Barrymore and Lange as Big Edie and Little Edie: Who knew recluses could be so charming?
By Darrah Le Montre

Drew as Little Edie

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 8/1/09 – “Playing Edie, I felt like shit,” Drew Barrymore said of her Emmy nominated turn as “Little Edie” in HBO’s sleeper hit “Grey Gardens” which surprised all by nabbing 17 nominations this week.
The actress continues, “I thought, I’m afraid beyond anything I’ve ever known. I’m miserable; I’m scared; I feel sick all the time. And I was like, Good! At least I have somewhere to put it. You know what? I’m not fuckin’ happy all the time. I like making people feel good, but it was great not to have to please anybody. I was out there for myself and for her.”
“Grey Gardens,” the film adaptation of a 1975 documentary (and 2006 Broadway musical) hinges on two eclectic recluses, mother and daughter duo “Big Edie” and “Little Edie” played by Lange and Barrymore respectively. The Edie’s – Edith “Big Edie” Ewing Bouvier Beale and her daughter Edith “Little Edie” Bouvier Beale were the aunt and first cousin of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis. The two women resided together for decades in the 28-room estate, Grey Gardens, sustaining on frugal means, disheveled surroundings and almost total isolation for the outer world.
Directed and written by Michael Sucsy, the film also stars Jeanne Tripplehorn as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
Barrymore was not originally on writer-director Sucsy’s shortlist to co-star as “Little Edie” the former society beauty who longed to become an actress.
Lange says, “Drew is going to surprise a lot of people. Little Edie is such a huge role, and people are not accustomed to seeing the depth of Drew’s capacity for drama.”
“I understood,” Barrymore says. “He thought, she talks like a Valley girl and probably doesn’t have what it takes.”
Barrymore arrived to their meeting with piles of research on “Little Edie” and vowed “to shut out my life and live in the monastery of Edie Beale.”
“Her determination,” says bosom buddy and “Charlie’s Angels” cast mate Cameron Diaz shouldn’t be underestimated. “She has that delicate little jaw, you know? But she’s like a pit bull. You can’t shake her loose.”
In the fall of 1971 and throughout 1972, the famed rundown manse originally designed by Joseph Greenleaf Thorpe in 1897 was infested by insects and vermin, a collection of cats and withstood no running water. After New York Magazine ran a cover story exposing the decaying home and its eccentric inhabitants, the Edie’s faced eviction. However, in the summer of 1972, with the help of Jacqueline Onassis and her sister Lee, enough funds were in place to stabilize and repair the ramshackle house so the ladies could remain there.
America (or at least the Emmys) has spoken: underdogs rule in this truly riches to rags tale of glamour to gossamer grunge. The HBO original movie is appearing on DVD now.
“Grey Gardens” has been nominated for 17 Emmy Awards including:
Outstanding Made for Television Movie
2 for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie (Drew Barrymore, Jessica Lange)
Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie (Ken Howard)
Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie (Jeanne Tripplehorn)
Outstanding Directing for a Miniseries
Movie or a Dramatic Special (Michael Sucsy)
Outstanding Writing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Dramatic Special (Michael Sucsy, Patricia Rozema)