Drew Barrymore

Pitching to Win!

by Lynn B.

Actress/Producer Drew Barrymore is a workaholic, my her own admission. The day we interviewed her in Beverly Hills about her new baseball romance film Fever Pitch, she wore no make-up, a black sweater and had a big green wooly scarf wrapped around her neck. Only the gold dangle earrings and black bangle bracelets, gave us a clue that she was making an attempt at “dressing” for us when the overworked actress might be better off sleeping in. We sooo know how she feels!

Some of us have watched America’s Sweetheart grow up and followed her through her tween rebellion days to her “grown up” debut as a hot teen seductress in Poison Ivy to fun faire like Fifty First Dates and the Charlie’s Angels movies. It’s nice to see her take charge of her life and her business affairs. This little child/woman is a smart cookie. Don’t let the infectious smile and sparkle in her eyes fool you. Drew makes things happen. Check out what she had to say about her new film, learning more about and then loving baseball, being there when the Boston Red Sox broke an almost ancient losing streak, choosing comic Jimmy Fallon as her leading man and her decisions about her personal life.

AGW: When this script crossed your busy desk, what was it that grabbed you? You really like romantic comedies, don’t you?

Drew: I love exploring romantic comedies but I feel like want to learn something different from each experience as far as the characters I play and the subjects that are talked about. We did this thing called Never Been Kissed and it was sort of like ‘if you feel you are a loser and a geek then that’s okay’. There are bigger worlds outside of your school or your job or environment and it’s alright to be yourself. In Fifty First Dates, I sort of loved the idea of how do you make someone fall in love with you every day and keep that effort and energy up and that love alive.

AGW: And Fever Pitch?

Drew: For this one, I really loved that it let me explore how much of yourself do you get to keep in a relationship. Because, we meet each other, we fall in love with each other, our passions, our little idiosyncrasies, our little taints and quirks and characteristics. Then, somewhere down the line, that’s the very thing that’s getting in the way. How do you find that balance? I think, in the end, just not to water down or change that person because that’s what you fell in love with, but to find a balance to make it all work. I really loved that message.

AGW: Have you been able to do that in your relationships?

Drew: I think so. I’m a workaholic. To work seventeen hours a day and travel all the time does not have any routine about it and it can be very trying on a relationship. So, I totally empathize with someone being open and encouraging to what I do because I’m so passionate about it. I love it so much. I love my job. Then, of course, it makes me feel so good and empowered if someone is supportive and understanding about that. How could you not just want to return that respect and say the same thing to them. You also make choices in life and I try to be more rational than emotional about my approach. You choose to be this person like you choose to have these passions. These are choices we make. Let’s celebrate them rather than putting them down all the time and struggling with them so much.

AGW: Good point. So, did you fall in love with baseball through making this film? You weren’t a big fan before?

Drew: Not at all. I knew nothing about baseball but I feel very fortunate that it was about the Red Sox because I really like details about things and there are just so many details that come with this team like the superstitions and the curses. All the facts are so interesting. It really gets you drawn in. Then, spending the summer at Fenway (Park) and being there at all the live games and shooting, you really just understand the atmosphere and you get caught up in it.

AGW: But aren’t some of the fans kind of wacky?

Drew: Well, you go from seeing the guy painted up with the giant baseball on his head and going ‘ooookay’ to being like almost wishing people would express themselves more and loving the die hard fans. I definitely got swept up in it and I did become superstitious and I did start to fall in love with this team and this sport. Then they stated winning and it was like ‘wait a minute. This is not happening’. Then I became superstitious. I didn’t want to jinx them. But, somewhere in the back of my mind I kept thinking ‘what if this was the year (that they win) while we were shooting this movie and we could go and capture that, incorporate that into our story?’ Our film will stay the same but we would be able to show how they’re changing their history and how interesting that would all be. I got very caught up in it.

AGW: You might have reversed the curse.

Drew: I don’t know. I would never dare to take any credit. But I do like that people believe that art sort of hindered the team with the selling of Babe Ruth to fund a play so I like the fact that a movie finally came along and was in their face all the time filming and we didn’t get in the way. We didn’t bring anything bad there. I’m glad art at least didn’t hinder them this time.

AGW: Wasn’t it lucky that you hadn’t wrapped the film by the time of the final game?

Drew: Absolutely. It probably would have been a different feeling if we had gone back and re-shot it. Then the worst part I think would have been to be done, not catch that game on film and then have to go make a dramatization or recreation of it. I feel like that would have been false. I feel like there is a lot of authenticity because we really are shooting at the games. You know it. You feel it. It’s real. It’s not CGI. It’s not fake. I just think that’s really special. Baseball is the backdrop of this great love story and it was just going to be that he won the girl and his team keeps losing. Now the team gets their win and he wins and everybody wins. It’s just a miracle. If we’d tried to write it this way it would have been total nonsense. But, it really happened and that’s so great.

AGW: What did you like about your character?

Drew: I just liked her because I thought she was a cool girl. She wasn’t a girl who was going to eventually be like ‘I love you for this. Okay, now, you can’t be that guy’. I don’t want to change someone in a relationship. I want to strike a balance too but I think that takes both people to do it. I also like that she said ‘you know what? At some point, I’ve just given myself up. My entire prior life has vanished. I need to maintain my friendships and my health regime and my work. I want to stay who I am. I want you to stay who you are and we’re gonna find a way to make this work’. I’m just inspired by that kind of person and that’s why I really wanted to play her.

AGW: What would you do if you were seeing someone with a particularly annoying obsession like Jimmy has in this film?

Drew: I’m sure as any good therapist would say. ‘What’s the price of this? Is it too high’? I think that Jimmy’s character in this movie has to strike a balance. I think there does have to be compromise but I also think that you really love somebody for who they are and the more you strip away at that, the less you know who they are and the less they love themselves and it just gets into a whole gray area that’s very dangerous. But, I do believe that balance, if both people want it, can be achieved.

AGW: Were all the fans wiling to hang around while you ran around the field?

Drew: Yeah. That was at the end of a live game. Thirty-seven thousand people, all the real players on the field. I’m just so grateful for that.

AGW: Can you describe working with Jimmy Fallon and why he was the right person for the role as your boyfriend?

Drew: I love Jimmy and I’ve done SNL with him a bunch of times and I just thought there’s such a good vibe about him. I think men think he’s funny and women think he’s just adorable. My own personal experiences of working with him were a real pleasure. Then, I love the art of casting and I thought he’s never gotten to express the more mature, romantic side of him. As well as the fact that he has to explore really deep emotions in this film. I was excited to have him have the opportunity to do that. There are scenes where he’s really distraught and at wit’s end or on the verge of tears or just angry and frustrated and pissed off that no one is understanding him or getting him or that he’s missing out. Those are experiences and emotions he hasn’t explored yet. So, for us to be sort of the first ones to get to do that with him was very exciting for me. I knew he could do it and he totally pulled it off. It was just a pleasure.

AGW: How do you go about choosing a leading man?

Drew: I like working with people that I don’t have to screen test with and wonder if they’re going to be a good person. I just do my research. Are they a nice person? Okay, good. That will be a good working experience. Do I really have this love for them because of what they do and what their talents are? Yes, okay. I can fake that and do an ‘in love’ thing but none of it is fake [with Jimmy] and I appreciate that. I can’t imagine having to work with someone and pretend to be in love with them when I really had no good feelings towards them. I just don’t even know how I’d fake that. And, I love working with funny men. I’m always intrigued by them.

AGW: Can you talk about your personal plans. Are you single at the moment?

Drew: I’m not single at the moment but I’m not ready to have a family and I’m not ready to get married. My head is so not in that place. It’s more about enjoying life and having fun and working and spending time with my love and with my friends and this family that I’ve created that they’re all a part of. For me, those are my priorities right now. I’d much rather try to build a family when I’m really ready, when I’m really selfless. It’s not something I want to mess around with and just hope for the best. It’s always going to be so difficult and scary and challenges. You’re never gonna really be ready. That’s what all my ‘mother-friends’ tell me. But, I still think that if I wait a little bit longer, I’ll be better suited for the job.

AGW: Do you work out as much as your character?

Drew: No. I wish I did though but I’m trying. I’m really enjoying exercise right now but I get to eat the carbs that I want. I’m not givin’ those up.

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