Drew Barrymore Reveals She Almost Starred In ‘Boogie Nights’: “It’s When I Went And Did ‘Ever After'”

Every once in a while, Drew Barrymore will drop a bomb about her life as an actress. On this morning’s episode of the star’s eponymous daytime talk show, she revealed that she was once in talks to join the 1997 Oscar-nominated film Boogie Nights.

Barrymore made the revelation during her chat with The Drew Barrymore Show‘s surprise guest Janet Jackson, who said she was originally tapped for a role in X-Men — though she wasn’t able to take on the gig as she was “just embarking on the ‘Janet’ tour” when the movie was starting production.

The talk show host knew the feeling all too well, telling the pop star, “It’s so hard when you’re thinking of doing a film and then you don’t end up doing it. I have so many of those experiences.”

She continued, “Mine was — I’ve never said this out loud — Boogie Nights. There was a moment where we were talking about Boogie Nights and I think it’s when I went and did Ever After. I went in a very different direction.”

Instead of joining Mark Wahlberg, Burt Reynolds and Julianne Moore in Boogie Nights — which was later nominated for three Academy Awards — Barrymore went on to play the lead in the Cinderella-inspired romantic drama.

The actress reunited with her Ever After co-stars Megan Dodds, Melanie Lynskey and Dougray Scott to celebrate the film’s 25th anniversary for a March 2023 episode of The Drew Barrymore Show, where they looked back on the topless photo of Dodds that Lynskey took while they were filming the movie.

“I don’t know what I was thinking at the time,” Dodds told Barrymore. “It was just kind of like, ‘Oh, this would be really groovy to do. Let’s go take topless photos in a cornfield.'”

Lynskey then added, “By the way, this was like day three of knowing each other. And the suggestion was made and I was like, ‘OK … sure.'”

The Drew Barrymore Show airs on weekdays on CBS. You can check the website for local airtimes.