Trivia / Whip It

• Actor Allusion:
  • Maggie tells Bliss (Elliot Page) that having a kid changes everything. Bliss smirks in response. She also claims to be 22 when she is actually 17. Page definitely does have youthful looks, and really was 22 at the time of filming.
  • Maggie also tells Bliss that she can never have enough Lash Blast. That's a Cover Girl product, of which Drew Barrymore is a spokeswoman.
  • Eve, who played Rosa Sparks, used to go by the Red Baron "Eve of Destruction" (the name of Ari Gaynor's character) early in her career.
• Box Office Bomb: The film grossed $16.6 million against a $15 million budget.
• Cast the Expert: Aside from the billed actresses, most of the skaters in the fictional TXRD are played by actual Roller Derby players, mostly from the L.A. Derby Dolls.
• Completely Different Title: The film is titled Bliss in France, after its protagonist.
• Dawson Casting: 22-year-old Elliot Page as 17-year-old Bliss (who pretends to be 22 in order to get on the Roller Derby team, hilariously enough). And averted with Juliette Lewis - who was thirty-six years old, just like Iron Maven.
• Directed by Cast Member: Drew Barrymore directs the film and also has a supporting role as Smashley Simpson.
• Real-Life Relative: Bliss's younger sister Shania was played by Eulala Scheel, who happens to be Marcia Gay Harden's real-life daughter. This lends some Reality Subtext to Shania being Brooke's preferred daughter early in the film.
• Tropes Are Tools: Invoked by Roger Ebert in his review of the film, pointing out that first-time director Barrymore had demonstrated a strong understanding of why things work the way they work in a sports movie.
• Word of Gay: Ari Gaynor's played Eva Destruction as a lesbian seductress.
• Write What You Know: The book is inspired heavily by Shauna Cross's own experience in roller derby. Maggie Mayhem was her stage name.

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