Never Been Kissed was Drew Barrymore‘s first official movie to come from her production company, Flower Films. However, the making of the iconic rom-com wasn’t always smooth sailing. The actress revealed on this morning’s episode of The Drew Barrymore Show that the studio once told her she looked “too unattractive” in her role as Josie, thus forcing her to “tone it down.”
Barrymore sat down for a conversation with Hey Dude… The 90s Called! podcast co-hosts Christine Taylor and David Lascher — but this time, she was the one being interviewed about some of her most famous work from the decade, including Never Been Kissed.
“Never Been Kissed was very interesting because it was our first official film for Flower Films,” Barrymore explained. “At the time, people were very weary of actors being producers. A lot of it wasn’t necessarily working and it didn’t mean because you were an actor you knew how to produce a film. And it was about the economics.”
She added, “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.”
Because of that, Barrymore admitted for “the first time” that she was “very stressed” throughout the making of the movie.
“I was so scared during the whole film because I knew if it didn’t work weren’t gonna get another chance,” she said. “We had so much fun making it. It was the best time ever. But I had to clench [my] stomach the whole time.”
According to the star, there were times when she would get calls from the studio telling her she was “looking too unattractive” for the movie. While “unattractive” was what she was going for as Josie Grossie, she said she was ultimately “forced to tone it down a little bit” because the studio felt she had gone “too far.”
“They said something that appealed to my sensibilities rather than my ego. They were like, ‘We don’t want you to lose the heart because you’re going so far for the comedy,’” Barrymore recalled. “And I was like, ‘Great argument. Let me dial it back a little bit.’ So Josie — what you see there is me dialed back.”
Fortunately for Barrymore, Never Been Kissed became an instant hit that still has a cult following 25 years after its release.
“It came out and it worked and we got really lucky and I’m very, very grateful,” she said. “I would walk around just going, ‘I can’t believe this worked. We’re gonna get a second shot.’”
And they did! The following year Flower Films produced and Barrymore starred in Charlie’s Angels.
The Drew Barrymore Show airs on weekdays on CBS. You can check the website for local airtimes.
