AUSTIN, Texas — Drew Barrymore has been spotted as a tourist in Austin for years, at such well-trod places as Waterloo Records and the Austin City Limits Music Festival.
"I come to Austin all the time. It's one of my favorite cities in the whole world," Barrymore says. "It's got a great arty vibe, a real authenticity that I gravitate to."
So the irony isn't lost on her that when it came to film her directorial debut "Whip It," a roller derby comedy set mostly in Austin, she had to shoot in Michigan. For a small-scale movie, the generous tax incentives offered by Michigan were irresistible. That was early last year, before Texas passed larger film incentives this year, which are still much lower than that of other states, including Michigan.
"I would have done anything to shoot there, but we had such a small budget we couldn't afford it," Barrymore says by phone.
Yet she did manage to film some key pick-up shots in Austin for a few days, something Barrymore demanded to keep it real. Austinites will easily recognize locations that belong on any city tour map.
"I picked landmarks that I thought were authentic to the world of the movie and certainly to the world I surround myself with whenever I go there, places that are very personal to me, not just typical drive-bys of the Capitol. I wanted to shoot the Alamo Drafthouse and Waterloo and South Congress, places like that."
Barrymore directed, produced and co-stars in "Whip It," a story about the evolution of small-town Texas teen Bliss Cavendar (Ellen Page of "Juno" fame) from reluctant beauty pageant contestant to a rough-and-tumble rollergirl named Babe Ruthless.
The script is by former Austinite Shauna Cross, who adapted her book "Derby Girl," a fictionalized account of her time with the Texas Rollergirls. The film co-stars Kristen Wiig, Juliette Lewis, Zoe Bell, musician Landon Pigg as the love interest and Marcia Gay Harden as Bliss' overbearing mother.
After almost 30 years of film acting and 15 years producing movies such as "Donnie Darko," "Charlie's Angels" and "50 First Dates," Barrymore, 34, was ready to direct. She was attracted to the idea of a young woman "finding her tribe" among a group of fierce individualists, she says.
"I know what it's like to struggle when you've been put inside a box and told how you're supposed to act, to look and be a certain way, all while you really want to go out there and be true to who you are and find a world that accepts you," Barrymore says.
Barrymore hadn't worn skates since her teens, so she joined the cast for hard-core roller derby boot-camp, yet another pressure in her role as actor-producer-director, but a crucial one, she says.
"From producing the 'Charlie's Angels' movies I learned the value of training camp. It does two things: First, when you have stunt doubles doing everything it feels fraudulent and you can see as an audience member that it's off. So I really like when girls do their own stunts and action.
"And the experience of training brings you together and creates this great camaraderie. The bonds and friendship that are developed, the chemistry when you get out to shoot the movie are there and intact. It's not just actors showing up and shaking hands and trying to pretend that they know each other. These people have been through amazing experiences together trying to learn something they didn't think they could, going through the highs and lows and cheering each other on. They have this natural joy and love for each other."
Part of this stems from Barrymore's preference to jump in, get her hands dirty and be a fully present participant with her actors.
"Acting and training and running back and forth from production meetings, I felt like my head was going to explode," Barrymore says. "But it was so important to me not to be a sideline dictator. I wanted to be in it with these girls and accept that this is hard and scary and then be excited when we were getting better and learning. I know as an actor how good it feels when your director is right there with you in the trenches."
Chris Garcia writes for the Austin American-Statesman. E-mail: cgarcia(at)statesman.com.