Entertainment

<I>Angels</I> Let Down Their Halos

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

November 7, 2000 / 2:53 PM EST / CBS

Chemistry is often credited with the success of a film but rarely is it used to describe the on-screen relationships among three women.

But that's what the stars of the box-office smash Charlie Angels say is the attraction of their hit movie.

"It's rare that you get to do a film with three women," says Drew Barrymore, "and get along, and do the things that boys get to do but without trying to be boys, wanting to be with boys at the end of the day and just have fun."

The 25-year-old scion of the famed acting family - John Barrymore Sr. was her grandfather and Ethel and Lionel were her great aunt and uncle - told the CBS News Early Show that despite reports of bad blood among cast members, the operative word on the set was fun.

Barrymore, a child star (E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial) and high school dropout, was the first to recognize the potential of a remake of the popular TV series. She decided to take it on as the second project of Flower Films, her fledgling production company.

It was Barrymore who called up Cameron Diaz, 28, to persuade her to join the fun. After 90 minutes and two cell-phone batteries, it was a done deal.

"My cell phone was hooked up to the lighter," said Diaz, who rose to stardom opposite the superstar Jim Carrey in 1994's The Mask. "My ear was like on fire. My jaw had like completely stopped moving because of the heat, the radiation. And we were just - we were talking - and, you know, Drew can talk anybody into doing anything."

The last of the trio was 31-year-old Ally McBeal star Lucy Liu, drawn in by the enthusiasm of the other two.

"So many times you see in action movies, the man is the action hero and the woman is the one who is being saved or is kind of the sidekick," said Liu, who holds a degree in Asian culture from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. "In this case, you know, we're the women who are the heroes. We're the heroines and we're kind of going out there and throwing the punches and doing the kicks ourselves."

California-born Diaz, who has appeared in such hits as My Best Friend's Wedding, There's Something About Mary and Being John Malkovich, says some people advised her against the project, telling her she didn't know how it would turn out.

But, she said, "I knew what it's going to be. I've had the conversation with Drew. I know exactly what it's going to be. We're going - we're going to make the movie that we want to make."

All three discounted the rumors of trouble of the set and more han 30 rewrite sof the script, although they did admit that the screenplay went through several changes during filming.

"How many movies have you been on that went from start to finish on a script that was the first script that you read?" asked Diaz.

Barrymore says the script changes were the result of the stars' fight "to make the best story possible.

"It has s much humor and so much fun and we just didn't want to give up and settle on something that we didn't feel was good, " she said. "So we kept improving it."

New York born Liu says that when you mix together three successful artists and a talented director, things are bound to change. "It's going to keep creating itself, " she said."And I think that is the magic of move-making."