Drew Barrymore reveals she was “scared” while making ‘Never Been Kissed’
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(Credits: Alamy)
With every project, there is a degree of risk attached, but there was even more riding on Never Been Kissed for Drew Barrymore.
In addition to starring in the movie, Barrymore’s production company Flower Films were responsible for the film. If Never Been Kissed flopped at the box office, there was a strong possibility that Flower Films wouldn’t have recovered from the possibly devastating setback, and Barrymore was acutely aware of this notion while shooting.
Balancing the two roles side-by-side was a new challenge to Barrymore, who found it testing, but fortunately came out of the ordeal stronger. She revealed to Hey, Dude…The ’90s Called! hosts Christine Taylor and David Lascher on The Drew Barrymore Show: “Never Been Kissed was very interesting because it was our first official film for Flower Films. And at that time, people were very weary of actors being producers.”
Barrymore continued: “A lot of it wasn’t necessarily working and it didn’t mean because you’re an actor, you knew how to produce a film and it was about the economics. So if you didn’t make the film work and you produced it as an actor, you were likely to not be able to do it again. And I was very stressed throughout the movie.”
Further elaborating on the difficult circumstances, Barrymore revealed for the “first time” that she was “so scared” while Never Been Kissed was in production due to the repercussions of failure. The actor claimed Flower Films wasn’t “going to get another chance” if the film didn’t succeed.
In the movie, Barrymore portrays journalist, Josie Geller, who goes back to school in order to get an insight into the younger generation. For the performance, Barrymore intentionally dressed down, but has now claimed 20th Century Fox were unhappy with her appearance.
Barrymore stated: “I would get these calls from the studio and they were like, ‘I’m sorry, but you’re just looking too unattractive.’ And I was like, ‘good.’ And they were like, ‘no, no, no, no, no, no.’ They were like, ‘It’s, it’s too far’.”
The actor alleged she was “forced to even tone it down a little bit because I had gone even farther than they were” and they warned her not to “lose the heart because you’re going so far for the comedy.”
Despite facing a set of unwanted circumstances, Never Been Kissed was a rousing success, with Barrymore admitting “we got really lucky”.
In another world, Never Been Kissed could have put an end to Flower Films, which since went onto make beloved movies such as Donnie Darko, Charlie’s Angels, Fever Pitch, and 50 First Dates, cementing Barrymore’s place as a vital Hollywood producer.
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