NEWSWEEK: You all got pretty banged up doing the action sequences, didn’t you?
CAMERON DIAZ: Drew got the worst of it.
DREW BARRYMORE: I really did have a time of it. I felt like such a f–n’ dork. The first week of filming, there was this scene, a la “T. J. Hooker,” where I was fishtailing on the hood of a car.
DIAZ and LUCY LIU: Bad a–!
BARRYMORE: The car was going about 40 miles an hour and I was strapped to it by a little metal hook, and it broke. I had this weird “Is this all worth losing my life for?” moment. But I wanted to get back on the horse, so I just did it again right away. I get really adrenaline-pumped when I’m doing stunts, and I feel sort of safe and immortal.
But you did get hurt during a scene where your character’s ex-boyfriend beats you up.
BARRYMORE: I got thrown into this wooden chair, and cracked my tailbone. That was really bad. I had to sit on the sidelines for a couple of weeks. And that hurt tailbone had a lot of side effects, none of them good.
[Laughter] Going to the bathroom? Not gonna happen. Going into a restaurant with your a– donut–this inner-tube-looking thing–and trying to look classy? Ain’t gonna happen either.
That scene is really brutal, but I hear that the most violent parts were cut.
BARRYMORE: It was a lot gnarlier. I think McG and I have the same demons we were trying to work out through that sequence. [Laughs] I was really into the grit of it, and it was very sexual at one point. I really believed in it, but I started seeing parents say that they would worry about their children seeing it. This film is meant to be inclusive. Luckily it will be on the DVD.
Did you ever have moments where you thought, “Why didn’t I just sign up for a romantic comedy?”
LIU: I love romantic comedies, but this was so much more fun. It was never like we were doing “Gladiator.” And Drew, even her a– donut –was hilarious. She couldn’t even laugh.
BARRYMORE: It hurt. Who knew your butt and laughter were connected? [Laughter]
There’s a scene in the new film where you all pose as erotic dancers. How do you decide which depictions of female sexuality are empowering and which are exploitative?
DIAZ: With the Angels, because you know who these girls are, you understand that they’re just doing their job. Whether it’s hacking into the mainframe of one of the largest computers in the world or dancing on a pole, they’re going to step up to the plate.
BARRYMORE: It is gold.
DIAZ and LIU: [Loudly, imitating Mike Myers from “Austin Powers in Goldmember”] It’s gold!!
LIU: We imitate Mike Myers all the time. [To Barrymore] Do you think he knows?
BARRYMORE: Oh, he knows!
BARRYMORE and DIAZ: Because we told him! [Laughter]
BARRYMORE: We’ve accosted him in person several times.
BARRYMORE, DIAZ and LIU: It’s gold!
BARRYMORE: We get hooked on words and how to say them a certain way.
BARRYMORE and DIAZ: Gold!
Part of the mission of “Charlie’s Angels” was to give girls a new kind of heroine. Has the response been gratifying?
LIU: For me, especially. The iconography of “Charlie’s Angels” has always been Caucasian. Drew has modernized it. Now Angels can be any ethnicity. It’s an honor when kids come up to me–not only Asian but all different colors–and are like, “We’re so proud that you’re an Angel.”
BARRYMORE: I really wanted to celebrate certain things that I think are good in the world, like friendship. I loved the idea that not only do these women get to be such good friends, but that they get to be capable and be heroic. [Pause] And I wanted them to eat. [Laughter]
DIAZ: The Angels are enjoying life. They’re not shutting any of it down. We all lean on each other. We all help each other through.
BARRYMORE: Because that’s what you do in life. You talk to your friends about everything: your love life, your work, your diet, your adventures…
Your a–donut.
BARRYMORE: Your a– donut. I have three, by the way.
DIAZ: Not only that, but I’ve blown one up for her.
BARRYMORE: And that’s friendship!
Speaking of butts, we sure see a lot of yours in these movies. Is McG a “butt man”?
DIAZ: Um, yes!
BARRYMORE: McG is an everything man.
LIU: He’s a Renaissance man. In a more specific way.
BARRYMORE: One minute you’ll hear him saying, “I want you to be Julie Andrews in ‘The Sound of the Music’,” and the next minute he’s convincing you to wear a pair of fringe panties for a dance sequence. He’ll demand that you take your action to the highest level that you can, and then it’s still not good enough. Do more. Sweat harder. But you can also show him a shoe you’re wearing in a scene, and he’ll give you a moment of appreciation about it. It’s like, “Thank you. It made me feel good that you listened to me about this shoe.”
LIU: He’s kind of like a balloon and he wants you to keep filling it with air, and you’re thinking, “It’s going to pop. It’s going to pop.”
BARRYMORE and DIAZ: That’s good!
DIAZ: And then it just lifts everybody up! [Cheers]
BARRYMORE: We loooove a good metaphor.
BARRYMORE, DIAZ, LIU: [Loudly, with British accents] Craaaft!
LIU: We used to tease each other on the set, because we’d be doing all these crazy things, and we’d –be like, “I need to work on my craaaft!”
BARRYMORE: We’re taking the p– out of ourselves.
DIAZ and LIU: Craaaft!
Cameron, the boy who plays Harry Potter, Daniel Radcliffe, recently said that you’re his celebrity crush.
BARRYMORE, DIAZ and LIU: Awwwwww.
Does he have a shot?
DIAZ: He’s 14!
BARRYMORE: It’s illegal.
DIAZ: Exactly.
LIU: Therefore, yes.
DIAZ: You know, I have a way with 14-year-old boys.
BARRYMORE: Being one myself, yes, you do.
Do you find dating difficult? It seems that when you’re famous, men have a preconceived idea of who you are before they even meet you.
DIAZ: It’s so easy. The minute they start talking to us, they’ll realize that either they were totally right or totally wrong.
BARRYMORE: I see this face a lot. [Crinkles her nose as in, “What’s that smell?” Laughter.]
Seriously, though.
DIAZ: I think people probably think they have a good sense of who we are, but who we are presently is really something that is always revealing itself. Even to us.
BARRYMORE: [High-fives Diaz] I think we’ve had a couple of revelations tonight! We’ve been as close as people can be for the last four years. The roots and base of the tree are the same, but our branches continually change.
DIAZ: I love that metaphor.
LIU: This may be a non sequitur, but work with me. I was in an Eastern philosophy class, and the teacher was, like, shaking in front of the class, and he said, “I so envy you, because you are about to read the Tao, by Lao Tsu, for the first time.” The first time is the most organic, the rawest time you experience something. You want to hold on to that feeling. People want to keep you in the same place, but you can’t do that.
BARRYMORE: [Pause] I like how he asked us about men, and all we did was go on a huge trip about self-discovery. [Laughter]
Drew, what are your favorite body parts of Lucy’s and Cameron’s?
BARRYMORE: Lucy’s tushie and Cameron’s boobs. Not that I don’t love Cameron’s butt and Lucy’s boobs.
DIAZ: Lucy has great boobs. They’re so firm. [Grabs her own breasts]
Lucy?
LIU: It’s so hard, because I’ve seen both of these girls–
BARRYMORE: Naked for the last four years.
LIU: It’s so hard. I’m not as specific.
BARRYMORE: I wish I hadn’t been. [Laughter]
DIAZ: I wish I had Drew’s flesh. It’s so even and firm and voluptuous. Also, her profile is amazing.
BARRYMORE: Thanks, Poo. [To Liu] You have the most beautiful stomach.
DIAZ: Yeah, she has a great stomach.
BARRYMORE: You have the craziest stomach I’ve ever seen. It’s… dynamic.
LIU: For real?
BARRYMORE: For real.
Drew, what one adjective best describes Cameron?
BARRYMORE: Funny.
And Lucy?
BARRYMORE: Sophisticated.
LIU: This is too inkblotty for me.
DIAZ: It’s so hard to judge. We see each other in so many different situations. We see each other in our personal lives, our business faces; we see ourselves with our Angel faces, with our families, with the public.
LIU: We compliment each other and we support each other all the time, so to have one word to describe each other isn’t actually fair.
BARRYMORE: I’d like to change my answer, if I can. [Laughter]
