After landing a role in Steven Spielberg's "ET" at the age of seven, it wasn't long before young Drew Barrymore was swept up in the chaos of Hollywood. She was invited to lavish parties and nightclubs, including the legendary Studio 54, where she was already consuming alcohol and drugs at the age of eight. At 12, she tried cocaine, and in and out of rehab in the following years, writes Farout magazine.
Still, Barrymore continued to act, although many of the roles she received as a teenager dealt with mature and provocative themes that were inappropriate for her age, such as in the films “Far from Home” and “Poison Ivy”. Her childhood was not sheltered, and her environment was not supportive. Before she reached the legal age, she posed nude for magazines and even got engaged, while in the meantime she starred in films such as “Guncrazy”, “Bad Girls”, “Wayne's World 2”, “Batman Forever” and “Scream”.
Finally, she entered a phase in her career where things were starting to improve. In her mid-twenties, she gained a sense of maturity and a desire to be taken seriously. Then, in 1998, she landed the role that would become her favorite, despite her previous and subsequent legendary roles. The film is a charming reinterpretation of the Cinderella story, which refuses to make the fairy tale a typical “Disney” version and focuses on the strength and independence of the princess. Her Cinderella, known as Danielle de Barbarac, works hard for her stepmother in Renaissance France, and is presented as an intelligent, independent, educated, and strong woman.
This interpretation of Cinderella caught the attention of the actress, who wanted to "reinvent herself and come out of a tumultuous period," as she told Good Housekeeping, wanting to "relaunch her career... and become a young woman."
Barrymore was long considered Hollywood's "wild child," and she wanted to prove herself.
“I was a child and a clumsy teenager, like all of us, and I was at a point in my life where I was really asking myself: What have I learned? What do I think? Who am I going to be? And then I came across this story that said, ‘The Brothers Grimm were wrong, Cinderella saved herself.’ And I thought, ‘Save yourself? That’s the person I want to be, that’s who I need to be in life,’” Barrymore said.
Inspired by the real-life Cinderella, Barrymore truly became the character in the role, winning praise for her performance and launching a career she could be proud of.
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