She's only 28, but Drew Barrymore has already lived through several phases, her latest being megaproducer--she has Charlies Angels: Full Throttle and Duplex coming up next. Here she discusses her lucky career streak and brings us up to date on all things Drew--the new guy in her life, the friendship she's trying to start with ex Tom Green, the fondness she feels for George Clooney, the advice she'd give Winona Ryder and the way she currently feels about her breasts.
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Drew Barrymore is one of Hollywood's leading role models. Some may argue she couldn't possibly be, considering she was an alcoholic at age nine, a drug addict by age 12, and has already been married and divorced twice (to restaurateur Jeremy Thomas and comedian Tom Green). But that's precisely why she is a role model. Barrymore has not only survived her personal hurdles, she has become a big success story, managing to thrive as both an actress and a producer. Few other stars have made a big deal of their production companies the way Drew has. Her Flower Films has already rolled out a number of hits, starting with Never Been Kissed and then delivering a huge splash with Charlie's Angels, which has grossed more than $250 million worldwide. In addition, she continues to expand her range by taking daring turns in challenging fare, like George Clooney's Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and the upcoming black comedy Duplex, in which she costars with Ben Stiller. Her biggest success to date, however, may come this summer with the release of the highly anticipated Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, which reteams Barrymore with Lucy Liu and Cameron Diaz.
I meet Barrymore in her Charlie's Angels trailer in mid-December. She was supposed to be done earlier this month, but the film is running over, so she has to figure how the costs of a month extension add up. She's also working on the script for a remake of Barbarella, is tinkering with a film version of the novel A Confederacy of Dunces and is scheduling meetings with Adam Sandler over Fifty First Kisses. Add this to the fact that she has a new boyfriend and hundreds of holiday presents to wrap.
LAWRENCE GROBEL: This is a cozy trailer, but what's with all these huge dictionaries in boxes?
DREW BARRYMORE: They're Christmas presents. I do a theme every year. One year it was record players, this year it's dictionaries. They're all vintage. I love old things.
Q: What about old bands, like the Beatles?
A: Every month I pick a different Beatles song--right now I'm back on "It's Only Love." Whatever dilemma you're going through, if you put on a Beatles song, they will answer it. I also love that you can make love to their songs.
Q: Who's comparable to the Beatles for you today?
A: I love Beck. What he's doing today is what the Beatles did back then, which is to explore every genre of music.
Q: You also like to explore. You just came off the quirky Confessions of a Dangerous Mind and soon you'll be starring in the black comedy Duplex, where you and Ben Stiller attempt to murder an old woman for her house. How funny is Stiller?
A: Very.
Q: Is he as amazing as Adam Sandier, whom you've called the most amazing person in the world?
A: Adam is amazing. He just came to visit. I'm really close with him. We shared an incredible experience together. We traveled the world for The Wedding Singer, and we became really good friends. My relationship with him is unique and profound. Ben and I are just getting to know each other.
Q: Was Duplex much of a stretch for you?
A: Not in the way that you would think. I had a hard time with my character because she's very uptight, very yuppie-ish, and she dresses very conservatively. I wanted sex and rock 'n' roll in my life so desperately, I couldn't take her turtlenecks anymore. I wanted to kill her! She's just very tickety-boo--that's what my [Flower Films] partner Nan's mom used to say. It means organized and logical. I'm not like that. I don't have an outfit that matches, I don't have a thing that's in place anywhere. I'm trying as I get older to get a better system, but it's just a disaster.
Q: Fifty First Kisses will team you again with Sandler. Is this about first kisses?
A: Yes. It's a great love story. It's about how do you make love stay and how do you fall in love every day?
Q: Let's talk about that. By my researched count, you've had 10 men in your life: James Walters, Phedon Papamichael, Jeremy Thomas, Val Kilmer, Eric Erlandson, Luke Wilson, Jeremy Davies, Tom Green, Alec Pure, Joel Shearer.
A: Not Val Kilmer. Jeremy Davies is a friend. Alec Pure and Joel Shearer, friends.
Q: So that leaves six men in your life?
A: Those are my major relationships, yeah.
Q: Was your marriage to Jeremy Thomas a mistake?
A: Life lesson learned. Both of my marriages have taught me the same lesson twice over really harsh: listen to your instincts. Don't be a people pleaser.
Q: Why are so many Hollywood relationships doomed?
A: The pressures of outside opinion can affect someone in a relationship, though it shouldn't. It doesn't affect me, but that's a problem for people. People care about what people say about them, they care about press, they care-that things are being exploited. That's a logical thing that comes with the job. You can't battle against it or you will torture yourself.
Q: Are you capable of love?
A: I'm very capable of love. I probably said I wasn't when I was heartbroken. Every time I get my heart broken I think that love, doesn't exist.
Q: Are you in a relationship now?
A: I am seeing somebody.
Q: Want to name him or keep it quiet?
A: Keep it quiet.
Q: Is he in the business?
A: No! He's in a business, but not my business.
Q: Is he older than you?
A: No, he's younger than me.
Q: Of the six major relationships in your life, how many times did men break your heart, and how many times did you break your man's heart?
A: Half and half.
Q: What do you look for in a man?
A: Consistency.
Q: How do you explain consistency?
A: Someone who's able to make plans and keep them. When a person doesn't have a stable family in their life, they come from a fearful place where they're searching for that stability. When people come from a stable family, they feel a sense of independence. So when two of those types of people come together, they have very different mentalities: one is, "Hey, my family has always been around, they always will be and people stay." Those who haven't been in families think: "Everybody leaves." That's been a big part of something that I have to personally overcome. When I was in my early twenties I started to realize that it wasn't through another person that I was going to find that stability. That it was actually going to have to come from myself. If I could be my best friend, if I could be the one person who could make myself feel that I would never leave myself, then maybe I would gain a sense of strength. I wouldn't place that need on a man.
Q: You thought you found it all in Tom and said of him: "He's funny, extremely understanding, loves to go on adventures, he's kind and a good communicator and inspires me to do good things in life and be a good person."
A: All true.
Q: So what was missing?
A: [Long pause] The ability to see the big picture. Trust in time. It was a big problem for us.
Q: That's still abstract. What was the big picture?
A: It's the ability to allow a relaxation that there will be time. We weren't sure how to function in our relationship due to a lack of trust and time.
Q: You played your relationship out in public. Was that a mistake?
A: Yes.
Q: And will you do it differently in the future?
A: Yes.
Q: Did it become more a performance than a relationship with Tom?
A: It felt like a circus.
Q: Did he feel the same way, or did he enjoy that?
A: Well, so much of his job was about that. And I played along with it because I thought it was fun and funny.
Q: On "The Tonight Show" you admitted to being controlling at times in the marriage. Was that a problem for Tom?
A: It wasn't a problem for me and Tom; I was speaking more about myself. The greatest downfall that I've experienced in relationships is one word: expectations. Too many expectations drives people nuts.
Q: Do you have a problem trying to change people?
A: No, I don't try to change people.
Q: Did you try to change Tom?
A: No. I realized that I couldn't, and I didn't want to.
Q: What is your relationship now with him?
A: We're trying to be friends.
Q: How did you decide who got what when you split up?
A: We were just incredibly fair about everything.
Q: You've spoken about making promises you couldn't keep--what kind of promises?
A: That I would stay married.
Q: And do you feel guilty about broken promises?
A: No, because it's much better to get out of something than to be miserable and stay in it.
Q: You once said that you treat everyone "with a lack of judgment." Why is your judgment so poor?
A: [Laughs] It's getting a lot better. I go into everything trusting people. I will believe in the best in people. You will have to prove to me that you are not a good person. I know I've made some really wacky choices with men. I didn't have good examples growing up.
Q: Do you write a lot in your journal?
A: Yes. Sometimes it's nice to have someone to write to when you're alone. In the last year I was writing to a man and I said, "Sometimes I just need someone to write to, to think about when I'm walking down the street, to love, to separate myself from a group of people and take a deep breath and look at stars while smoking a cigarette and think about you and have a telepathic moment of 'Hey, how are you? Are you thinking about me? I think I can feel it.'"
Q: Getting back to your films, why do you think Charlie's Angels was such a big hit?
A: Cameron Diaz said the other day, "We're in a time when people need something to make them feel good." I wanted people to feel good after they walked out of the theater. I wanted them to party with their best friends or make out with their girlfriends in the middle of some crazy area.
Q: Why did it have 17 writers on it?
A: We make fun of ourselves in the sequel for doing that. Matt LeBlanc's character comes in--he's making a sequel of the action film he was making in the first one--and I ask him, "How's the sequel going?" And he says, "Oh, it's great, we've got, like, 13 writers, so it's going to be awesome." So, yeah, we know. It's not rocket science.
Q: It must be fun playing a badass.
A: Fuck yeah! If I wanted to play sexy, amazing and capable, I had to make the film because I'm usually the girl who walks into a room and trips--I usually say the wrong thing and embarrass myself. And I wanted so badly to play cool and refined.
Q: The disparity between contracts for the first one was glaring: you got $8 million, Cameron Diaz got $12 million or 10 percent of the gross, and Lucy Liu got $1 million. Diaz is getting $20 million for the sequel. Are you other two also reaping it in?
A: We all got amazing raises, which is traditional for a sequel. I hate that people know that because it's so not about that. I wish the world wasn't so unbalanced like that.
Q: Were you happy with Confessions of a Dangerous Mind?
A: I loved it. I read the script seven years ago and fought to play the part through every incarnation at every studio where it was.
Q: Confessions marked George Clooney's debut as a director. How does he rate?
A: One of the best directors I've ever worked for. A lot of times you have to direct yourself, and if you're really lucky, someone will direct you. I got lucky with George because he really directed me. I don't think a director who hasn't also been an actor can understand how fucked up actors can feel in their heads and their hearts. I've tortured myself a lot at work in order to try and do better. With George I felt really safe.
Q: Where are you with Barbarella?
A: In the same stage it's been in for a while, which is "in development." Nan and I got some new ideas for it the other day, but we are so preoccupied: we're doing post-production on Duplex, during on Charlie's, pre on Confederacy of Dunces, and we're going into Fifty First Kisses.
Q: Did Jane Fonda give you her blessing about remaking Barbarella?
A: I told her that I'd love her to be a part of it. She hasn't given an answer, so that's not no and it's not yes, which is great.
Q: There are three packs of unopened cigarettes on your coffee table--when did you first start smoking?
A: When I was nine. I never smoke at work. I have two sides to me--I want to be a total businesswoman, in control of her life, creating jobs for myself and the people I love, furthering my brain by writing, painting, taking photographs, and having stimulating conversations, reading smart books. Then there's this other part of me that loves watching "Friends," having drinks and cigarettes, watching old movies. Sometimes when I get home I've just had enough of the stimulation, and I just want to have a drink, a drag, and watch something funny.
Q: What's your relationship like now with your mother?
A: Indifferent.
Q: Still?
A: Yes.
Q: Because there was a time when you were married to Tom that you tried to create a friendship with her.
A: Yes, I tried to figure out that relationship. It's going to take many lifetimes to figure out.
Q: Can she count on you when she gets in trouble, like when she was arrested in New York for possessing a handgun?
A: She didn't ask for help. My family's so wacky, I'm pretty numb to the embarrassment factor [laughs].
Q: You don't blame your mother for robbing you of your childhood, do you?
A: For the first time in my life I have a calm appreciative perspective on everything. Thank you, to her, for the opportunities she gave me and for allowing me to live out my dreams at such a young age.
Q: You have a half brother and two half sisters, all older than you...
A: I have two half sisters? I only know of one.
Q: Blythe and Jessica?
A: I don't know the story of Jessica. I've heard of her.
Q: Who is she?
A: I don't know!
Q: She might be your half sister.
A: It's never been explained clearly to me.
Q: Do you find this peculiar?
A: It's just my reality. I'm baffled by people who are close with their families.
Q: How many years have you been in therapy?
A: Thirteen going on 14. I have an incredible therapist now. I never liked going to therapists who were "yes" men and who would tell me I was a good person. Forget that! Tell me what my problem is, I want to fix it.
Q: What do you think about Winona Ryder's shoplifting conviction?
A: I feel bad. I know what it's like to fall on your face in front of everybody, and that's tough. But the world is an incredibly generous place. If she shows over time that she really is a good person, then people will be forgiving.
Q: Do you still have your first gray hair?
A: Yes, I keep it in a plastic bag and wrote on it, "My first gray hair." George Clooney wrote on the other side of it, "And my last." But it wasn't--I'm getting patches of them now. It's freaky.
Q: Why do you try to make your breasts look smaller?
A: I don't anymore. I don't even wear a bra. I'm pretty free: I posed in Playboy, I flashed them on "Letterman." When I was younger there was a time when they were awkward to me. Now I'm a woman and I love 'em!
Q: Where are your favorite places to shop in L.A.?
A: American Rag Cie because they have new and vintage; and a bookstore on Fairfax near Canter's.
Q: If you could live in any painting, which would you choose?
A: Van Gogh's Starry Night.
Q: Why do you feel it's your destiny not to win any awards?
A: I have tremendous challenges to overcome. I still have to watch test screenings where I sit in the background and people don't know I'm there, and I hear what people say about me, which is incredibly humbling. There are still jobs I want that I can't get. There will be covers of magazines where the editors just don't want me. There are awards that I will never be thought of for. It's not a part of my life. No matter how far I get, people still remember the mistakes I've made. It's OK, it's just the way it is. Every fairy tale has darkness surrounding it. That's what makes it real.
Q: How secure are you today?
A: More secure than I've ever been.
Q: What are your limitations?
A: I'm very aware that I've placed a sense of my happiness on men, and being aware of it makes me stop doing it.
Q: Do you still feel crazy inside your head?
A: At times. I'm an adult now. For the first time in my life I feel calm, like there's room to breathe. I can watch what's happening rather than try to make things happen. I wrote this in my journal: "How do you stop yourself from trying to control? How do you just let things happen, when in order to create a great life, with a wonderful job and friendships, you need to make such an effort? What is the fine line between putting energy into something and letting go?"
Q: Why do you believe that you're the reincarnation of your grandfather John?
A: I feel a passionate connection to him, and there must be a reason for that.
Q: You've said that you're crazy because of your grandfather. Why do you think that?
A: My family has battled so many demons that I was born with--I feel a tremendous responsibility to right them. They got so many things right, but they also come with a huge amount of baggage. They were all very, very crazy. It's up to me to find a sense of calm in this line of people. I've already gone so far past some of their demons. Their loneliness, their battles with insanity, with alcohol, with their place inside of themselves--these are the things I've worked very hard to overcome, and I've come a long way.
Q: Do you feel content?
A: If I died tomorrow I would think that I lived the most extraordinary life, that whoever is responsible for it--whether it be my family, or a God, the universe, considering I really believe we're energy fields--I know that I have been given the greatest gifts, and it's up to me not to screw them up.
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Lawrence Grobel