ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, January 13, 1997 TAG: 9701150010
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOHN ROGERS ASSOCIATED PRESS
If you've read the tabloids and followed TV's gossip shows, you know all about Drew Barrymore.
She's that party-hearty vixen who has closed her share of bars, flashed her breasts at the host of ``The Late Show With David Letterman,'' even once shed her clothes in a Manhattan nightclub.
So could this really be her? This fresh-faced, almost fragile-looking young woman, smiling demurely and saying shyly, ``Hi, I'm Drew,'' as she shakes hands.
Indeed it is, and as she begins to talk, often passionately, of acting and of learning all she can about making movies, even of one day directing, it is easy to get the impression that perhaps there's a lesson to be learned here. It might be that if someone is beautiful and talented - and endowed with youthful exuberance and a good sense of humor - it could be best not to become too famous until you've settled down.
Barrymore never had that chance. She was already a veteran actress when she became a star, at age 7, as the endearing little girl in ``E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial.'' The granddaughter of legendary actor John Barrymore has been in the public eye so long now that it's easy to forget she won't be 22 until February.
So she comes across as both a serious artist, talking about losing herself in roles, and as a slightly nervous young woman, prone to punctuating serious statements with self-conscious giggles. Then there's that self-deprecating sense of humor, which never seems to be far away.
Barrymore's career, hot and cold since ``E.T.,'' is hot once again. She has two films out - Wes Craven's ``Scream,'' the comic-suspenseful sendup of teen-age horror movies, and Woody Allen's offbeat musical, ``Everyone Says I Love You,'' scheduled to open in Roanoke in the coming weeks.
``It's not at all by design,'' says Barrymore, dressed casually in tan pants and gray sweater pulled over a white T-shirt. Her porcelain-looking face is free of makeup except for dark lipstick.
``I actually really am not a big fan of when people have a ton of films coming out at all at once. I'm like, `Give me a break,''' she says with a laugh.
But her two latest films are so different, she says, that she doesn't worry about being accused of overloading the public, or of doing the same role twice.
``This is one of the most important benefits of this job,'' she says, leaning forward in a chair in her Manhattan hotel suite. ``You get to be creative, you have to change your physical demeanor, your physicality, your voice, your hair, your makeup, your wardrobe, your moral beliefs, the way you walk.
``It is not about what it will do for your career, how much money you will make, will you become more famous, will people like you more,'' she continues. ``These are just really shallow, shallow, shallow, stupid things that don't count. ... It's about entertaining people. And at best educating them.''
And when actors complain that doing all that is hard work?
``I say (mock shouting) `Hey, you have a character - suck it up.'''
That's just what she had to do in ``Scream,'' in which she plays a high school student stalked by a deranged killer.
The role has been compared to that of Janet Leigh's in ``Psycho,'' something that clearly pleases this student of film who cites that 1960 Alfred Hitchcock classic as one of her favorites.
``I came to realize while doing it how incredibly hard it is to act sheer terror, fright, horror, screaming, crying, hyperventilating, all real, for 16 hours a day, 10 days straight,'' she says, her voice rising.
``No lithium pill in the world compares to these mood swings. I didn't have PMS for four month after this film, due to the catharsis I felt from all the tears I shed.''
Then she adds, playfully: ``Hence, this was six months ago, so I'm back on track now, as they say.''
Working with Allen was equally tough, in part because she'd grown up on his films, and even now she sounds awe-struck talking about him.
``He's a genius,'' she says, ``and he has the best combination a human being can obtain, humor and intellect. And his consistency in filmmaking, I think, is one like no other that we have.
``When it was over,'' she says of the movie, ``I cried on his shoulder and said, `Thank you for believing in me.' You know, I've been through a strange life, and that was one of the greatest moments in my life.''
Some of the stranger ones have made it into the news, of course, something that doesn't sit well with Barrymore, who has acknowledged past struggles with drugs and alcohol.
``I won't lie to you and say that the flip side to our coin, of never having any privacy and of being publicly judged for every move that we make, is fun,'' she says. ``It's completely unfair. Somehow, through the media, we've forgotten that people are human, you know.''
As for what she's done, she has no apologies.
``I think what I've done throughout my life is remained myself,'' she says. ``There is an absolute comfort in never having to question anything that you ever thought, said or did because it was true to your soul.''
It is easy to get the impression, however, that it was not always so easy for her to say that. For she talks often about having worked hard to attain a happy life.
``I think if you love yourself,'' she finally declares, ``and are able to look in the mirror and say, as ridiculous as it sounds, `I love ya, you silly girl' - that's what's going to empower me on a daily basis.''
As for what's next, she's back at work on a film called ``Home Fries,'' and has another in the works, a romantic comedy co-starring Adam Sandler.
As for farther down the line, ``I really would like to direct,'' she says, growing quiet again.
``I don't believe I'll be in the film that I first direct. I think I would like to do some weird, trippy cameo.''
But there is still plenty of time for all that.
``My birthday is 2-22, February 22, so 22 is my lucky number,'' she muses as she says goodbye. ``And all I have to say is 21 has been one of the greatest years of my life, 20 and 21. And if 22 is my lucky number I think I'm going to have a great, great year.''
LENGTH: Long : 112 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Actress Drew Barrymore: the woman who made her firstby CNBsplash at 7 in "E.T." is pretty down-to-earth, actually. color.