Drew Confessions

She's been in the news for making Charlie's Angels a blockbuster, escaping a house fire and marrying Tom Green (eventually), but there's more to Drew Barrymore than headlines.

by Michael Fleming

Drew Barrymore is as gracious and friendly to her fans as she is to her coworkers. When out in public with her husband, envelope-pushing actor-comedian-filmmaker Tom Green, she exudes admiration, warmth, benevolence. Being liked in Hollywood is nice, of course, but that's not all Drew Barrymore has working in her favor. She's gained tremendous respect from her peers for having survived a tumultuous childhood acting career and an adolescent bout with substance abuse, and establishing herself as a leading lady with the box-office successes The Wedding Singer and Ever After: A Cinderella Story. She's also earned a reputation for being a savvy producer by turning the lightweight 1999 comedy Never Been Kissed into a moderate hit, and Charlie's Angels into a surprise blockbuster. What she's most excited about, however, is her gut-wrenching performance in director Penny Marshall's drama Riding in Cars with Boys. Based on the book by Beverly Donofrio, Barrymore plays a thrill-seeking teenager whose life takes a turn for the serious when she becomes pregnant at 15. The film explores the different stages she goes through as a single mom up until age 35.

In addition to spending nearly eight months on Riding In Cars, she promoted the hell out of Charlie's Angels internationally, executive produced the indie fantasy Donnie Darko, saw her Coldwater Canyon house burn to the ground and kept the press fumbling over her marital status until she married Green for real in Malibu.

But when I meet her at the Sunset Marquis Hotel in West Hollywood, I see no signs of wear and tear. Her hair is a short, spiky mix of dark roots and a few shades of blond from the many color treatments she had to endure for Riding in Cars. And she's wearing what she calls her "Joyce DeWitt pants"--faded, comfortable blue jeans that look like something DeWitt wore on "Three's Company"--because she hasn't had time to buy new clothes after the fire incinerated her wardrobe.

PAGE 1 | 2

MF: Your life has been full of newsworthy events in the past year. Are you overwhelmed?
DB: God forbid I ever be mundane. Knowing we'd be having this interview, I set my house on fire.
Q: How did you deal with losing your possessions?
A: I came to believe it was time to start over. I needed to learn to let go of things because I was coming to a very collecting, hoarding place in my life, holding really strong to my past...That it was all taken away is something I need to examine. I believe it happens for spiritual reasons. The alternative, sitting around and being bummed out, that would be pointless.
Q: Is it true that Tom urged you to reconcile with your mother, whom you've had a rocky relationship with since you were a teenager?
A: Yes. He invited her to spend last Christmas with his family in Ottawa. I was nervous about getting together for three days, but it turned out to be fun.
Q: Did you ever feel like giving up on this emotional exploration with your mom?
A: At first, I would ask Tom, "Why are you pushing me into this?" Meanwhile, every time we talked about my mom, I would get emotional. I said, "Why is this so important to you?" He said, "Because I don't think that the difficulty of seeing or speaking to your mom every few months could ever compare to the amount of guilt and pain that I see in you on a daily basis. I feel you could start easing that horrible disease inside you by just slowly trying to build a relationship..." I was like, stop being so smart, you're annoying me.
Q: Many people predicted Charlie's Angels would be a train wreck, but it was a blockbuster. Are people now taking you and Nancy seriously [as producers]?
A: Yes, but in no way would that validation have matched the level of failure had we not succeeded. It was a sigh of relief when it worked, but had it not, they would have said, "I knew it, they suck!"
Q: You've risen from child actor to teen actress to leading lady to producer. Still, you had to fight to win the starring role in Riding In Cars with Boys. Why is that?
A: Nothing in my life comes easy. Jim Brooks, who is one of the producers, believed I was the person to play this. And I'm grateful he was in my corner... I had the fortunate blessing of being the first in line to audition but it's hard watching everyone else go in after you. I heard rumors that other people were going to get it. That lasted three months. But the struggle made it all the more rewarding.

Excerpted from "Drew Confessions," Movieline, October 2001

PAGE 1 | 2