  Drew Barrymore and Justin Long at the UK premiere of 'Going the Distance in London, England. (WENN.COM) |
LOS ANGELES -- It's the new reality for modern couples: She lives in San Francisco and he's across the country in New York City.
In Going the Distance (out in theatres Sept. 3), Drew Barrymore and Justin Long find out exactly how long-distance relationships work in the era of Skype, BlackBerry Messenger, Air Miles and webcams.
This is a romantic comedy where fact really does meet fiction.
Until very recently, Drew Barrymore, 35, and 32-year-old Justin Long (aka the Mac guy) were a real-life couple. The two actors met on the set of He's Just Not That Into You in 2007. Since then they've broken up, gotten back together and called it quits again.
At a Beverly Hills press conference for their movie a few days ago, it was impossible to guess their relationship status and journalists weren't about to venture into dangerous territory. They couldn't resist asking about the first kiss scene, though.
"It was a necessary evil. I like to think about my grandmother while doing it," Long joked.
"I was lucky 'cause he's a good kisser. Thank God! The worse is when you are kissing someone who is not a good kisser and try to make it look good and you feel like you're working on your own. It was a real team effort," added Barrymore, who wore a checkered shirt and a belt decorated with bullets.
Long and Barrymore seem to be on good terms and it's clear they still have a bond.
"She's a great kisser too," Long told the audience. In any case, organizers were careful to not seat the former couple side by side.
In Going the Distance, Barrymore plays Erin, a journalism student who has always put her career before her love life. Now in her early 30s with her studies yet to be finished, she finds herself working as a waitress in a restaurant.
During her summer in New York, Erin is determined to make up for lost time and meets Garrett (Long), a young musical talent scout. A perpetual teenager, Garrett seems to add another breakup to his list every time a relationship starts to get serious.
The summer fling turns into a real relationship when Erin has to go back to San Francisco. That's when the two start to experience the reality of so many couples in today's global village: The notoriously unworkable long-distance relationship.
Directed by documentary filmmaker Nanette Burstein (American Teen, The Kid Stays), the nutty scenarios and expletive-laden dialogue in this East-meets-West love story are bang on. Some scenes were also the product of improvisations from the cast.
The end results are some extremely humiliating attempts at phone sex, crude conversations on adultery, a lot of sex jokes and roommate with a slight perverted streak who keeps tabs on the fooling around through the paper-thin walls of their apartment. So now you know why the film is rated R.
"It was a pleasure for me to improvise and not be censored because it's an R-rated movie," Barrymore said of the now-infamous phone sex scene.
"That to me was an absolute pleasure. Doing the drunk scene was like the most fun day at work ever because I just let loose. That was a great scene. I was really excited to go out there and try it, because it's either going to fail miserably or be a really gross upsetting moment, or it could be fun and exciting."
Burstein had two bedrooms built on the same set so the scene could be filmed all at once. "We were comparing who had the most awkward experience," said Long.
"I was in a room full of men simulating masturbation. All the guys kept doing jokes to keep it light, it made it more uncomfortable. Nanette (the director) kept describing cinematographically how to masturbate. Nanette, I think I know what I'm doing! But then I found out Drew's room was stone cold silent -- that's even worse!"
Barrymore seems to have found her niche in this latest role.
"Erin is a very strong girl, she can go to bars and win at video games and hang with the boys. I liked playing someone with a sharp tongue and wit and honesty," she said, looking over at co-star Christina Applegate, who plays her sister. The two actresses have known each other since childhood.
"It's funny, because we really started to look alike in the movie," Barrymore explained. "We used to be in a dance class when we were kids but she looked really good in spandex and I did not."
"So I made a career out of it," laughed Applegate. "We kind of look at each other and I know what's inside that little lady. We connect on that kind of level you don't talk about, so being sisters was easy."
Applegate is several months pregnant and Barrymore kept her hand on her friend's baby bump throughout the press conference.
It's obvious Justin Long has the same sort of onscreen connection with his two onscreen friends, played by Charlie Day (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia) and Jason Sudeikis (SNL). The hilarious trio practically didn't need a script and most of their scenes were improvised.
"I would say the movie captures what it would be like for the three of us to hang out," Sudeikis said.
MJParent@sunmedia.ca
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