Drew Barrymore, everyone’s favorite former alcoholic child actress turned Hollywood starlet, is now adding director to her resume. The film is “Whip It,” and it’s all about a teenage girl named Bliss who finds her place at the roller derby.
“Whip It” is based on the 2007 novel “Derby Girl,” written by the film’s screenwriter and roller girl, Shauna Cross.
It’s only natural that Barrymore picked none other than the queen of spunk, It girl Ellen Page, to star as Bliss. There isn’t too much information about this film thus far other than a few interviews from Barrymore, Page and Cross, and a plot summary on the IMDB Web site. It writes, “In Bodeen, Texas, an indie-rock loving misfit finds a way of dealing with her small-town misery after she discovers a roller derby league in nearby Austin.”
The film is obviously an indie joint because of its $10 million budget, which means Barrymore has two paths to choose from.She can either make Juno find herself through skates instead of an unwanted pregnancy, or define a subculture.
Barrymore will most likely whip out a Pitchfork-approved soundtrack and incorporate a lot of witty banter. This will temporarily appeal to the masses and become a trendy flick. In that case, nobody will remember “Whip It” in 5 years, and Drew will be making a “Charlie’s Angels 17” when she’s menopausal.
She’ll basically produce the “Garden State” effect much like Zach Braff, who created a surprise hit movie and soundtrack (single-handedly putting The Shins on the map), then made a flop of a film with “The Last Kiss.”
The roller derby has been around since the beginning of the 20th century, and although it spawned a lot of documentaries, films and TV cameos, none have been definitive. When you hear the term “roller derby,” no set name or face comes to mind. There’s no roller girl equivalent of Matlock or Ally McBeal.
The derby is defined by its girls. They’re in-your-face ladies who know what they want. Taking this into account, the film should focus on Page’s character, making her unique and endearing for the audience and universally relatable for roller girls across the globe. It should show why she chose the life of a roller girl, and how it molded her persona into something different than it was at the beginning of the film.
Newbie director Barrymore will face several battles while “Whip It” is filmed in the Texas heat this summer. The main one will be a case of style versus substance-she could make it all about the image of Bliss, over some totally awesome female-empowering band.
The good news is the screenplay is written by fellow derby girl Cross, who wrote the novel that inspired the movie. That means the film’s backbone-the script- should be insightful because it was written by an actual author and roller girl. I haven’t read “Derby Girl,” so I can’t vouch for the quality we should expect, but at least we know that it is authentic.
Reading the book or script won’t tell us how good any film will be, though. It’s all about how the film will be presented.
Because “Derby Girl” is no Harry Potter, Barrymore doesn’t have a lot of pressure from fans to replicate the book. It has been indicated that “Derby Girl” is semi-autobiographical, so hopefully the pressure will come from the screenwriter to make the film valid and accurate.
“Whip It” will make or break neither Drew Barrymore nor Ellen Page. But whether we know it or not-it could change the fate of the roller girls around the world. It could become the next big thing, or remain an under-the –radar subculture.
