Ellen Page

Ellen Page is desperately seeking a bike mechanic. Which might seem strange, because for weeks now she's had a sedan, complete with tinted windows and a black-suited driver, at her beck and call. It's just one of the perks of being a Hollywood awards season hopeful. Back home in Nova Scotia, however, her wheels are decidedly less glamorous. "I don't own a car where I live," she says. "The way I get around is by foot and by bike. My bike is kind of shot, actually. I bought it used for not much.

These days, the term "young Hollywood" conjures up images of pouty, plastic starlets being chased down Robertson Boulevard by paparazzi and probation officers, but recently the soulful side of young Hollywood made an appearance at a corner deli on Franklin Avenue. "Hi Joe," Ellen Page said with a faraway smile as Joseph Gordon-Levitt gave her a hug. Page and Gordon-Levitt are costars in Christopher Nolan's "Inception," the perception-bending heist movie that opens Friday amid high expectations and strong early reviews.

Ellen Page has established herself as a serious young actor seemingly driven to provoke audiences in some of indie film's darkest roles, performances that capitalize on her innocent, open expressions -- then pervert and mangle them.

When Drew Barrymore decides to call her movie "Whip It," you might think you're in for some kind of cage-fighting, girl-powered "Animal House." And while you do get the fishnets, food fights, broken bones and bloody noses, there are many sly satisfactions to be found in Barrymore's smartly done directing debut. Essentially, the film is a chicks-on-skates/coming-of-age/sports-drama/comedy/feminist polemic set in the racy world of roller derby. If it sounds as if it would be easy to lose your footing in all of that, it is. And on occasion Barrymore does, and not just because the floors are slick.

A girl's coming-of-age story has a number of required elements. There's the funny best friend. There's the dreamy boy. The need to break out of the oppressive bonds of a small town and teenagedom. The parents who just don't understand. The sneaking out to roller derby practice. Wait a minute . . . Drew Barrymore's directorial debut, "Whip It," opening Oct. 2, travels some familiar territory while cleverly swerving around its clichés, says its star Ellen Page. That's one of the reasons she agreed to take the part, her first leading role since her Academy Award-nominated turn in "Juno."

"HARD CANDY" is a film about what happens when a teenage girl takes it upon herself to teach an online predator a lesson. The result is a disturbing, occasionally extremely violent interior drama played out between Patrick Wilson as Jeff, the mild-mannered predator, and Ellen Page as Hayley, his "victim" turned Grand Inquisitor. In the end, it is very much Hayley's movie. Small, dark and intense, it is an unlikely vehicle for an ingenue, but then Ellen Page is an unlikely ingenue.

FOR a salty comedy about a pregnant teen, "Juno" enjoyed a painless birth. "It was a perfect shoot," says director Jason Reitman in a room at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, still buzzing with energy from the Oscar nominees' luncheon he'd just attended downstairs. "We needed snow to shoot winter, and out of nowhere -- this never happens in Vancouver in the middle of March -- it just dumped snow for a day. This is a film that has just been blessed from moment one all the way until now.

These days, the term "young Hollywood" conjures up images of pouty, plastic starlets being chased down Robertson Boulevard by paparazzi and probation officers, but recently the soulful side of young Hollywood made an appearance at a corner deli on Franklin Avenue. "Hi Joe," Ellen Page said with a faraway smile as Joseph Gordon-Levitt gave her a hug. Page and Gordon-Levitt are costars in Christopher Nolan's "Inception," the perception-bending heist movie that opens Friday amid high expectations and strong early reviews.

When Drew Barrymore decides to call her movie "Whip It," you might think you're in for some kind of cage-fighting, girl-powered "Animal House." And while you do get the fishnets, food fights, broken bones and bloody noses, there are many sly satisfactions to be found in Barrymore's smartly done directing debut. Essentially, the film is a chicks-on-skates/coming-of-age/sports-drama/comedy/feminist polemic set in the racy world of roller derby. If it sounds as if it would be easy to lose your footing in all of that, it is. And on occasion Barrymore does, and not just because the floors are slick.

WHETHER generating buzz by cutting to the quick (wielding a scalpel in "Hard Candy") or sporting a buzz cut (shaving her head for "Mouth to Mouth"), 20-year-old Golden Globe nominee Ellen Page is becoming one of the most respected actresses of her generation. The tiny Nova Scotia native with the pixie cheeks and dark, intelligent eyes is causing a commotion again as a pregnant teen in the daring, witty "Juno." You've called "Juno" a dream role.

Alex Cohen, host of KPCC-FM's "All Things Considered," has an alter ego. Her name is Axles of Evil, and she's the roller-derby trainer who taught Ellen Page, director Drew Barrymore (who also appears on-screen in the movie) and the other actresses in the cast how to roll for "Whip It." Being surrounded by thespians is familiar territory for the New York-born, Los Angeles-raised Cohen, who attended a performing arts high school. After graduating from Brown University with a degree in religious studies, Cohen held a series of odd jobs -- bartender, parade float builder, temp in city hall -- before heading overseas to teach English.

A girl's coming-of-age story has a number of required elements. There's the funny best friend. There's the dreamy boy. The need to break out of the oppressive bonds of a small town and teenagedom. The parents who just don't understand. The sneaking out to roller derby practice. Wait a minute . . . Drew Barrymore's directorial debut, "Whip It," opening Oct. 2, travels some familiar territory while cleverly swerving around its clichés, says its star Ellen Page. That's one of the reasons she agreed to take the part, her first leading role since her Academy Award-nominated turn in "Juno."

FOR a salty comedy about a pregnant teen, "Juno" enjoyed a painless birth. "It was a perfect shoot," says director Jason Reitman in a room at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, still buzzing with energy from the Oscar nominees' luncheon he'd just attended downstairs. "We needed snow to shoot winter, and out of nowhere -- this never happens in Vancouver in the middle of March -- it just dumped snow for a day. This is a film that has just been blessed from moment one all the way until now.

Ellen Page is desperately seeking a bike mechanic. Which might seem strange, because for weeks now she's had a sedan, complete with tinted windows and a black-suited driver, at her beck and call. It's just one of the perks of being a Hollywood awards season hopeful. Back home in Nova Scotia, however, her wheels are decidedly less glamorous. "I don't own a car where I live," she says. "The way I get around is by foot and by bike. My bike is kind of shot, actually. I bought it used for not much.

WHETHER generating buzz by cutting to the quick (wielding a scalpel in "Hard Candy") or sporting a buzz cut (shaving her head for "Mouth to Mouth"), 20-year-old Golden Globe nominee Ellen Page is becoming one of the most respected actresses of her generation. The tiny Nova Scotia native with the pixie cheeks and dark, intelligent eyes is causing a commotion again as a pregnant teen in the daring, witty "Juno." You've called "Juno" a dream role.

Ellen Page has established herself as a serious young actor seemingly driven to provoke audiences in some of indie film's darkest roles, performances that capitalize on her innocent, open expressions -- then pervert and mangle them.

Alex Cohen, host of KPCC-FM's "All Things Considered," has an alter ego. Her name is Axles of Evil, and she's the roller-derby trainer who taught Ellen Page, director Drew Barrymore (who also appears on-screen in the movie) and the other actresses in the cast how to roll for "Whip It." Being surrounded by thespians is familiar territory for the New York-born, Los Angeles-raised Cohen, who attended a performing arts high school. After graduating from Brown University with a degree in religious studies, Cohen held a series of odd jobs -- bartender, parade float builder, temp in city hall -- before heading overseas to teach English.

Dreaming is life's great solitary adventure. Whatever pleasures or terrors the dream state provides, we experience them alone or not at all. But what if other people could literally invade our dreams, what if a technology existed that enabled interlopers to create and manipulate sleeping life with the goal of stealing our secret thoughts, or more unsettling still, implanting ideas in the deepest of subconscious states and making us believe they're...

"HARD CANDY" is a film about what happens when a teenage girl takes it upon herself to teach an online predator a lesson. The result is a disturbing, occasionally extremely violent interior drama played out between Patrick Wilson as Jeff, the mild-mannered predator, and Ellen Page as Hayley, his "victim" turned Grand Inquisitor. In the end, it is very much Hayley's movie. Small, dark and intense, it is an unlikely vehicle for an ingenue, but then Ellen Page is an unlikely ingenue.