Here’s an interview Drew did for ELLE in which she talks about Whip It! and her Golden Globe.

Drew Barrymore’s exuberant coming-of-age roller-derby romp, Whip It, is as utterly likable as the actress herself. In honor of its DVD release last week, Barrymore talked to me about making her directorial debut, her Golden Globe win for Grey Gardens, and the inimitable Little Edie’s impact on her own free-spirited style.

—Erin Clements

What made you make the leap to directing?

Actually, I became obsessed with the idea at 7, but I wanted to be very patient about it. I wanted to be professionally far along in my life that I felt ready to take on the kind of discipline that it takes to be the type of director I wanted to be, which was a very, very detail-oriented presence for everything; every I dotted, every T crossed. Not every director does that and I also appreciate those people who are more relaxed about it, but for me, that’s what works. I found a really good story that inspired me and I worked to make it even more personal. I had to be able to really visualize it and have it be something that got me out of bed every day with total passion.

In an interview with Mom Logic, Drew says tons of great things about media and young girls today and also about her rumored engagement with Justin Long.

Drew Barrymore’s directorial debut, “Whip It,” now out on DVD and Blu-ray, is about a rebellious teenage girl who ditches the expected beauty pageant route and instead finds her own “tribe,” uncovering an unshakable bond with her mother in the process. Drew chats with us about why making this film was so important to her — and why positive messages and positive role models in girls’ lives are so important.
drew barrymore whip it

Momlogic: Why was it so important for you to make this girl-power film?

Drew Barrymore: I love girl power, and I wanted — especially for moms and daughters — to cultivate that environment for them to be true to themselves and each other. Mothers, hopefully, want to protect their kids — but sometimes there can be a massive gap in trust and communication. I wanted to try to see both sides of it.

I also wanted to cultivate the support for people to really be who they are in this world — whether that’s coming from your mother, teammates, etc…. I think that is one of the biggest blessings and fortunes, to be supported for who we are. And honestly, I love it when my friends are real with me.

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Access Hollywood have posted a small interview with Drew at the Everybody’s Fine premiere two days ago. I’ll be adding the video interview they’ve posted in a few!

LOS ANGELES, Calif. –Robert De Niro is known for his serious roles in such films as “Raging Bull” and “Taxi Driver,” but on the set of “Everybody’s Fine,” co-star Drew Barrymore said the actor got silly with her.
“I was very tactile with him,” she said of her efforts to make their characters’ father-daughter bond stronger. “We had meals together… I was always grabbing his hand or his arm, just being silly with him. I just thought that gave us a connection.”
And the outgoing star said she even had a nickname for the iconic actor.
“[I called him] Daddy D,” she smiled.
“Everybody’s Fine,” due this Friday, is the story of a father (De Niro) reconnecting with his kids – and Drew said she’s seen the movie cause tears.
“I’m so glad to be part of something that’s such an emotional journey,” she said of the film. “All my friends, they’re crying at the end.”

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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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I just realized that I haven’t posted about this one before. Drew was interviewed for The New York Times a while ago for whom she also made a photoshoot. Read the interview below and click on the thumbnail to view the outtake in full size. Enjoy!

“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.”

She was talking about her headlong immersion in the making of “Whip It,” her feature directorial debut, set in the world of roller derby, a film that she also produced and in which she appears, taking on the largely ornamental, comic supporting role of Smashley Simpson, an undisciplined member of the Austin Hurl Scouts. Ms. Barrymore’s first close-up shoves the actress-producer-director into the camera with blood streaming from nose to chin.

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Drew’s co-star Robert DeNiro told Parade Magazine in an interview for Everybody’s Fine that he thinks Drew was terrific to work with and that he felt that he really was with his family while making the movie.

“I don’t mind giving advice,” he says. “I’ve had more experience, just by virtue of being alive longer, so I don’t mind doing that—if people ask. I don’t want to be preachy.” How about the actors who play his kids in the new movie? Did he worry about them? Did they ask him things? He smiles and says, “Drew Barrymore was terrific to work with. I knew her mother a little, when Drew was a little kid. Kate Beckinsale was terrific, too, and Sam Rockwell. The crew, too. It was like an extended family, especially because we were on location. Everyone cared about everyone else, everyone tried their best, everyone felt it was a special endeavor. The director made it feel very sincere.”

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