“I’m a Cali-girl through and through, but it was just nice to not be in the busy rush of Los Angeles,” Barrymore says of her stint in Anchorage, where she shunned Internet and e-mail in favor of letter-writing and reading. Shooting for the film (opening Friday) took place in the fall of 2010, and it could not have come at a better time for the now 36-year-old actress who has been a mainstay in pop culture for three decades.

“There’s a book called Slowing Down to the Speed of Life, and there’s something about that title that totally rang true about this experience,” Barrymore says. “It’s hard to check out of your life for three solid months. It’s even harder when you get older. But I really did dive in.”

Perhaps “dive out” would be a better term. In Big Miracle, a fictionalized retelling of the 1988 effort to rescue three gray whales trapped by ice near the Arctic Circle, Barrymore plays a Greenpeace activist. It is her first big-screen acting project in two years and probably will be her last for a while: No other firm projects are lined up.

That’s all just fine, she says. Barrymore is in no rush to find a new venture and is more content to focus on her personal life, which includes her fiancé, 34-year-old art consultant Will Kopelman.

“I’ve done all of this for 35 years,” Barrymore says of her career. “I think maybe it’s OK to put the life first for a minute. I don’t really know this feeling. It’s new and exciting.”

After all, Barrymore began her entertainment career at age 11 months when she appeared in a dog food commercial. Since finding child stardom after 1982′s E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial, she had a famously turbulent adolescence that eventually made way for an adult career that saw her move to rom-com queen (The Wedding Singer, 50 First Dates). She also is a successful producer, director and, lately, professional photographer.

While chatting at her Flower Films office, Barrymore buzzes from just viewing a photo spread she shot for the fashion glossy V featuring some her favorite rock bands in a house party theme. A few minutes earlier, the entire office had erupted in cheers after seeing the pictures in the magazine’s current music issue.

“We just opened the magazine,” she says. “You kind of don’t believe it’s going to happen until you see it and then it’s real.”

About that engagement

Even more real is the effect of two new pieces of jewelry on what she calls her “everyday outfit” of blue jeans, worn boots and casual gray sweatshirt. The first is a two-heart pendant around her neck held together by a gold safety pin, a gift from Kopelman.

“These are these wonderful hearts my man has given me, but the chain broke so I put it on the safety pin,” she explains.

The second is the 4-carat, radiant-cut diamond engagement ring Kopelman presented to her when he proposed in December, after the two had been dating for nearly a year.

“I am trying to get used to it,” Barrymore says, beaming. (She had been linked romantically before to stars such as Justin Long and Luke Wilson and was married twice, most recently to actor Tom Green, from whom she was divorced in 2002.)

When she took on Miracle in 2010, she had yet to meet Kopelman, and the biggest adjustment she was making was to a different kind of ice. Instead of shooting the film on a soundstage, director Ken Kwapis informed his star that the production would be filmed entirely in Alaska.

Kwapis reconstructed the ice fields in Anchorage and filmed there, rather than in Barrow, which is much closer to the Arctic Circle. But the surroundings still packed a weather punch as winter came on toward the end of the shoot in November and December.

“It was really cold, and that’s an important thing to make the scenes look right,” Kwapis says. “One of the more complicated things to create is visual breath. That was not a problem in Alaska. But Drew jumped right in.”

Despite the conditions, Barrymore was pleased to work with three animatronic whales, created by the same New Zealand special-effects company that worked on 2002′s Whale Rider.

“I didn’t want to be playing acting,” she says. “I needed a whale.” Even if the whales were robotic, they helped her cope with the famously shortened days that came on as winter hit.

“That was the harder part for me — the lack of daylight,” Barrymore says. “I’m a sunshine junkie. It was different, I’ll put it that way.”

Even packing was a chore for the Southern California born-and-bred Barrymore, who recalls that she toted a Fisher-Price light-up globe, Sorel boots and Uggs to Anchorage. “I didn’t have anything (else) to offer. I lived at the (outdoor store) REI once I got there. That was definitely helpful.”

Barrymore found a kindred spirit in real-life Greenpeace activist Cindy Lowry, who was the basis of Barrymore’s character. Lowry also had been unprepared when she first went to Alaska to aid the whale rescue. Says Barrymore: “I feel like that we had that in common.”

The two spent time together, before and during the shoot, and other shared traits surfaced.

“Ken (Kwapis) told me that my character fights for the right things but sometimes goes the wrong away about it,” Barrymore says. “And that is a lot like me.”

Back to 1988

Lowry says watching Barrymore shoot a scene in which she pulls a bullhorn out at a meeting about oil drilling rights, which actually happened, made her see the similarities.

“I was just smiling and thinking ‘That is so me,’ ” Lowry says. “She just totally got me.”

Barrymore’s self-imposed Internet and e-mail ban meant she couldn’t conduct business for her busy production company, which produced the highly successful Charlie’s Angels films and the less-successful rebooted TV version on ABC in 2011.

“I shut down,” she says. “I said, ‘The work can wait.’ I did it right up to the moment I left and said I would get back to it when I got back.”

That disconnect helped her keep the feel of 1988 as she conducted letter-writing campaigns with friends using a period-appropriate IBM Selectric typewriter. (“Every week there were letters back, too,” she says. “I loved it.”) She immersed herself in books, including Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America, and indulged in a simple life.

“I went to work, did my hot yoga, and then I read. It was all very Zen.”

Still, there were lighter moments. Actors Ted Danson, Kristen Bell and John Krasinski, who plays Barrymore’s TV reporter ex-boyfriend, had an entire floor of Anchorage’s Captain Cook Hotel to themselves. Krasinki’s red fox Labrador, Finn, and Barrymore’s mutt, Douglas, were able to roam about at will.

At times, Krasinski and his visiting wife, actress Emily Blunt, would pull Barrymore out to a local restaurant away from her books. “It was like, ‘Come on, you’re going out to dinner with us,’ ” Barrymore says. The big dinners had an added benefit of keeping the body nourished in the Alaskan cold.

“You really do need more calories to exist in Alaska,” Lowry says. “People who live there get used to the dry cold. But folks visiting need to acclimate.”

Barrymore might have taken the advice too seriously with a pad thai dish at a local Thai place.

“I definitely did put on a layer of 5 to 8 pounds of protective blubber. You just couldn’t tell under all of those clothes,” she says. “When I got home to Los Angeles, I was like, ‘Wow, Alaska. I really brought it home with me.’ ”

Despite returning to the bustle of the filmmaking capital, Barrymore maintains the low-key attitude about her life. With the future wide open, she’s at peace with not having every step of the way planned — even her usually packed professional calendar. The balance of emphasis has shifted to her personal life.

“It’s all sort of in reverse now,” she says with a laugh. “Now I am dating a few work things. But I just haven’t committed.”

Though she has found “the one” personally, she is willing to wait for her next professional soul mate.

“I really love being in love. I am that girl who will sit outside your house in a car at night. And I mean that in a sort of good-committed way, not a psycho-irritant,” she laughs. “When I’m in love, I really commit myself to things, whether it’s work or a person.

“So when I find that new work love, I’ll stalk it.”

USAToday.com

Drew beamed.

Are wedding plans moving forward?

“We’re trying to figure it out,” the actress said. “I think everyone expects you to kind of know right away what the plans are. I’m like, oh goodness, it just happened a month ago! Do I not have it together or is it OK to keep daydreaming?”

Roberts told her it was fine to keep daydreaming: “To see how happy you are makes us so happy for you.”

Replied Drew, “I root for his happiness and people’s happiness and this is a really positive story and positive time and I like positivity, I’m drawn to it!”

USAToday.com

I was recently invited to participate in a roundtable interview with the two stars of Big Miracle in which they spilled their guts about filming their new movie. Check out the interview below in which they discuss the film’s messages as well as what it was like working with Ken Kwapis on such a different project, the true story that the movie is based on, and what they enjoyed about working together.

Were you guys aware of the story the film is based on before the script came together? Was it news to you or do you remember hearing it?

John Krasinski: I remember hearing about it. I remember definitely knowing something about it, probably was too young to be at all involved in it and wasn’t necessarily the most current events guy at age whatever-I-was…nine, I guess? Ten? But no, I mean, when you read the script I remember I read the script and I thought it was really great, I thought it was really sweet. My concern was that it was like, I said to Ken [Kwapis], “Yeah, it’s really good, but we have to cut back a little bit of this stuff. Some of this stuff is a little unbelievable.” And he’s like, “Nah, it’s all true.” And I was like, “Alright, Ken. I don’t know how long you’ve been in Hollywood, but none of this is real.” And he was like, “No, these people got married and…

What part seemed the most unbelievable to you?

JK: I think that the press secretary and the national guard pilot falling in love and getting married after being so adversarial on the phone is insane. That is insane! And then when you see the picture at the end of the movie it’s so moving. I think it’s just a great, great movie, especially at this point in time to believe in the power of unity and getting together for a cause or really for anything, especially with social media. I think this is the time where not only can you have a voice, but your voice can be the catalyst for something massive.

Ted Danson was talking about while you were shooting Shell was trying to drill, did you get at all involved with that?

JK: Yeah, I remember that night when he went. He was nervous. He said, “Those guys are real.”

Drew Barrymore: I think it was great for him because he was playing J.W. who is this oil man, but no, that was really his cause.

The way he explained it was that night it almost seemed like your character, Drew, in the beginning of the movie. There’s like a correlation between the two.

DB: Yeah, I definitely think these are the kind of… I just think that sort of seeing this story and living in it, you just appreciate that everybody kind of put their agendas aside for a second to work on the same thing and sort of peeling away the layers of maybe…I liked when I got to say to his character in the film, “You’re not as hard to hate as I thought.” I always just liked that moment and thought what it would actually be like if you were stuck and got to know the people that you thought you were so different from or really had fundamentally different morals and beliefs. And yeah, I think galvanizing and trying to fight for something that you believe in is always inspiring. So I’m glad it inspired him. He’s the best.

Did you work with or speak with people at Greenpeace at all?

DB: I did! I met with the head of Greenpeace and spent some time with him. They’re actually coming in DC for the screening. And I went and studied whales up in Seattle with Paul Watson, who did Whale Wars. And then I spent a lot of time with Cindy Lowry, who is the woman that I play in the film. And she’s just rad and a total badass and super cool and we really actually connected, which is the way you hope it will be, but maybe it will, maybe it won’t. But we were like two peas in a pod, it was great.

Both of you have had previous experience working with Ken Kwapis, but this movie is obviously very different from anything you’ve done previously. From your perspective, how did his approach change for this project?

JK: He was, in a good way, very stressed, and I say in a good way because I think he understood the difference in the level he was trying to achieve in this movie versus the movie that I did with him and the movie you [Drew] did with him and certainly The Office. That’s a little more low-rent than this movie. So I think he wanted to make it really, really fantastic and I think he knew immediately that the visual spectacle would be an essential part of the movie and, I think, he’s very aware that he, at this point, wasn’t known as the visual spectacle guy and he knew he could do it and he wanted to do it right. And I remember his shot selection and his preparation and going over the script he was so dedicated and it was amazing to see him do it because the movie I had done and especially on The Office, he’s so performance-based, and he still was on this movie, but to see him be able to be performance-based and do these incredible crane shots, I was just so incredibly proud of him.

The two of you share a great scene when you, John, are recording her in the studio, and you’re like, “Stop being so formal and rigid.” Can you talk about filming that scene and finding that space and speaking to the people…

DB: I think it’s also making it very personal rather than just soapbox-y, which I think this film is, I hope it achieves or is as good at in that way. It’s amazing how it touches on so many things that could be different today if they were different back then, but it doesn’t do it in a preachy, in your face kind of way. So I think the more you do speak from the heart, rather than thumping the agenda, I just think that’s what people listen or relate or open themselves up to more. That’s one of the things I really loved about that scene.

JK: Yeah, and I think that you did such a great job in that scene too, because I think that agenda-based movements in any sort of way, though incredibly powerful and worthy, I think that sometimes you get lost in the white noise of people’s anger and being super adamant on one side or the other and what fails to happen is that you actually aren’t disseminating the information that you want to get across to these people, which is whether it be any sort of major issue, what you fail to do is tell them the basics and the details of how long these whales need to live and how this is scary and all that very human, emotional stuff that will connect with people rather than having them at home feeling like, “Oh, this is too big an issue, I can’t get involved, I don’t know how to get involved, there’s no way to get involved, someone else will take care of this…” And when you bring it to a small level and sort of make it easy to access, which you did, I think it’s the most powerful part of the movie.

Everybody still does have a lot of agendas going on throughout the movie, but you’re the kind of person that’s allowed to be…

JK: I get stepped on early on in the movie [laughs]. No, no I totally agree as far as the media thing. His whole thing is that he wanted the glamour of being in the national news spotlight and as soon as people came they sort of pushed him aside so he had to become, really, an assistant to get his voice back with these people. I also love the idea that, I’ve always loved those movies where somebody thinks they want something and then they realize that the thing they really want is right in front of them, and that glamorous life of what it is to be a news man or be in the lower 48 or in New York or whatever it is, I love that he discovers the real truth of life, which is as long as you’re doing what you love and you’re around people that you love you’re doing something right. So I think that was sort of the undertone of my character was kind of keeping that thing in check versus all of the other people who had a specific political agenda.

Did you bond with the young actor as well?

JK: He’s so good though, isn’t he? He’s so good. Mal is definitely one of the coolest kids. If they ever did like an MTV or something on him they would be like, “Oh my god, this is like the coolest kid ever.” He’s like this handsome, cool, fun, really funny kid. He brought a couple of his friends from school and they were blown away, more blown away that he got to miss school for this [laughs]. But it was really, really fun and he’s so good and it’s one of those things that it’s frustrating to see how natural it was to him. He wasn’t sitting in his trailer really figuring out the scene. He was like, “Yeah, I get it,” and he just understood the whole thing, it was really amazing.

Did the Walkman freak him out?

JK: “What’s that, grandpa?” [laughs] It was pretty wild, that whole thing with batteries, and he played that so well! Especially a kid who I think had a Wii and an Xbox and all that stuff. And he was like, “Wow, a Walkman!” And I was like, “That’s pretty good acting, because these things are ancient.”

Did you have to explain the bands to him or did he know Guns ‘N Roses and all of them?

JK: He did know Guns ‘N Roses and he really liked Guns ‘N Roses. I think when we got into Def Leopard and stuff he was like, “All right there.” But he was really fantastic and a great energy to have on set. He was always really excited to be there and, you know, those scenes where I am alone with him are really amazing. I feel like one of the great relationships in the movie is mine and his relationship only because it bonds the Iñupiat tribe with the outside world and to be the only guy that understands that grandfather when even he is like, “My grandfather doesn’t understand anything that’s going on.” It was just really nice to be the character that sort of pulled everybody together and sort of really fun because I got to work with everybody, which was fun. I got to be in a scene with everybody.

What did each of you appreciate about working with the other?

JK: I really appreciated – and she’s going to say “No” and blush and all that – but I really appreciated how professional she was. I don’t think anybody really fully understands what it’s like to be at the level that she’s at and the amount of responsibility that it is, and I think that I’m one of the people that feels very, very lucky to be there, but I’ve only been doing it for a certain amount of time, she’s been doing it for longer and achieving so much more than any of us could even hope to do and to stay so incredibly positive and so incredibly normal…you’d be surprised how much the sway of the day really wants to go to the negative, whether it’s too cold or lunch wasn’t good or whatever it is, there’s always a reason to be grumpy, and the entire crew will go with whatever the vibe is. And they all look to one person and usually it’s the biggest head-honcho on set and that was usually her and she was always so positive and it set the tone for the whole rest of the shoot. [Drew starts to blush] There she goes!

DB: Thank you, thank you. I was so excited because Ken told me that maybe this could happen, there was a schedule conflict with The Office, which was a little bit terrifying, it may or may not happen. He called me in the San Francisco airport and I started running up and down the halls I was so happy and so excited, because I really…

JK: She was like, “Steve Carell’s going to be in our movie!?” [laughs]

DB: I do love him, but I was so excited about you! I was! And I was like, “Oh good, I just think that Adam and Rachel, I just hoped that they would be just these certain kinds of people while he was struggling with where he wanted to his life to and she was doing the things that she wanted to do, I just wanted them to be good people and exude a good energy. And so I was so excited about doing this with John because I love his acting and I just think that he’s a good person, and you believe in that. And it’s true. So I was like, “Oh please, this is ideal.” This is how this film would be, that this story could get told.

JK: I just have to get over that kicking puppies habit and I’d be…

DB: Oh no! [laughs] We both had our dogs up there too, and our dogs love each other, it’s so cute.

John, can you talk about the project that you were working on with Matt Damon and now Gus Van Sant is going to direct it.

JK: Absolutely, as far as my brain has been able to process it. It’s a pretty incredibly exciting thing. Yeah, I had this idea for a script and I worked on it with David Eggers, who came up with me on the story and actually came up with a first draft of a script with me, and I brought it to Matt who wanted to direct immediately. The script sort of fell apart because of an issue that was happening at the time, which wasn’t sort of going to be a strong enough issue later on. So we had to sort of rewrite the script and he’s been an incredible friend and collaborator on the whole thing, and then, just before Christmas, he realized that it’s very similar to doing three or four movies over five years and then having them all come out in the same year. Everyone believes that you shot them all last year, and it’s the same thing with booking movies. I would assume that I’ve never been that in demand, but with Matt Damon it’s like there’s a lot of things that he had agreed to all of a sudden everybody was calling him and saying, “The only time we can do it is here and the only time we can do this…” and all of a sudden he looked at his schedule and there was just no way to do everything. And he’s a very, very talented guy and incredibly smart guy, and he didn’t want his first opportunity to direct, he takes it very seriously, and he didn’t want to be hindered in any way, shape or form

And so it really was purely scheduling. He’s doing Liberace in June so he would have had to shot our movie, go shoot another movie, and then go back and edit, and that’s just not the way you want to do your first movie. And so I was incredibly bummed, to say the least. It was a very hard night, he called me around 7:30 and I remember at 1:30 the next day he called again and said, “So, Gus Van Sant’s doing our movie?” And I flipped out. I think that Gus is one of the most talented directors there is or ever has been. He’s an incredible storyteller and for our movie in particular he’s going to be unbelievable. So I’m thrilled. I’m really, really thrilled and to be able to, you know, it’s my first script – my first original script, I adapted a screenplay, which is very, very different because that was all David Foster Wallace – but this is the first script, so to have this experience, I should just call it quits after this.

So how soon will that go?

JK: It’s going to go in April.

DB: I’m so happy for you! It’s exciting.

Drew, can you talk about not getting jaded with this whole Hollywood system?

JK: Yeah, how do you not do that? I’m already jaded [laughs].

DB: I mean, it’s just a choice, I suppose. I don’t know. I think that if you feel lucky all the time and you don’t take things for granted – and I’ve also experienced in life that it really can all go away, so that was a really wonderful thing to experience, because then you really do appreciate what you have and so I’ve experienced a bit of both, which is really such a blessing and it always confirms to you that you really are lucky to have what you have and you have to work to keep it going, but you really need to appreciate it as much as work for it. The two work hand in hand. So I feel really lucky, I genuinely do. It’s no B.S.

John, would you be interested in directing again?

JK: Yeah, at some point. I had the best time, but I was also surrounded by the most amazing people. John Bailey, who actually shot this movie, shot my movie. He did a couple tiny movies like Ordinary People and he won the Oscar for As Good As It Gets. So when you have a great team around you to make you look really, really good, if I could ever assemble that group of people and harness that sort of courage that would be fantastic, but it’s a little like walking down a street with landmines and then before the end of it people are like, “You know there are landmines all down that,” and you’re like “What?!” And now that I’ve seen it I’ll be looking out for them and that’s a lot more difficult than just blindly running down the street thinking that it’s really, really…not easy in any way, but it was really, really fun. I had a blast directing…

You might have scared off Damon.

JK: Yeah, exactly. I told him it was the worst decision of his career. Ha, no. But I want this one [points to Drew] to direct really soon. Whip It was amazing.

DB: Thank you!

JK: I hope she does it again soon.

CinemaBlend.com

“He’s a wonderful man,” Drew said of her fiancé, Will Kopelman, as Shaun admired her ring.

“He bought her a flashlight to put on it,” Drew’s “Big Miracle” co-star John Krasinski — who plays a news reporter in the film — chimed in, referencing the sparkling qualities of Drew’s diamond. “It’s very sweet. Practical.”

Drew got engaged over the holidays while she and Will were in Sun Valley, Idaho.

“He is a very romantic and creative person,” Drew told Shaun of Will. “He’s wonderful.”

Drew said she loves the stability of her relationship with Will, something she opened up about in the February issue of InStyle magazine.

“It’s funny, when I was younger, I used to say I’d hate a flat line—that I want the ups and downs, the rollercoaster. But I’m actually really enjoying the flat line,” she told the mag.

When asked about her quote, Drew expanded on her original thoughts, telling Shaun that she loves how her life has turned out.

“I think that you want so much sort of craziness and excitement when you’re younger and then it’s actually just being with friends and family and having that quiet weekend together that is just the most ideal way to spend your time,” she said.

“Totally,” John chimed in with a smile. “And he called and asked my permission first (laughs)… He’s really sweet.”

Also sweet is Drew and John’s film, which allowed the actress to play a whale advocate who tangles with multiple governments on an emotional journey to save three whales.

“I like going to work and having to cry. I like having to go to work and be strong or feisty, and I got to do so many things as this amazing woman” Drew said of her character, Rachel. “I got to fight for something I completely love and believe in.”

And the story, in general, motivated the actress as well.

“I just loved the story. I like family oriented movies, I like if there’s something for children, but I like if there’s something for adults too, and this is environmental, and it’s political, and it’s heartfelt, and it’s emotional, “ she said. “It’s uplifting. I don’t have a sad umbrella over my head. I want to see things that are inspiring.”

“Big Miracle” hits theaters on February 3.

AccessHollywood.com

Q: You guys have been here for a while so give us some tips on how you handle Alaska? And what are your Alaska must-haves in terms of staying cozy?

JK: Must-haves would be these little beauties!

DB: Yeah, the hot packs.

JK: I think they’re called little hotties. You’re going to want to trust that.

DB: It’s hard though. You’ve got the mittens and I’ve got gloves and what I’d love for those little hotties to do is develop little fingers. And then life would be really good. The fingers and the toes are most important. Smart wool, definitely windy proof layers, lots and lots of layers and the feet warmers.

JK: It’s like you’re writing a survival guide.

DB: I have to say it was a total trial and error thing. When I got here I had nothing and I didn’t know what was going to work and what wasn’t. You just start piling on the things you like and get rid of the things that aren’t working.

JK: It’s also so deceiving when you arrive and it wasn’t that cold. The first time I came up it was like 50 degrees and I remember thinking everybody on the production’s insane. They’re like “it gets so cold!” And then coming from LA you’re throwing in light sweaters and then days like this hit and you’re like “does anyone have a caribou carcass?”

Q: When did you guys get here?

DB: In September. He was doing double duty with The Office which is insane, pulling a double shift which is really really hard.

JK: So I officially landed permanently, a month ago in October.

Q: We’ve been asking everyone and they’re all kinda saying the same thing, but I was wondering what drew you individually to the role?

DB: Is that a subtly veiled insult that they’re all kinda saying the same thing?

Q: No no no, they’re all saying the cast is so tight and –

JK: But they didn’t know that when they signed on, so they lied to you. For me the opportunity to play a whale is a once in a lifetime gig and to actually play a human and a whale (laughs). No, I was immediately drawn to the project because of Drew. I knew that Drew was going to be a part of it and I had always wanted to work with her in a very very very major way. And then I think I might have already said yes to it and then they were like “read the script” and really when you read the script…it’s one of those movies where I think it’s this pocket of a very unique and special project. There’s a little bit of romance, a little bit of comedy, and a little bit of drama and it doesn’t really fit into any certain realm that people are used to and in doing this it becomes this really special storytelling and the fact that all of it’s true is incredible. And I remember thinking this is a perfect movie, but I can’t wait to ask how much of this is true and it’s wild, certain things. Like I still to this day can’t believe that Dermot’s character and Vinessa’s character actually did meet on this adventure and did get married after talking to each other on the phone. If I wrote that in the script for myself people would be like that’s not getting made, it’s not good, it’s not real, it can’t be done. So I was just blown away by a bunch of people coming together for whales and realizing there’s just so much more to be said, the bigger picture.

DB: That’s a good, solid, hefty answer. I just want to make films for….I love collective experiences and I think it’s very good to make films that are personal to you and you know what they are. But I think it’s for certain types of people and you sort of know the people that you’re making for. There aren’t a lot of films that you get to make that are very diverse and for a large group of people. We all want to be a part of something that makes us believe that good things happen in the world and that people actually put aside their agendas and came together on something that was really extraordinary, and the fact that there is levity to the really cool important message in this movie makes it not medicine. It’s just a beautiful story and incredible things happen and I think because it’s true, we know that it happened, it sort of gives us that hope that we need in life. But Ken Kwapis, who is just the most…one of the best directors who I’ve ever worked with in my life, was so profoundly smart and insightful about how to approach every single tone in this movie. I knew going into it because of the writing, how good it would be, and I loved the people that Ken was putting together and I knew this was going to special and I couldn’t believe I was lucky enough to get to be a part of it. And then watching it unfold every day, it just continues to exceed my expectations. I need this kind of hope in life. I need movies like this that are just really great storytelling and there’s something just a bit old fashioned in it. It is just extraordinary storytelling and it’s wonderful. It’s a wonderful, wonderful movie.

Q: So your character is the sort of go-getter, save the world kinda thing. What advice would you give to people who want to sign up for a cause?

DB: The same thing that the woman I’m playing, Cindy Lowery did and what I totally believe in is just if it takes staying up 23, 24 hours in a day then do it. If it takes researching until you get to the core of your argument or your passion or your fight, find it then do it. Nothing comes from passion alone. It comes from this incredible diligence and I think you can change things, you can have an effect, you can pull off impossible if you really work at something. And I love that about my character. I love that she is inexhaustible! And then also it’s fun to play someone who’s a bit righteous and stubborn and just almost humorously petty in a way because she has to do what she needs to do, and that’s a really interesting challenge — to not make someone like that someone you just want to write off, but someone that you want to get behind. And another thing that Ken, our director, is doing which is really just so astute and profound is every side has their convictions and their set of beliefs and I don’t think it’s interesting to see an argument where someone’s right and someone’s wrong. It’s interesting to see an argument where both sides have their traditions, their beliefs, a profound sort of connection and the effect it has on the world and what they do and then put those two people in a room together and make them debate and it’s far more intelligent and far more interesting.

Q: What is it like being on the other side of the industry? Being a member of the press versus being –

JK: Oh my God, good question. You guys have it rough, let me tell you. It was actually one of the coolest parts about taking this role was to see the process that the press goes through with a huge story in a media frenzy. It was really really inspiring to see the footage because my character’s sort of an amalgam of a couple people, so it’s not one person that I could go talk to. So to me, my whole angle of doing research was the media itself and how much attention was placed on it and you know there is, like Drew was saying, an extreme power in the knowledge that a certain amount of focus can make a huge difference and that obviously these whales are representatives of much bigger things in this movie, and they were in real life. So to me it was the dichotomy between someone who just wanted to break a really good story for personal gain (which is totally part of this) and learning later that the attention being brought to the story had such an effect, not only on the world as a whole, but on certain people. And like Drew said, I think that most recent thing I can think of is when George Clooney did that Hope For Haiti telethon I was manning the phones, I was so blown away to hear that everybody’s number one comment was “thank you guys for doing this,” not because we love seeing celebrities do a bunch of different things, but because we didn’t know exactly what to do and we needed to do something so when there’s focus put on one certain pinpoint idea it allows people to feel like they do have a voice and a say in all this.

Q: Once you both had read the script, what other sorta things – did you surf videos on YouTube or whatever sort of things did you –

DB: That’s too surface for me, I go way deeper than that.

Q: Read other things, read old news articles or did you just kinda stick to what was in the script?

DB: I read a bunch of books. I spent week upon week upon week traveling to different places with Cindy Lowery, the woman that I’m playing. I met with different people in this field, like Paul Watson who’s the whale wars gentleman. I went up to his island and spent Labor Day weekend with him and chasing pods of orcas. I researched and met with the head of Greenpeace and spent time with them. Ken really put me on track with constant research, some of which yes, I pulled off the internet. But just book after book after article and then Ken gave me these books that were just profound: Leviathan by Philip Hoare, which is just an amazing sort of evaluation and dissection of not only Moby Dick, but just every piece of information about the history of whales, whaling. I studied different types of whales from a scientific level and then he also had me read this book called Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer, which when I started reading it I wondered why he was having me read this because it didn’t seem on point since it’s about factory farming. And I found myself after months of months of traveling and doing all this research and spending all this time with people and being a book worm, you know, a questioner or whatever. But it was the one thing that set me into me being that guy at a dinner table who’s like “and you know what, that chicken that you’re eating is filled with puss and poison. You don’t want to be eating that and what you should be doing and what the government is doing.” And I was like oh my God, Ken Kwapis is a genius. Forget everything I just spent months on. Thank God I felt like I had that in my arsenal because I like to show up with a lot of homework, but it was the very thing that Ken said “please read this” and I remember him saying it will make you angry. But it was like 2 months before I read it and that turned me in one foul swoop more of the kind of person who I think I wanted to be for this character, and who is that someone who is in your face with a lot of information about things and they’re very passionate about it. And they may ruin dinner parties and hopefully they’re still funny and charming enough that you don’t write them off and you want to hang out with them, but it was the thing that forced me into being someone I’m…you know, I’m very passionate about things but it certainly wasn’t in this particular field that I was so that’s just a few things that I can think of.

JK: Why would I ever answer that question after what you just said.

DB: (laughs) I just wanted to show that I go a lot deeper than YouTube.

Source

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Barrymore opened up about the opportunity to work with MTV and why she chose a West Side Story theme for the video.

“I’ve never done a music video and I’ve always wanted to. The format is dying!” Barrymore explained of her decision try a new creative outlet. “What I love about music videos are the stories in them.”

A fan of romance, action, and tragic love stories, Barrymore opted to draw on Romeo and Juliet, West Side Story, The Warriors and The Outsiders – all while keeping actress Chloe Moretz in mind for the lead. As for Tyler Posey, Barrymore discovered the Teen Wolf star along the way.

“I didn’t want to do a period piece, per se. For this, I thought, stick with the timeless,” she explained. “Take a jean jacket, its ‘50s, ‘70s, ‘90s, now… And I never met a graffiti I didn’t like! That’s how it all started.”

What started out as a small 2-minute project quickly escalated to an 11-minute video as Barrymore realized her ambitions. After asking MTV for permission to expand the project, the short was filmed in downtown LA on a shoestring budget and in only two days. Barrymore called in “every favor on the planet” to make it happen.

“MTV Networks finally decided they would let us make and air the 11-minute version. That, for me, is the greatest lesson in all of this,” she recalled. “If you really push yourself, you could create an opportunity for yourself that wouldn’t have happened otherwise. You have to earn it, and you gotta go out there and make it happen. How could I push the limit? Went outside the traditional lines on this one, I feel really lucky, just another side to me to not sit with your dreams, and try to make them manifest.”

Adding, “I spent three years on Whip It, and to do this in two days – wow. It gave me hope that you don’t have to take yourself so seriously.”

Watch the full, extended version of the music video below.

Source

Single, based on the 2008 novel by Liz Tucillo and adapted by He’s Just Not That Into You’s screenwriters Marc Silverstein and Abby Kohn, will follow a group of New Yorkers and their various dating adventures over the course of ten years. “This has a very wide palette that I really really like,” she says. “I’m so interested in so many different types of people and lifestyles that there is kind of a lovely mosaic, like a little bit for everybody.” Barrymore, who is still deciding whether or not she’ll appear on screen in Single (which she says is being considered for release around Valentine’s Day 2012), explains the new film isn’t a follow-up to He’s Just Not That Into You. But she does call the pair “cousin movies,” explaining that “they’re not carbon copies or sequels of each other but they have a connection.” The star is mum on sharing too many details this early, but she says that Single, which she hopes to shoot this summer on location in New York City, is being designed to appeal to both sexes. “It’s hopefully, in a lot of ways, not a romantic comedy,” says Barrymore. “People have this weird stigma [with] that word — it’s a turnoff to guys or whatever. But I think we’ve honed in on a style that will be more universal, a little bit ageless and not gender specific.”

Source

Drew Barrymore is one of the few actors who has literally spent almost her entire life on the screen, having made her acting debut at age 7 in the classic film E.T. But what’s even more amazing is that she overcame severe drug problems when she was barely a teenager, and still managed to right herself and her career en route to becoming one of the most reliable box office draws on the planet.

While she is perhaps best-loved in the guise of playing cute, funny girls in romantic comedies, Barrymore has undertaken some big efforts to stretch herself in recent years. She made her directing debut with the unfairly overlooked and vastly underrated film Whip It, a girl-power movie with a bevy of solid moral messages to boot. And she won a Golden Globe earlier this year for her intense dramatic performance in the HBO movie Grey Gardens.

Barrymore’s latest film places her squarely back in her wheelhouse of romantic comedy, as she plays a woman in San Francisco who falls in love with a guy (played by Barrymore’s real-life on-again, off-again love Justin Long) she meets while interning at a New York City newspaper for six weeks. As the young lovers try to make their long-distance relationship work, a very realistic yet surprisingly risque comedy unfolds.

Barrymore sat down recently to discuss Distance and the rest of her career path thus far.

How did you decide to take on this part, which is more raw than your usual characters?

Barrymore: I just wanted to play a role that was the most like me, where I’m at in my life right now. This is how I talk to my girlfriends, trying to figure out how to make love and the job work. This is very close to my life and I found it very real. I also laugh a lot with my friends, and things are funny to us and we are constantly giggling. The escapism and joy combined with how real the movie gets, it was a no-brainer to do this.

Relationships are difficult enough to deal with, but a long-distance relationship—wow.

Barrymore: I’ve done it my whole life due to the job. I saw this and said, “This is so refreshing.” But I think it starts with kids going away to college. For a lot of people—I’d love to know the statistics of how many go through a long-distance relationship, but I feel that it’s maybe half the planet going through these same issues. You have goals and aspirations you set up for yourself, and you meet someone and don’t want to just be Career Girl, on a mountain by yourself, and you don’t want to ditch everything for love and find yourself resenting the crap out of the other person because you’ve given up everything for them. These are important, interesting things every person goes through. At the end of the day, if you love the person you want to figure out how to make it work while keeping the joy and laughter going.

[Director Nanette Burstein] being a documentarian, there was just this ability to be more real about it, and you’re working with these brilliant comedians, and we’re all improv-ing—there’s an outside-the-lines feel to this movie.

Your Grey Gardens performance was just fantastic. What’s harder for you, comedy or drama?

Barrymore: I think they’re both challenging, and I think for me, I just want to keep doing several different tones. For me, range is so sexy. I don’t want to do just one thing. We all have different kinds of moods at different points in our life. We want to see different kinds of movies. I do have a through line of wanting to keep people with a sense of joy. Leaving joy out is the only kind of genre I have no interest in.

Do you want to do more directing?

Barrymore: Yes. I cannot wait. I swear I’m a really nice person to work with, but I love that level of detail and involvement in caring about every detail. I really pour myself into things, and so to be involved on that level day in and day out for three years was incredible and the best relationship I ever had. I look forward to the day when I meet another piece of material that makes me want to make that kind of commitment again.

What do you feel is the key to a long-distance relationship working?

Barrymore: Start with letters, I love letters. This may be personal, but they’re so romantic and traditional.

What drew you to this particular script?

Barrymore: I read the script and found it to be incredibly funny. I kept asking “Are they really going there?” I kept thinking day after day about the two main characters and their relationship. I really cared and was wondering how will they make this work. I had a real, emotional investment in complexities of how do you make this work for two people who meet in one city but are separated halfway through the movie. That was fascinating to me that I laughed so much and yet cared