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 Drew Blythe Barrymore was born on February 22nd, 1975. She was, of course, parented by the infamous royal
theatrical family of Hollywood, the legendary Barrymore family. She first began acting at the tender age of 11 months, in a national television commercial. Drew Barrymore has literally grown up in front of the entire world. From the time she was the sweet little pig-tailed co-star of 'E.T.' to her more adventurous days as a wild teenager, the public has been by Barrymore's side
during every step of her journey into adulthood. The flip side of this child stardom was revealed when she dropped out of school at 14 and published her co-written autobiography, 'Little Girl Lost' (1990). The actress recently married Tom Green, the Ottawa shock comic in a whirlwind celebrity ceremony. They met during the filming of 'Charlie's Angels' and spent a year toying with the press with rumors of marriage. Barrymore insists the couple needed a sense of humor to get them through some extremely difficult times. Shortly after they were engaged, Green was diagnosed with testicular cancer. Then, her Beverly Hills home burned to the ground, and the couple escaped with only a few possessions.
But no matter what Barrymore happens to be doing at any given stage of her life, one thing remains
constant— audiences simply adore her. Thanks to her latest role in 'Riding in Cars with Boys', things are about to become rather intense on-screen. In the Sony Pictures release, Barrymore plays writer Beverly Donofrio, a woman whose life takes a dramatic turn when she ends up pregnant at 15. Although the film follows Bev from her days as a teenager to when her son is in college, one factor remains unchanged throughout the film: her dependency on others for strength despite the fact that she always thinks of herself first. As Barrymore and I talked about the film, Barrymore discussed how without the wisdom she learned from the real Beverly Donofrio, she definitely wouldn't have been strong enough to continue on with our interview (which occurred just moments after the U.S. bombed Afghanistan).
UPBEAT The role you play in 'Riding in Cars with Boys' is a bit different from the likable characters you usually play. In fact, some viewers may leave the movie even disliking Bev. What made you decide to stray away from the type of roles audiences have grown accustomed to seeing you in, and were you at all afraid to play a character that may not be liked?
Drew Barrymore "I think that you want to keep challenging yourself, and whatever is scary to you means you haven't done it yet and therefore it's not 'safe.' To constantly challenge yourself is really important to me and yes, it was scary for me to play someone who isn't liked all the time. But I didn't want to compromise or sugar coat that because I wanted to honor who Bev is. Still, it was an uncomfortable state for me to live in someone who's confident, sarcastic and not people-pleasing. Bev doesn't smile at people and she has a completely different attitude and intentions than I do, but that's also exciting trying to figure out what that is and that's sort of the challenge."
UPBEAT Given the fact that you are such a drastically different person from Bev, how did you prepare to become someone so completely different from yourself?
Drew Barrymore "I really trusted Penny (Marshall). It was scary though because I did things that I disagreed with, but I also just committed to being Bev for the entire
film— even on the weekends. I was never myself. I talked like her, I thought like her and I acted like her."
UPBEAT Now the subject matter in 'Riding in Cars with Boys' is quite serious. The story deals with teen pregnancy, religion, drug addiction and divorce, just to name a few things. Despite all this though, many people are calling it a comedy. Do you consider the film a comedy or a drama?
Drew Barrymore "I knew that the film was a comedy because of Bev's book. She was able to face such dark and painful and honest things with such an incredible sense of humor that it made it not only debatable, but tolerable."
UPBEAT So how do you, as an actress, deal with performing within these serious moments— when you
are completely aware that they could easily be played for a subtle laugh later on?
Drew Barrymore "I just went deep down into these emotional places and was ready and willing at any second to do something that could be funny in that moment. I also looked to Penny for guidance. I knew because Bev pulled that off in the book that it was so important to pull it off in the film, so I was just very aware that that was very important and necessary and to be ready for that at every
second— not to go so deep down in the depression of it because that lacked some levity that the situation might need."
UPBEAT Given not only the film's subject matter, but also the fact that you were playing
the type of character you've never played before, what was the most
difficult day you faced while shooting?
Drew Barrymore "Every day was hard in a weird way. It was a very long and challenging experience, but it was also wonderful and an incredible opportunity that I felt lucky for every single day." UPBEAT Do you find it
difficult to promote a film at the same time the United States has gone
to war with Afghanistan?
Drew Barrymore "Yes, I wanted to go home this morning. I didn't think that anyone needed to hear anything from me. I just felt so trivial and so extraordinarily lost. We (the cast) tried to talk through it and realized this was going to be an ongoing process and that we are going to have to find a way together in how we are going to learn to deal with this. It's okay not to know how. I've never had to do my job in a time of war, and I don't know how to do my job right now. I am learning truly in front of you, and that is very humiliating and embarrassing because you just feel so trivial at a time like this. So we are all going to try to be brave and go on and continue to do our jobs, and just be like graceful, gentile and peaceful towards one another as we figure it all out together. That's the only thing I can think and hold on to."
UPBEAT Granted a lot of people have lost their lives and our freedom seems to have been taken away from us, but do you think that anything
positive has— or can— come from September 11th?
Drew Barrymore "Absolutely. The extraordinary thing about life is that everything has a polarity. When everything becomes so negative, there is positive in there and it's incredible to see how beautiful, kind, patient and giving everyone is to each other right now. I want to see that go on because it's wonderful how most people have made this be their greatest strength by becoming the best person they can be. Like Adam (Garcia), for example. I didn't know how to do these interviews today and I asked Adam if we could do them together. I now realize in so many ways that we are like Bev and Jason because I looked to him to be a solid rock and my dependency on him was met with, 'yes, I will.' That was just so kind of him. It's just amazing."
UPBEAT Now we here at UPBEAT know you as a sweet and caring person. You donate a great deal of your time to numerous charities and organizations, including the Wildlife Way Station and the Female Health
Foundation.
Drew Barrymore "It's just so confusing. You always feel like you aren't doing enough and maybe somehow we can learn through these
tragedies that we have to figure something out. I'm certainly looking to some people for inspiration and guidance because I just want to do the most that I can possibly can to make this safe and better for people. I'll never feel like it's enough, but I have to keep trying."
UPBEAT Do you think that any of us will ever really feel safe again?
Drew Barrymore "I am just not the person that could ever answer that. I can only say that I hope so."
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