Drew Barrymore makes her directorial debut with the roller derby drama Whip It. Ellen Page stars as Bliss Cavendar, the daughter of a pageant queen who rebels by joining a roller derby squad. Barrymore said it's a metaphor for her own childhood rejection of acting.

"Every single aspect I think you can really trace back to me," Barrymore said. "I have had a precarious and difficult time navigating a relationship with my own mother. We all have the rite of passage of choosing the boy that is interesting and stimulating and inspirational but may not be the one that you can count on at the end of the day. I love my friends and I love finding your tribe and I love action and girls who can do what boys do, yet wanting to party together and have a sisterhood and a camaraderie afterwards. So basically, someone who's music oriented and doesn't want to be confined. In our story it's pageant but for me it was really Hollywood."

The Hollywood thing turned out well for Barrymore, but only after she took it on her own terms. Now carving a niche for herself as a director, she continues to defy expectations. "I didn't want to be put in any sort of box of this is what you're supposed to be or supposed to look like or supposed to act like. I've always rebelled against that and I thought derby was such a perfect metaphor of 'I'd much rather be this person and try and get people to accept that, than try and pretend to be something that I think they want me to be which will make me incredibly unhappy.' So the themes and the metaphors are really absolutely true to my own experiences. That's why it was really personal for me to make this film because it is personal."

Whip It opens Friday.

Ellen Page and Drew Barrymore 'Whip It' Los Angeles Premiere © Albert L. Ortega / PR Photos

Story/Interview by Fred Topel

Starpulse contributing writer

(Starpulse in Hollywood): Every week, Hollywood's biggest stars are meeting in the hot spots and Starpulse is there.