Drew Barrymore Interview, Whip It

MoviesOnline sat down this week with Drew Barrymore to talk about her new film, “Whip It,” which marks her directorial debut. In a sharp, gritty yet poignant role, Ellen Page stars as Bliss Cavendar, whose sudden encounter with roller derby gives way to a rough-hewn, bruise-filled dream that will collide with her mother’s (Marcia Gay Harden) honest hopes for a more gilded future.  

Barrymore sets in motion the story’s sincere but defiantly bold tone – one in keeping with roller derby’s mix of high humor and true grit.  She could not resist any of the multicolored strands of “Whip It” -- not its dashing free spirit, not its candid depiction of family conflicts, not its sweet moments of friendship and romance, and definitely not the backdrop of one of the edgiest, most empowering, underground sports in America – so she put them all in the mix to whip up a comedy-drama full of energy, humor and yearning. 

Says Barrymore:  “This film is really personal and important to me because it’s about a girl finding out who she is, going after what she believes in and bringing out the best in herself.  It’s set against the world of roller derby, which is about grit and toughness, but there’s also this great wink and celebration and fun to it. It’s feminine on its own terms, it’s about power without anger and it’s exhibitionism that entertains.  It’s a world where you get to be your own hero and find your own tribe.” 

In addition to helming the film, Barrymore also stars as the feisty Hurl Scout, Smashley Simpson. The film is produced by two-time Academy Award-nominee Barry Mendel along with Barrymore from a screenplay by Shauna Cross, author of the semi-autobiographical novel from which “Whip It” is adapted. Rounding out a dynamic ensemble cast, “Whip It” also stars Alia Shawcat, Kristen Wiig, Juliette Lewis, Landon Pigg, Jimmy Fallon, Eve, Zoë Bell, Ari Graynor, Eulala Scheel, Andrew Wilson, Carlo Alban and Daniel Stern.

Drew Barrymore has been very busy promoting her new film and we really appreciated her time. Here’s more of what she had to tell us about “Whip It” and why she chose this coming of age story for her feature debut:

Q: Is this an exciting time for you?

DREW: It is a very exciting time for me.

Q: Why did you choose to do a sports movie for your first film?

DREW: Why did I choose a sports movie for my first film? Well, there are two aspects of this film that I think are the most central themes, which is the roller derby and the find your tribe and empower yourself and be your own hero, but also the mother/daughter love story, and I just wanted to find a film that I could really make personal for me.

I didn’t want to be like a director telling a story. I wanted to be a person who could have taken all the emotional experiences, the cultures I’ve learned, the music I’ve loved, the films I’ve studied, the nature of learning how a film works through being a producer for 15 years, and really just apply that into something that could be something that was not just a movie to me but really my heart, and this story really fit the bill because my heart is something that doesn’t like just heaviness. I don’t just want to watch strum and drang (storm and stress) amongst a family but, that said, I like comedy. I find when comedy has heart, it’s all the more funny and poignant to me.

I feel like with my own friends, they’ve been so great because they’ve been so honest with me along the way. They’ve supported me and they’ve encouraged me, but they’ve also said, “Hey, I think you need to check yourself there,” or, “I think you’re repeating a pattern there.” And, I think these women are to Ellen the way that my friends were to me.

I really related to the metaphor of pageant and Hollywood, and I think that pageant is something that – I was very surprised when I did so much research on pageant in film, dating all the way back to the sixties. I just was like, it’s always parodied, it’s always made into a joke, and I thought, “It’s really not that, it’s a rite of passage, it’s a door opener, it’s a way of life, it’s just not right for this character.” And I feel the same way about Hollywood. There’s a lot of aspects of it that I just don’t think are wrong necessarily, but they’re not right for me. I don’t think that the perfect body shape or you have to live a certain lifestyle, or that all bets are off and we’re all just – you’re supposed to act or be a certain way or it’s so taboo, this perfectionism that is impossible to live up to.

I found, wow, I’m more of a derby type of girl. I want to go out there and kick butt and have a sense of humor and enjoy my life and not be afraid of what other people think, but try and be empowered by that. So, I just happened to find this movie that I was like, “God, I really relate to all these things. I can put myself into this,” and I didn’t want to be on the other side of the camera, and I don’t have a video village, I work right next to the monitor –

Q: Can you talk about your directorial approach and why this particular story resonated with you?

I don’t work with a monitor. I work right next to the camera, so I can see everything. I’m a very performance-driven director and I just really wanted this to have a lot of different gritty emotions and tones, but done with a cohesive vision, and I wanted it to be a celebration of life. I worked really hard to not make it a Hollywood ending. I think life goes on. I think in my twenties I was obsessed with a happy ending, which was great, and a great fairytale aspiration for me, and I liked telling those kind of stories, but in my thirties I’m like a good day is a good day. And so, I just wanted to end it on that note.

It was great for me as a director to see a young girl’s side of it, and the parents’ side. Being in my mid-thirties I understand a parent who wants the best for their child, and it may come from a different generation, or it may not be seeing eye-to-eye, but that doesn’t mean they’re a bad person or to villainize them. I kept trying to take the archetypal aspect out of it, or the Hollywood aspect out of it, or the happy ending, or people who make a switch that’s not really normal to human behavior, or that it’s about winning. The person is who they are when they start out. They just haven’t found the right place for them, and by the end, through lying, cheating, stealing and doing everything they can, and then finally having to have everything fall apart and be honest about it, they have some moment of peace in their family. And, to me, that is the great triumph.

Q: Did you ever consider not being in the picture? And, what was it like directing and being in the action sequences?

DREW: It would have been easier on some levels, because trying to juggle pre-production while training and doing all of that or directing the performances while you’re in the scenes themselves, would have been easier. On the other hand, I felt for me it would have been more difficult because I’m not a sideline dictator, I like to know what the girls are going through. I know the value of a training camp from having to produce the Charlie’s Angels movies with actors doing their own stunts. I wanted to be in the trenches with them. And when you’re running around, I just think, I’ve never really related to those directors who seem like they’re at the top of the pyramid. I feel like directors who are really – they may be coaches to the team, but they’re a team.

Q: But you hurt yourself?

DREW: Yeah, I did. But I hurt myself walking down the street, so I might as well put it to some good use.

Q: You used that. When you hit your head, that’s in the film, isn’t it?

DREW: I did. Well, being such a rough and tumble messy sport, we had a version where it was all so clean and choreographed, and I went, “Oh God, this looks nothing like derby.” Yet you have to tell stories and make it cohesive, especially a sport as unorthodox [as this], not like go pass the goal line and put the ball through the hoop. It’s a unique challenge to try and tell those stories, so I just thought this is a unique world that deserves a unique hand and I’m going to do my best at it.

Q: The soundtrack is great – what was your music budget and what was the budget for the injury factor?

DREW: (coughs) Pardon me. I’ve been on a nationwide publicity tour and have been travelling. Gosh, I don’t know how people do it – different city every day and all the planes. I don’t feel comfortable discussing the number we settled on financially but I will say that we had over 75 music cues and for any film, that is very unorthodox. It’s far greater than most films and to narrow that down into a soundtrack of which we’ll elaborate on via a record will be great. Music to me is really, really everything. And as far as the medical insurance I just said, get the best you can because these girls are going out there and doing their own stunts so do whatever it takes because I am not going to second guess this and we didn’t do it on the Charlie’s movies and I wouldn’t have done it here. It’s so important to see actors doing their own stunts. It gives you such a better emotional and excitable investment to see people really doing what they’ve learned.

Q: Are you still skating?

DREW: Not at the moment but only because I haven’t had time, not because I don’t want to.

Q: You liked it?

DREW: Oh yeah. Once you get familiar with the sport, there’s nothing better than skating.

Q: What was the biggest challenge you faced as a first time director?
 
DREW: Just making sure I was as prepared as I was. I really worked on this for three years. I worked on the script for a year. I didn’t want to just accept that the script was there and it had a good structure but I wanted to up the ante on the jokes and put a lot more depth into the character, put a lot more of myself into Shauna’s writing (Shauna Cross - screenwriter) and thank God she was so open and collaborative to that process. And then, there was pre-production where you’re working with all the department heads and designing the look and the costumes and casting and creating a team and then we all had the training process which was a month long and then you shoot for a couple of months and then we edited for eight months. Then you have marketing and promotion for months and months. It’s a long, long, long process and you really have to be in love with it because it’s something that takes over your whole world for about three years, two years if you fast track it, so what is going to keep you passionate?

Q: Has this been an evolutionary process of your career?

DREW: Yeah, everything has been leading up to this, definitely.

Q: Why did you pick this subject matter? 

DREW: Well, it’s not just about roller derby. It’s a mother/daughter love story. It’s a coming of age story, it’s a person’s journey and it’s set in the world of roller derby which is a great backdrop because it’s a unique backdrop, it’s not something we see every day and it has a great culture to it and a great metaphor. It’s a very welcoming world where you don’t have to be a certain body shape or ethnicity or economical background. It’s like, you want to play tough, come and get in here and that’s the kind of party I like which is a very welcoming party. So, I found it to be a delightful, beautiful, welcoming world but really it was about this person really figuring out who they want to be and the struggles we go through with our parents. Our versions of our futures are not the same and how do we accept each other for that and gain an honesty for one that’s not in a Hollywood way, because not overnight does everyone come together but there’s a moment, a mutual respect that happens when a mother and a daughter have a crossing point where they’re a bit more equal rather than mother and daughter.  

Q: Can you talk a bit about your charity and what it means to you?

DREW: The older I get the more my priorities change and I could sooner care about Hollywood gossip as I could reading and understanding about global news and spending time in other cultures and trying to learn about what’s important and what has a lot more depth and meaning for me. And where I want to help with issues I care about – everybody has their causes and it’s just a matter of spending time and finding out what they are so that’s become very personal to me and it’s not something I need to do publicly but it’s something that privately has transformed me as a human being.

Q: What flaw would you like to make peace with?

DREW: My flaw that I’d like to make peace with is to take a vacation. So, if I do that this Fall, you’ll know that I’ve done something for the first time in three years that I have not done.
 
Q: Has Steven Spielberg seen your film?

DREW: Yeah, he has. He gave me great notes, and he’s been a wonderful mentor to me on it.

“Whip It” opens in theaters on October 2nd.