When one thinks of Drew Barrymore, one probably thinks of her breakout role in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial or her myriad of iconic romantic comedies. Her name is definitely not synonymous with performing her own stunts in the way Tom Cruise’s name is, and yet, Barrymore is still nursing an injury from filming Fever Pitch over 20 years ago.
This particular scene in the 2005 movie, which took place at a baseball game, saw the Charlie's Angels actress actually performing the stunt on camera instead of using a stunt double. It turns out Barrymore is still paying the price for the move, telling Entertainment Weekly:
There's a scene where I go on the Green Monster, the wall, and I fall and when I did that, I fell really badly on my back. And so you'll see me fall and I start wincing and screaming — that was all real. And then I had to keep running anyway, and I still have a bad back. I’m like, ‘Did it happen on Fever Pitch?
For those who might not be familiar with the underrated rom-com, Fever Pitch followed Ben (Jimmy Fallon), a Red-Sox-obsessed teacher who falls in love with executive Lindsey (Barrymore) during baseball’s off-season. They have the perfect relationship until baseball starts up again, and Ben starts putting baseball before his relationship.
This, of course, leads to problems, and Lindsey breaks up with Ben. Desperate to prove that he’s serious about her, Ben decides to sell his season tickets, but when Lindsey finds out about it, she feels terrible. Determined to stop him from making a terrible mistake, she buys tickets in the outfield and jumps down onto the field before sprinting to Ben to stop the sale from happening. It’s a butterfly-inducing moment in the movie and one of the few times we see a man on the opposite side of a grand romantic gesture
Like the true professional she is, Barrymore pushed through the pain to finish the scene, but maybe she should have used a stunt double after all. Thankfully, Barrymore doesn't regret the movie and instead has fond memories about filming the sports rom-com that allowed her to work with the Farrelly brothers — one of her favorite directors.
In addition to telling the story about the potential that her chronic back pain stems from the movie, Drew Barrymore also shared that she believes Lindsey and Ben are still going strong, attending Red Sox games, and loving life. Barrymore also opened up about what her favorite thing about filming Fever Pitch was, and it has nothing to do with the love story on screen.
Instead, the Emmy-nominated talk show host said the thing she enjoyed the most was getting to watch Fallon fall in love with Barrymore’s “favorite person,” Nancy Juoven, who has been the Never Been Kissed star’s producing partner and co-founder to their production company since 1995. The happily married couple met for the first time when Barrymore hosted Saturday Night Live and brought Juoven along. However, it wasn’t until Fever Pitch that a relationship started to bloom.
Given this trio's rich history together and Barrymore and Fallon’s masterful chemistry, I think it’s time we see them reunite on screen and make another movie together. And with Fever Pitch turning 20, now might be the perfect time to start thinking about potential sequels. I know I would definitely be watching.
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