ShareThisDrew Barrymore had something to prove to herself with the HBO movie "Grey Gardens."
After years of building a career on silly romantic comedies, Barrymore wanted to see if she could tackle something more substantial. In "Gardens," airing 8 p.m. Eastern Saturday, she's getting her chance. As socialite "Little Edie" Bouvier Beale, she ages decades throughout the film and goes from the height of the social scene to living in squalor with her mother.
She co-stars with Jessica Lange as a mother and daughter, who, in real life, were the subject of 1970s documentary called "Grey Gardens," which chronicled their bizarre lives in a run-down mansion. They were relatives of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy and had been at one time respected members of the Manhattan and Long Island social scene. Because of the documentary, they went from virtual obscurity to a cult status because of their fascinating story.
Barrymore felt the role was exactly what she was seeking in her career.
"I wanted to test myself. I wanted to see if I could do this," Barrymore says during a telephone interview.
It's not like the 34-year-old star needed to show how commercial she is. She's a proven box office draw with films like "He's Just Not Into You," "50 First Dates" and "Charlie's Angels." She's been acting almost her entire life (with her most memorable childhood role being in "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial"); Her life is the stuff of magazine covers - from addictions to love gone wrong.
But she's pondering ways to show other theatrical sides, with a role of more depth and dimension. If she could carry herself in such a role, Barrymore might be seen as a more serious actress. She's already starting to direct films and has a production company to create her own projects.
For "Gardens," she first had to discipline herself.
"While I was making this, I stopped going out. I had no communication with my friends. I totally closed myself off for about three months," she says. "It was hard."
Part of the regime was to get herself into the mind set of Little Edie, the seclusion she felt and the longing to want to do more.
She mastered Edie's particular New York/New England accent and watched the documentary and video of Little Edie to capture her body language. Still, Barrymore wanted to make sure she was getting this right.
"I was scared all the time," she said. "I felt sick to my stomach all the time. I thought I was going to die. I really did, because I felt such a responsibility to the people that loved the documentary and hold her in such an intense regard, such a loyalty, and a lot of my friends quote her and act her out all the time.
"When I was studying her voice, they would do it so carefree, and I would just not have the gall to even join with them, and I always thought, 'Are they going to think that I'm going to pull this off?'
"For the people that didn't know her, I tried to think of how she would feel."
Barrymore says she's a confident person, but she was facing her fears by seeing if she had the skills to handle a role of this kind.
"I believe that I have not proven myself yet," she says of her career, calling the role "one of the greatest opportunities I've ever had in my life ... I just felt a responsibility ... so I worked harder on this than anything I've ever worked on in my life."
And now that's it's over?
"I'm very proud," she says.
(Contact Terry Morrow of The Knoxville News Sentinel in Tennessee at morrow2(at)knews.com.)
