DrewBarrymore Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Call it Juno on Wheels. The first image of Ellen Page in the upcoming roller derby flick Whip It has been released, showing her strapped into a girl scout uniform as she skates around a track with Drew Barrymore and Kristen Wiig. The photo above, and several others, can be viewed at USA Today (additionally, check out two extra images below)

The film represents Barrymore's directorial debut. Page stars as 17-year-old Bliss Cavendar, who is tired of competing in beauty pageants at the insistence of her mother (Marcia Gay Harden). She rebels by joining the Hurl Scouts, a women's roller derby team in Austin, Texas, and finds her true calling -- or, at least, a good place to unleash some pent-up aggression. Barrymore skates with the Scouts, as does Saturday Night Live's Wiig and the great Zoe Bell (Death Proof). Juliette Lewis is described as the villain of the piece, an opposing player determined to defeat Page and the Scouts, and the players all have cool nicknames: Smashley Simpson, Maggie Mayhem, Bloody Holly, and so forth.

As Jenni Miller advised, Fox Searchlight will distribute the film, which is set for release on October 9. Roller derby vet Shauna Cross (AKA Maggie Mayhem) wrote the screenplay, based on her own novel, Derby Girl. A very good doc about the Austin roller derby scene, Hell on Wheels, is available to view at SnagFilms (we also embedded it after the jump), and if Whip It can approach that real-life excitement, it could break out of the fall pack. Since nicknames are de rigeur for roller derby players, what nickname will you choose if you decide to see Ellen Page Whip It?

Let me make this clear: when I say that I'm compiling a list of the most contrived rom-com scenarios, I'm not saying that they're automatically the worst -- although a glance at the titles doesn't exactly stray far from that correlation. Tomorrow's The Proposal finds Sandra Bullock forcing Ryan Reynolds into marriage for the sake of holding off immigration authorities and keeping her/their jobs (I guess it's not too soon to remake Green Card and Picture Perfect after all), so we're talking about seven plot points along those lines of high-concept, close-quarters thinking, with some (dis)honorable mentions along the way...

Oh, what might have been! Alison Lohman gives a terrific performance as the cursed loan officer Christine Brown in Sam Raimi's Drag Me to Hell, which opens tomorrow. If not for the vagaries of scheduling, though, Ellen Page would have played the lead role. Would Page have been any better? We'll never know, but she joins a long list that inspires thoughts of 'What if ...?'

Once upon a time, we might have seen Leslie Howard as the titular Frankenstein and Bela Lugosi as The Monster. Instead, Colin Clive played the good doctor, Boris Karloff got a jump-start on life, and the rest is horror history. Here are seven more recent examples of actors and actresses who were considered for key roles in great horror films ... and the ones who replaced them, listed in chronological order. [Disclaimer: Based on information provided on IMDb's "trivia" pages, so no guarantees on accuracy.] Better? Worse? You decide.

1. Melanie Griffith / Sissy Spacek (Carrie)

Even though she was in her mid-20s, Spacek looks so young and fragile as Carrie that it's difficult to imagine anyone else in the role. Griffith was 18 or 19 and already had made an impression in Night Moves, The Drowning Pool, and Smile when she auditioned to play the telekinetic high schooler. Conveying Carrie's complexities might have been beyond her still-developing skills at that point. The pic above, left, is from Joyride, released the following year.

Roller derby diehards and grrl-power folks will be pleased to know that Drew Barrymore's directorial debut Whip It! has finally gotten a distributor and a release date: Fox Searchlight will be unleashing it in wide release on October 9th, 2009. Drew Barrymore is also an executive producer; her production company Flower Films is behind the release.

Based on the novel Derby Girl by Shauna Cross, Whip It! is the story of a small-town Texas gal named Bliss Cavendar (Ellen Page) who channels her inner bad-ass with help from a roller derby league in nearby Austin. Cross is also a derby girl from Texas; her not-to-be-messed-with nom de rink is Maggie Mayhem.

Whip It! also stars Drew Barrymore as Smashley Simpson, Juliette Lewis as Dinah Might, Kristen Wiig as Malice in Wonderland, real-life stunt woman Zoe Bell as Bloody Holly, Eve as Rosa Sparks, and many more as derby grrls throwing elbows and jeers on eight wheels. Marcia Gay Harden plays Bliss's prim 'n' proper mom.

Although some people are hard on Ellen Page and her deadpan Juno vibe, I think she will be great as Bliss and frankly, I've missed seeing her face onscreen. I have to admit to skipping Smart People, and I've yet to catch The Tracey Fragments or An American Crime on DVD. (If you've seen either, please chime in! I'm curious about An American Crime, especially given the brutal nature of the story.)

So much girl power! Can audiences handle it? Judging by the screaming hordes of fans I've seen at any roller derby race I've been to, the answer is hell yes.

The Twilighters can breathe a sigh of relief. After much speculation and breathless arguing, Drew Barrymore is no longer a contender to helm the third Twilight installment, Eclipse.

Barrymore detached herself from the project over at MTV News with her usual amount of charm: "Oh, I wish that I was! I adore that project and I adore the team that's making it. And I am very honored to now be a director and going up for other movies and being offered other movies as a director. I'm now an actor/producer/director! How lucky am I! [But] no, we're not going to do it together."

Barrymore's involvement was initially announced by Entertainment Weekly, and was quickly confirmed by the actress to AP reporters. "I'm one of the directors that is being talked about, which is great, because I'm a director now. But, you know, they'll make their choice."

Despite all rumors of Juan Antonio Bayona, Summit still hasn't made one ... but now you know one person it absolutely isn't. Fans will undoubtedly be pleased as "Not Drew Barrymore!" seemed to be the resounding cry whenever the topic came up on news sites and Twilight forums all across our great Internet. Despite that no one has seen Whip It!, I was in her corner on this one, and I am glad to see her name being tossed around a franchise, especially a girl-driven one that seems to have gone to the boys.

What has always impressed me with actors is not when they take on a challenging role, but when they can put their entire personal life aside for their work, whether that be playing the loved one of a foe, finishing up a film just after a traumatic tragedy (like Liam Neeson finishing Chloe), or getting romcomish with an ex. That last one is just what Drew Barrymore is going to do, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Barrymore has signed on to star with ex-beau Justin Long in New Line's latest romcom, Going the Distance. American Teen helmer Nanette Burstein is directing newcomer Geoff LaTulippe's script, which follows the challenges of a long-distance relationship; Barrymore will play a woman who moves to Chicago to be a middle-school teacher, and Long will play a script reader -- one, I presume, who resides wherever the woman is moving from.

It's a bit of a gift to Drew -- after she brought Long to He's Just Not That Into You, he brought her attention to this project. The pair have obviously come out of their relationship as friends, what with all the gig-sharing, but revisiting romance -- that's an entirely separate matter. How do you tap into feelings of love and attraction with your ex without stirring up the past? Or maybe this is just the precursor to Drew and Justin, 2.0.

I'm not one to kick somebody when they're down, and lord knows Miss Lindsay Lohan has been on her way down ... but, well ... in an interview for the April issue of Nylon, the actress dropped hints that she is in need of work and that her recent forays into modeling for Fornarina have inspired her to make a career change. So like any other Lohan-related news item, the gossips were on it like a pack of wolves, and now Page Six has dropped the bomb that the actress could actually have a shot at the world of fashion. According to the wags at Six, Ivan Bart, senior VP of IMG Models, is either desperate for publicity or might actually give her that shot. Bart told Six, "She's a beautiful girl and obviously knows a lot about fashion, providing that she was contractually free, we would take a meeting."

There is no denying that Lohan's celebrity cache has been dropping faster than a pair of Britney's underwear since her stints in court and various rehabs. During 2008, we watched her lose out on potential career-saving roles, and her latest attempt to win back the 'chick flick crowd' has already been voted most likely to end up in the direct-to-DVD pile. Mainly, the press has been far more interested in her personal relationships than her plans to put her career back together -- and who could blame them? There were cryptic messages on Twitter and public spats; it was the stuff of tabloid dreams. So starlets take note: when you're being called the 'next big thing' and everybody loves you, take a moment to ponder the career trajectory of La Lohan and keep in mind that this could be you.

There's a real communication problem going on with the follow up to the vampire romance Twilight. Everywhere you look there are conflicting casting announcements, different release dates, and even one of the stars was shocked to find out that he had a job until 2010 -- so you'll forgive me if this seems a little confusing. Twilight newcomer Kellan Lutz recently spoke with MTV and spilled the news that not only is Drew Barrymore out, but Summit might have already hired and lost another director for the third Twilight installment, Eclipse. Lutz tells MTV, "I actually heard rumors that they did have a third director, and he fell out, and then they saw more people." According to Lutz, another director has already been hired, but unfortunately, he just isn't sure who it is: "I would say [the name] if I could remember it. But I know it was a guy."

So why has it been so hard to find a new director for Eclipse? I know it wasn't exactly a surprise when Catherine Hardwicke did not return for a second film, but you would have thought that there would be a bunch of folks lining up, willing to take a shot at the franchise. One theory that's emerged (for better or for worse) is that finding a director has been difficult because a woman is better suited to handle the hearts and flowers of the story, and the sad truth is there just aren't many working female directors that studios are willing to take a chance on. (Wow, here we are in 2009 and the best we can come up with is "chicks are better at the mushy stuff"?)

I think every actress and their mother may become attached to New Moon or Eclipse in the months ahead. (Really, though -- what can top the Madonna rumors?)

The latest rumor comes courtesy of Entertainment Weekly. Supposedly, Drew Barrymore is in talks to direct Eclipse, the third installment of the Twilight series. It's difficult to say if Barrymore would be a good pick or not, as she's just completed her directorial debut, Whip It! But she's run her production company with a lot of savvy, so why not? Too many actors have managed to be a success behind the camera for anyone to sneer, and it would be nice if an actress was actually among those successful ranks.

If you were wondering "So, what happened to Chris Weitz?" well, he's not coming back. The film and its release date were just announced in the trades, but they failed to mention that Weitz wouldn't be returning. According to EW, the production schedule will be so crunched that Weitz will be in post production on New Moon as Eclipse begins shooting, so it will be impossible for him to be behind the camera. (There are directors who manage that kind of multi-tasking, but they're probably crazy or have Starbucks for blood.)

I have to say -- I feel for you, Twilight fans. It's never fun when your franchise turns on itself.

Living lives of loud desperation for the sake of your entertainment / enjoyment / enlightenment (a generous assessment on all three counts) are Rachel from Friends, the Mac Guy, Firestarter, Daredevil, and a dozen other familiar faces and names, all of them hell-bent on telling you that if He's Just Not That Into You, all one merely has to do is swap out that target of affection. In a weird way, it's a strategy that the film itself seems to employ: If you don't like what supposed relationship insights we have to offer up across 10 blocks of Baltimore and 130 minutes of running time, just wait -- we all change our tune to make each other happy eventually.

Since this romantic omnibus already has too many characters for its own good, let's go ahead and get their introductions out of the way real quick like. There's the desperate-to-date-and-then-some Ginnifer Goodwin, who is blown off by Kevin Connolly in favor of the company of Scarlett Johansson, and who is friends with Jennifer Connelly and Jennifer Aniston and, now, Connolly's frank pal Justin Long. (With me so far?) Connolly buys ad space in the local paper from Drew Barrymore and yet flirts with Barrymore's friend, Johansson, who is herself more interested in tempting Bradley Cooper, who is currently married to Connelly (Jennifer, not Kevin) and happens to be friends with Ben Affleck, who refuses to propose to long-time love interest Aniston, and oh, great, now I've gone all cross-eyed.