Drew Barrymore sat down with the Tufts Daily to discuss her new film and directorial debut, "Whip It" (2009), a coming-of-age story based on the book "Derby Girl" by Shauna Cross. Bliss Cavender (Ellen Page) is a misfit teenager living in suburban Bodeen, Texas and smothered by the expectations of her mother. When Bliss discovers the underground sport of roller derby, she falls in love with a world of fearless women and unchecked ruthlessness. Barrymore's film is a classic coming-of-age story, but it's set in the novel world of roller derby and told in a quirky, comedic voice.
Question: You said this movie is really personal to you. Did you know about roller derby beforehand? What was the inspiration for this particular movie?
Drew Barrymore: I didn't — I mean, I knew about roller derby as a sport — I knew that it was real and then staged, and then we actually did a mock-up in ["Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle"] (2003) in the opening montage.
And then I met Shauna Cross, the writer of the book, "Derby Girl," and my partner Nancy and I optioned her book to turn into a screenplay. She wrote it sort of simultaneously, turned it in, and we started talking to different directors about their vision and their take on it.
I see it as very warm and timeless and sort of going back to the movies I grew up with, where young girls seemed like adults. Kids were not so advanced and they also were not patronized ... there was just something great and breathable and mature and interesting about those films and certainly something I loved growing up.
So I really wanted to see her — Ellen's character — more in that genre, that tone, more true to life instead of modern and hip and bubblegum-smacky and pop-y and something that might seem anachronistic in ten years. And I also loved irreverent sports comedies like "Slap Shot" (1977) and "The Bad News Bears" (1976).
This movie's about friendship and first love and trying to get your family to accept you for who you want to be in the world, especially [when] their vision for you is completely alternate to yours, and understanding that there's a bigger picture out there. Whether it's high school or a small town, the feelings are the same of wanting to go out there and find your tribe, be your own hero. Those were big themes for me ... and how I brought myself up, and I loved that they could fit in this movie as well as show a sport where girls were tough and badass and capable ... and had a great sisterhood but wanted to have a party afterwards and go on dates. There wasn't that cattiness or backstabbing ... those were all things that I responded to and wanted to put into the film.
Q: I noticed that the relationships in the film were very realistic. Did you draw from any experiences? Like I noticed the parent relationship with Ellen Page is very realistic, and with her best friend and her boyfriend — she's very down to earth.
DB: Yes, thank you, I appreciate that. Yeah, the scene in particular with her and her mother when she comes home was a scene I wrote with Shauna after she realizes that the guy may or may not be obviously the one for her, and they just have this earnest, strange conversation.
Q: That's a great scene.
DB: Thank you. That's a page out [of] my own book. I know what that moment is like and I sort of wrote it with Shauna to be very true to exactly something I went through. Although, the mother-daughter relationship ends up evolving into something quite different than what my own led to, but that's the cool thing about movies, is that you can change the story. But I think it's important to draw from personal stuff.
I [also] loved the relationship between her and Pash because that's what friends go through, is they celebrate and party together but they have these really honest conversations about how one is supposed to conduct themselves in the friendship at the same time.
And I wanted Daniel Stern to be the kind of guy that was like — I don't have a father at all, but he'd be such a cool ideal father to me, someone who was surrounded by women and loves them. I just tried to play it really subtle, like, this guy loves his ladies, he loves his life.
You know when I was in my 20s, I used to really be about happy endings and now in my 30s, I'm more about a good day. This is, you know, a good day in these people's lives. Life does go on.
Q: Best/worst moment?
DB: In which category of life?
Q: Filming, production.
DB: Oh — no worst moment, thank god, because you just have to be like in school, like in life. If you don't do your homework, you're going to show up for that test and be afraid and you're going to fail. But if you have studied, given your life over to it, said "Sorry, I can't go out and party and play," and you show up for that test and you're in it to win it and you just know that you know the answers and you're so psyched to attack it — that was how I approached this film.
Q: Is that the advice you would have for kids in film school looking to go into directing?
DB: Yes. Do your homework. Study, study, study. Study every filmmaker, every documentarian. Read scripts, read writers, read books. Make lists. Figure out, cross-pollinate — who are your favorite filmmakers? What are the kinds of films that they made? How do certain things work? I don't believe in books on Hollywood — I've never read any myself. I just think that studying and doing the work and trying everything and learning what it is, what kinds of stories you want to tell. That's the way to go.
Q: How many bruises [did you get making the movie]?
DB: Oh, head to toe. We had a wall of bruises. We had a "look at my bruise wall." It was awesome. We wore them like merit badges.
