Drew Barrymore credits 1994’s Western action flick Bad Girls with changing her life at 16 years old.
In a recent episode on The Drew Barrymore Show, the host reunited with co-star Andie MacDowell and the two reminisced about the film (which also featured Madeleine Stowe and Mary Stuart Masterson) about four brothel workers on the lam after a justifiable homicide and who set out in search for a better life in the Wild West.
“When we did Bad Girls, I was 16. I was such a dumbass,” Barrymore said, to which MacDowell responded, “Oh my God, you were so beautiful and so good.”
The Charlie’s Angels star continued, “I always talk about how much it changed my life. If I hadn’t done that film, there’s no way I’d be sitting here right now because it was that film that showed me if you care about something, be involved. I had not been on a film like that, which was really my school. Those film sets were very educational to me about how it all works even though it was so skewed and bizarre and sort of surreal.”
Affectionately calling the film sets “little traveling circuses,” Barrymore concluded, “I feel like my whole life changed the most dramatically — I can trace it back to that experience with you.”
Though Bad Girls, from 20th Century Fox helmed by Jonathan Kaplan, was largely a critical and box-office flop, it has seen some affection from audiences in recent years.
A known child actress, Barrymore’s breakout was Steven Spielberg’s seminal E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, which she followed up two years later with Firestarter and Irreconcilable Differences. She is best known for titles like Never Been Kissed, 50 First Dates, Scream, Santa Clarita Diet and He’s Just Not That Into You. The daytime TV star is also behind CBS’ Hollywood Squares reboot, currently airing.
Watch the interview below:
