Read Articles On & Reviews Of the Film From the LA & NY Times, Boston Globe and More

Plus, new photos, all below!

WHIP IT opens TOMORROW, October 2nd. To learn more about the movie visit www.whip-it.net.

The New York Times: Stepping Into the Skates of the Director

'I'm anything but calm,' Drew Barrymore said. 'I'm a little rabid shark. I love to laugh. I love people who are funny.'

The actress Drew Barrymore has directed her first film, 'Whip It,' about a teenager (portrayed by Ellen Page) on the roller derby circuit.

'I love girls' who are fierce 'and capable,' she continued. 'I could never just sit on the sidelines, I have to get in there. I could never be like, "Yeah, yeah, I know it’s scary, but just go for it, you’ll be fine." I wanted to get hurt and be afraid with them.'"

USA Today: A 'comfortable' Ellen Page rolls back into stardom with 'Whip It'

'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."'"

Chicago Sun-Times: Drew's Director's-Eye View

Asked to name her favorite scene in ''Whip It,'' Barrymore didn't hesitate, revealing it was a throw-back to the film that made her famous.

''It has to be the food-fight scene,' she replied. 'It was an homage to when I was doing "E.T.," when we had that big food fight in the commissary. It also is my favorite just for the sheer joy of the moment, the whole "Animal House" nature of the moment.

''Every time I see it, I just roar, thinking, "This is the bomb!"'"

Boston Globe: A New Set Of Wheels

'I really felt so awkward growing up,’' Barrymore says of her attraction to stories about females on the fringes (see 'Never Been Kissed’'). 'I absolutely went through that phase that everybody yearns to get out of... I was just lucky to be born into a batch of crazy, eclectic, interesting people who were faulted and human but also incredibly talented.''"

 

Los Angeles Times: "SNL" Actress Trained to Skate for Roller Derby Movie "Whip It"

'I knew how to roller skate in a rink 20 years ago, but this is definitely different because the track is slanted and elevated, and you're not just skating with your friends listening to Eddie Rabbit,' Wiig says. 'You're hitting each other and learning how to fall.' So she showed up for a couple of weeks of training in Michigan, not knowing how to even stand up on the slanted track, let alone move. Playing the team's captain, Wiig was especially intent on looking at home on wheels. 'Knowing that you had to shoot a movie in two weeks is motivation and pressure combined.'"