaves no one behind.