Despite her breakout role in the comedy "Juno," Ellen Page has apparently earned a reputation for only being interested in darker fare. That misconception almost cost Page her starring role in the roller-derby flick "Whip It."
"I was at Sundance with a movie of a much, much darker tone called 'An American Crime,' and one of the producers came up to me and was like, 'Oh, I have this project that I want to talk to you about, but I hear you only like dark things,' " Page told MTV News. "And I was like, 'What? I don't know who told you that, but please, I am thirsty for whatever.' "
Her thirst was quenched by "Whip It," the tale of Texas girl Bliss Cavendar, who is trying to break free from the beauty-pageant circuit and find something that makes her happy. Eventually, she nabs a rocker boyfriend and new friendships with the girls on the Austin roller-derby circuit. "I was like, 'Please send this script to me right away,' and I read it and loved it and met [director and star] Drew [Barrymore], and that was that," she explained.
While Bliss is a bit of a rebel in the flick, Page said she didn't exactly draw from experience for the role. "I don't know if I would characterize myself as that," she said. "I always kind of did my thing and was always very much myself and didn't necessarily become attached to the idea of being any sort of rebel, 'cause I think that can become an attachment in itself."
Growing up in Canada, Page said she was too busy to join any one clique: "I was never in any sort of group and thus had a perspective from each quadrant and saw the judgment from each side."
Check out everything we've got on "Whip It."
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