Cinema Blend posted some juicy information about the release of the Whip It! DVD that will be available on January 26th.

You’d think a positive critical consensus would mean a good showing at the box office. Sadly, that wasn’t the case for Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut, Whip It. Help Whip It earn the coin it deserves when Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment releases it on DVD and Blu-ray on January 26th.

Desperate to defy her beauty pageant-obsessed mother and escape her small hometown of Bodeen, Texas, Bliss Cavendar (Ellen Page) recruits her best friend Pash (Alia Shawkat) to go with her to Austin to check out a roller-derby bout. She’s instantly hooked and eager to give up the dresses for a pair of skates and a Hurl Scouts uniform. After convincing Pash to cover her shifts at their afterschool job and telling her mother she’s enrolled in an SAT prep course, Bliss is ready to hit the track as Babe Ruthless.

Having been one of my favorite movies of the year works against the film’s release on DVD and Blu-ray. Both the DVD and the Blu-ray for Whip It come with a dismal selection of bonus material. The DVD has an alternate ending and eight deleted scenes. The BD adds just a writer’s draft with Shauna Cross, the author of Derby Girl, the book upon which the film is based, and a digital copy of the movie. I loved both the film and the book, but those two additions are not nearly enough for me to drop $39.99 on the BD rather than just $29.98 on the DVD.

Don’t let my disappointment with the special features deter you from buying this movie. If anything, it shows how much I truly enjoyed the film. I was looking forward to more Whip It. and what these buying options come with just isn’t enough to satisfy.

Source

Outtakes from a portrait session Drew did for Envy Magazine have been released and can now be viewed in our gallery. Credit for these very pretty photos goes to Drew Barrymore Brasil. I also found the article/interview she did for the magazine which can be read below. Enjoy!

At 34, most people in show business are just beginning to make their mark and prove their staying power. For Drew Barrymore, 34 means her third decade in the business. Although she did her first minor TV appearances at 3 and 5, and her first film was Ken Russell’s whacked out Altered States in 1980, Barrymore first captured moviegoers at the tender age of 7 when she melted hearts with her tear-inducing performance in Steven Spielberg’s E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial. Flash forward 27 years, and you’ll find an accomplished actress, producer and now director.

For her directorial debut, Whip It, Barrymore enlisted an all-star cast to flesh out her longtime dream of stepping behind the camera, including Juno’s Ellen Page, Oscar winner Marcia Gay Harden, “Saturday Night Live”’s Kristen Wiig, Juliette Lewis, Jimmy Fallon, Eve and Andrew Wilson.

Based on the book by Austinite and UT Film School alum Shauna Cross, the film follows Bliss Cavendar (Page), a misplaced waitress of the Oink Joint in Bodeen, Texas, who struggles through every Miss Bluebonnet pageant for her pageant-obsessed mom (Harden). She finally finds her calling in Austin when her and her best friend sneak out to catch a roller derby match. Eventually joining the Hurl Scouts, Cavendar becomes known as Babe Ruthless and enters a world of free-spirited women and fierce competition that begins to take the place of her dead end small town life.

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The gallery has been updated with some spankin’ hot new stills from Whip It! of Drew. Enjoy!

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Review in a Hurry: In her directorial debut, Drew Barrymore decides Oscar can wait. Instead of big issues and dramatic acting, Whip It is more like an indie rock album that tween girls everywhere can relate to. Ellen Page (Juno) and crew make roller skating oh so in-your-face fun.

The Bigger Picture: Seventeen-year-old Bliss Cavender (Page) feels bored and insignificant in her tiny, truck-stop hometown of Bodeen, Texas. Feeling the need for a world bigger and badder than the endless beauty pageants her mother (Marcia Gay Harden) shuffles her off to, Bliss and her pal Pash (Arrested Development’s Alia Shawkat) head to the hipster city of Austin and discover All Girl Roller Derby and last-place team, The Hurl Scouts. But ya can’t be a skate punk named Bliss—so say hello to Babe Ruthless!

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In an interview with Santa Monica Mirror, Drew talks about the script of Whip It!, it’s soundtrack and much more. Check out the interview below!

Mirror: What initially attracted you to the script?
Drew: It’s not just about roller derby. It’s multi-layered. It’s also a mother-daughter love story. It’s a coming of self story. It’s a person’s personal journey set in the world of roller derby which is a great backdrop because it’s unique and not something we see in the movies every day. It’s a very welcoming world because you don’t have to have a specific body type or ethnicity or economic level. The story centers on Ellen’s (Page) character who is trying to figure who she wants to be. It illuminates the familiar struggles we go through with our parents when our vision doesn’t match theirs. There’s that moment when a mother and a daughter have a crossing point where they are a bit more equal, rather than mother and daughter, and how it results in mutual respect and honesty.

Mirror: The soundtrack is fabulous. Can you talk about it?
Drew: We had over 75 music cues and that’s very unorthodox as it is far greater than most films. Music to me is really everything.

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While Drew was in New York to promote Whip It!, Brisbane Times got the chance to sit down with her for an interview. Read it below!

“Well, I’m all for bondage,” Drew Barrymore says, a big smile on her face.
Sit down with Barrymore for a conversation and it is likely she will offer up a colourful quote or two … or 10, even when she is suffering a horrid case of flu.
It has been a busy month for the actress-producer and now director.
Barrymore has been travelling North America promoting her new comedy-drama, Whip It, the 34-year-old’s directorial debut, and somewhere along the vast media tour she picked up a bug.
There was talk that this interview in a Manhattan hotel would be cancelled, but Barrymore, keen to spread the word about Whip It, a film she spent the last three years making, is battling on.
She has a black and white striped woollen scarf wrapped around her neck and a litre cup of fruit juice in her left hand.
“I always wanted to direct so this is a very wonderful moment for me,” Barrymore says.

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Drew Barrymore, in plain and simple terms, is a sweetheart. From her soft yet confident tone of voice to her bubbly personality, the 34-year-old actress is a delight to be around, transmitting her joy to those in her company.

On Sept. 9, she visited the Artists for Humanity Epicenter in Boston to meet with admirers, sign autographs, take pictures, and share her new movie, “Whip It”, with a select group of fans at a special sneak preview and question and answer session.

She spoke with the audience about the film, a comedic and honest look at a young girl (played by Ellen Page) breaking out of the beauty pageant shell her traditional mother (Marcia Gay Harden) has locked her into, and joining an nontraditional roller derby team consisting of unique members played by such actresses as Kristen Wiig, Eve, and Barrymore herself.

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Reelzchannel is hosting a Whip It! giveaway, a contest where you can win a helmet signed by Drew (!), soundtracks from the movie, official movie posters and much more. To enter the contest, just go here. Good luck!

Thanks Kristin!