Recent interviews and articles

[Dominik]

Ask 'Whip It' Stars Drew Barrymore and Ellen Page a Question
by Patricia Chui, published on September 24, 2009

'Whip It' -- it's not just a song by Devo anymore. (Whip it good! Hey!)

Nope, it's now also a movie -- Drew Barrymore's directorial debut, in fact. 'Whip It,' which opens Oct. 2, stars Ellen Page as an unhappy beauty pageant contestant who casts away her tiara when she discovers the joys of roller derby.

It's a chick flick, it's a sports movie, it's a coming-of-age story ... it's one of the most buzzed-about films of the season.

We're thrilled that we've landed both Barrymore and Page for our Unscripted series of interviews, so they'll be grilling each other using fan questions. That means, if you want them to talk about 'Juno,' 'E.T.,' girl power or how they got those sweet roller derby moves, they may end up doing just that.

They'll be taping on Tuesday, Sept. 29, so we need your questions, and we need 'em now. Submit one for either Ellen or Drew, or both, in the comments section, and don't forget to include your first name and where you live; then check back here on Oct. 1 to see if your question made the cut. Good luck!

Source: insidemovies.moviefone.com

[JimH]

Here's a nice article in USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/new ... page_N.htm

Has some information about Ellen I've never seen before - here's a sample .....

"I went to Oregon to study permaculture and lived in an eco-village for a month outside Eugene. It's called Lost Valley. It was amazing and exactly what I needed, because there had been the Juno thing, where you're getting a lot of attention," Page says. "You're learning how to live in a holistic way with the cycles of the Earth. At one point I was digging goat (manure) and putting it into a wheelbarrow, and while shoveling it, I just went, 'Oh, my God, this is exactly what I want to be doing right now.' "

[Lori]

Thanks for posting Jim

That's very cool of EP And that's why we love her

[JimH]

Thanks for posting Jim

That's very cool of EP And that's why we love her

Thanks Lori I think its a little gold mine of info. In particular she talks about her little terrier "Sprout". I wonder what happened to "Patti"??

[Lori]

Thanks Lori I think its a little gold mine of info. In particular she talks about her little terrier "Sprout". I wonder what happened to "Patti"??

No worries

I seem to vaguely remember something happening to Patti But I'm really not sure Maybe a car accident? Anyone? Is that right? Or am I totally fabricating that?

[UCFRdWarrior]

Cool article..thanks for posting, Jim

I think I can add another thing to list of "things you learned from Ellen"...Permaculture Thats new to me

[Lori]

Yeah, it's a good article. There's a few things we can add to that list

[UCFRdWarrior]

Wikipedia has a good article on Permaculture....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permaculture

And Lori...looks like the modern version was designed by two Aussies...

[xBreathe]

Thank you for posting that, it was really interesting! Ellen never ceases to amaze me

[elizabethanne]

There are several really good interviews with Ellen and Drew in The Detroit News. They are written by the Detroit News Film Critic Tom Long. The interview with Ellen has some of the same information as the U.S.A. article, but there is new information as well. The website is www.detnews.com.

[[Alexis]]

The Moviefone's "Unscripted" session with Drew Barrymore and Ellen Page was canceled due to "the illness of one of the stars."
D:

[Lori]

Taken from http://www.eagletribune.com

Barrymore shines in directorial debut

"Whip It" is a delightful, inspired and heartwarming journey of a girl in the process of finding her own individual happiness.

Caught in the small-town chokehold of her home in Bodeen, Texas, Bliss Cavendar (Ellen Page) finds herself endlessly competing in beauty pageants, fulfilling a lost dream of her mother Brooke (Marcia Gay Harden). On discovering a roller derby league in nearby Austin, Bliss lies to her parents and joins.

It's a classic tale of one breaking out of their shell and testing the boundaries, and first-time director Drew Barrymore handles material at once sensitive and hilarious with relative ease. Barrymore, who also stars as a derby member with the alias Smashley Simpson, enforces a fervent directorial passion into her first work behind the camera, transmitting an effortless joy from script to screen, screen to audience.

Page as Bliss, the young girl straying from her societal and, more important, daughterly expectations, is a golden ticket among an equally enriched cast. Kristen Wiig, typically zany and awkwardly funny, takes on a more subtle role and perhaps offers the most enlightened information of all the characters when she states the simple phrase "Be Your Own Hero", the film's tagline, which rings true throughout the movie.

Barrymore herself is fantastically funny in the slapstick role of Smashley: constantly finding her character with a broken nose, bruises, and a bad attitude, all of which induce the highest amounts of laughs. Daniel Stern, finally back in the cinematic spotlight, is wonderfully original as Bliss's father. Jimmy Fallon has his ephemeral moments as a derby announcer, and the sweet-faced Alia Shawkat is quite enjoyable as Bliss's best friend Pash.

But the top honor must go to Harden as a mother dealing with an inability to recover from an unfulfilling past, combined with the discovery of a rebellious daughter disapproving of her motherly methods. The tension yet equal chemistry between Page and Harden illustrates a powerful mother/daughter relationship that knows no bounds, and Barrymore paints this picture with emotion, vehemence and realism.

An outstanding directorial debut from Barrymore, "Whip It" is a film that works on nearly every level. It provides equal amounts of humor, action, story, characters, and substance. It supplies a generous amount of laughter, while all the same creating cringe-worthy scenes of insult and injury. The characters are able to make us laugh, cry, think and relate.

From a simple concept of finding your own individuality, to the convoluted conception of young love and the increasingly intricate study of the bonds and breaks between a mother and daughter, "Whip It" is more than a mere comedy, drama, or standard motion picture. It's a wholesome, honest, and authentic glimpse into the breaking away of a teenage girl from suffocation to what her own name implies — Bliss.

The late John Hughes, rest in peace, would applaud.


Arrrrgh I can't wait to see this! Thursday!

[elizabethanne]

Ellen was great on the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien last night. She was funny, chatty and looked very at ease during the whole interview, even when Conan brought out a soccer ball and asked her to do a few soccer moves. She even joked about people making fun of her forehead. And, she bounced the soccer ball off her head!

[Thay M]

We can see the full interview at The Tonight Show in this link:
http://www.tonightshowwithconanobrien.c ... 9/1163795/
oh, man... I won't even comment that!

[Lori]

Couple of pics (posed) of EP at the opening night of “The Pee Wee Herman Show.”

She’s always up for a fun evening out, and last night (January 20) Ellen Page was spotted at the opening night of “The Pee Wee Herman Show.”

The “Juno” babe was all smiles as she struck a few poses for the paparazzi outside Club Nokia in Los Angeles, California.

And of course, Ellen donned her usual casual chic attire, sporting a grey jacket with a blue button-up, grey scarf, and black trousers.

Coming up, Miss Page will be starring in “Peacock” along with Cillian Murphy. “Peacock” is about “a train accident in rural Nebraska that gradually unveils a mystery involving the town’s bank clerk.”

Enjoy the pictures of Ellen Page out for Pee Wee Herman's show (January 20).

Interesting they mentioned Peacock. Might be a good sign

[UCFRdWarrior]

Thanks for posting Pee Wee is a short dude....so he prolly appreciates being around Ellen Maybe Ellen for a role in his next movie

[Lori]

Found this and thought I'd post here. It's an interview with Drew Barrymore but she does talk about EP and Whip It...

Drew Barrymore on Whip It and Her Golden Globe

What kind of preparation for the scenes on the rink was involved?
We spent a lot of time at different matches and then we all trained ourselves with derby girls and our choreographer. Ellen [Page] trained for three months. And we had an awesome six-day-a-week derby camp. All the girls in the movie who aren’t the main characters are real derby girls.

Did you and Ellen bond right away?
No, I think we really earned out friendship. We liked and respected each other out of the gate and there was an inherent sort of belief there. But we had to cultivate our friendship by working together and sharing a mutual goal of wanting this to be really great, whether it was derby training or the emotional scenes, and working together for as long as we did. Luckily, we went on the side of deep love and friendship.

[Michopsychology]

Here's a nice article in USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/new ... page_N.htm"

I found Drew Barrymore's quote interesting: "Ellen is the real deal. I know actresses, I know who's a flash in the pan and who's authentic. Ellen is an extremely unique and powerful soul."

I looked up the wikipedia article on permaculture. The first sentence of the article was interesting, "Permaculture is an approach to designing human settlements and agricultural systems that mimic the relationships found in natural ecologies." I'd like to ask some people, "When was the date at which humans detached from natural ecologies?" I have not heard from NASA that we are no longer dependent on the fruits of Mother Earth. To a degree, living sustainably seems like self-defense to me, not to mention other arguments for doing it. I did get the feeling from the article, though, that permaculture may not catch on unless fuel-free technology is enhanced. What does everyone else think? What services does technology provide us that would call for fuel-free replacements?

[JimH]

I have not heard from NASA that we are no longer dependent on the fruits of Mother Earth. To a degree, living sustainably seems like self-defense to me, not to mention other arguments for doing it. I did get the feeling from the article, though, that permaculture may not catch on unless fuel-free technology is enhanced. What does everyone else think? What services does technology provide us that would call for fuel-free replacements?

I'm not clear about the NASA reference but I agree with the self-defense or maybe self preservation motive. When crude oil supplies dwindle and oil is >$200 per barrel our current way of life will be threatened. No more cheap fruit and vegetables trucked from South America or California to frozen Alberta (my home) in the winter! What will we do? We'll adapt by going back to our old ancestral ways by growing our own food or we starve.

[Michopsychology]

I have not heard from NASA that we are no longer dependent on the fruits of Mother Earth. To a degree, living sustainably seems like self-defense to me, not to mention other arguments for doing it. I did get the feeling from the article, though, that permaculture may not catch on unless fuel-free technology is enhanced. What does everyone else think? What services does technology provide us that would call for fuel-free replacements?

I'm not clear about the NASA reference but I agree with the self-defense or maybe self preservation motive. When crude oil supplies dwindle and oil is >$200 per barrel our current way of life will be threatened. No more cheap fruit and vegetables trucked from South America or California to frozen Alberta (my home) in the winter! What will we do? We'll adapt by going back to our old ancestral ways by growing our own food or we starve.

I might go to school one province to the west. I had to be sure to spell the University of British Colombia correctly, since I was also applying to Columbia University in New York.

You mentioned growing our own food as a last resort. I think growing food is a successful relationship with nature. I think we might lose that relationship if we damage too much around us. How does our body respond to bacterial infection? It becomes beneficial to kill the tiny organisms that constitute the infection. From the standpoint of the bacteria, I see only two options: be killed by the white blood cells in the human body, or kill the human and consume everything that's useable. I don't think anyone is arguing that humans have a beneficial effect on the rest of the Earth. I don't want to have to move from planet to planet like bacterial infections move from host to host.

Can we carry out trade from California to Alberta without using fossil fuels? And what other areas do we use fossil fuels that might be able to utilize biodiversity-neutral technology (if developed)? As oil prices go up, these technologies become more profitable.