Hollywood royalty
Drew Barrymore has had her share of ups and downs in the entertainment industry, but somehow she has always ended up on top.
As
ELLE magazine's May cover girl, Drew dishes about her failed relationships, crossing over into new acting genres, and transforming herself inside and out for her much anticipated role as Little Edie in Grey Gardens. Here are some highlights from the interview:
On her breakup from boyfriend Fabrizio Moretti: “It’s hard to be with someone for five years and say, This isn’t going to work. But it was a time in my life where I finally just said, I can’t live for anyone else anymore. I have to be on my own.”
On the Hollywood career she would like to try: “I’m in my thirties now, and I really want to try all the things that I haven’t gotten to do yet, like directing, and doing a drama. I’ve produced and gotten to do a lot of optimistic love stories, and that was so where I was at for 10 years in my life. And now I feel like, Okay, now I know how to do that. I wanted to get scared again.”
On preparing for the role of Grey Gardens' Little Edie: “I did what I do when I have a big challenge lying in my path. I go to school. I shut the windows, the shades come down, the phone gets turned off, I don’t go out – I study.”
On completely transforming for the role: “I knew this was not a courtesy meeting, but not far from it. I didn’t want to come in there like a hungry freak. But I also felt every second counting. So – polite conversation, then he started looking through my binder, and I saw his demeanor change, actually noticing all the hard work I had put into it. So I just put it out there. I said, ‘Look – I have all of this inside of me, and I promise you that I will change my face to be her. I will learn how to stop talking out of the side of my mouth. I will go to school to relearn body language. I will shut out the world. I will not talk to my friends. I will give up my life for this, because I don’t think you can play this character and have a social life and balance the two mentalities. I won’t act. I’ll become this person.’”
