Drew Barrymore says she 'almost felt nervous and bad' about 'Charlie's Angels' casting for lack of diversity
Drew Barrymore sits down with actress Nia Long to discuss the "Charlie's Angels" casting and how she and fellow producer Nancy Juvonen "almost felt nervous and bad" about the lack of diversity in the film.
Drew Barrymore said she and producer Nancy Juvonen "almost felt nervous and bad" after Barrymore and Cameron Diaz were cast in the 2000 film "Charlie's Angels" due to a lack of diversity.
"We were like, 'Oh god that doesn't feel right for us,'" she recalled on her show last week. "And the original 'Charlie's Angels' were all White women."
Barrymore sat down with actress Nia Long to discuss how the latter found out she didn't get the part. The two discussed the "odd" rejection letter Long received, which critiqued her eyebrows and her appearance, saying she looked too "old."
"There were all of these conversations about diversity, but no one was really pulling the trigger," Long said. "I think this is really just the result of the fear of putting a Black woman into a film that never cast anyone Black."
Drew Barrymore poses at Lea Michele's first performance in "Funny Girl" on Broadway at The August Wilson Theatre on September 6, 2022, in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Glikas/WireImage)
Long said she auditioned for several roles at the time but was never cast for most of them.
"I actually auditioned for so many roles that weren't written Black to the point where I was exhausted. It was almost like, ‘Bring the Black girls in. Bring the Black actors in, so we can say that we did it, but we’re not going to necessarily pull the trigger," she said.
Long praised Barrymore as a producer for being "aware" and "having the conversation" about the subject of casting more Black women in traditionally White roles.
Nia Long at the world premiere of "The Banker" at the National Civil Rights Museum on March 02, 2020 in Memphis, Tennessee. (Greg Campbell/Getty Images for AppleTV+)
Barrymore, responding to Long, said, "Nan [Nancy Juvonen] and I almost felt really nervous and bad, if you will, when it was me and Cameron. We were like, ‘Oh God, that doesn’t feel right for us.' And the original Charlie's Angels were all White women… maybe the hair color [was different]. There was no diversity there."
"We felt the exact opposite and this was in 1999 when those conversations were not being had, and it was really her and I who championed the fact that, ‘Okay, we love our angels so far, but now what?’" she added.
Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz during "Charlie's Angels 2 - Full Throttle" Premiere at Mann's Chinese Theater in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Gregg DeGuire/WireImage)
When she went in to pitch the trio for the film, each iteration of the cast was diverse, Barrymore said.
"It felt right in our guts at the time, and it's bewildering to me that someone would say those things [in Long's rejection letter]," the actress said.
Long told Barrymore that she is "absolutely positive" the letter came from a studio executive who had "no concept" or "understanding" of diversity.
"Black women and White women, women period… we need to talk. We need to stay in communication because, at the end of the day, it's hard for all women in this industry," she added.
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