Barrymore makes a meal out of raw deal
Gnawing on body parts turned out to be therapeutic for Drew Barrymore.
The Golden Globe-winning actress says her role as a suburban mom who turns into a zestful zombie in Netflix’s new dark comedy Santa Clarita Diet came when she was in a really “hard place” in her life.
It was shot last summer, when she was in the throes of a divorce from her husband of four years, Will Kopelman.
“I read this and it cheered me up,” Barrymore, an executive producer on the show, said in a recent telephone interview.
“I thought it was very empowering and about this woman’s awakening and a good marriage, and it was entertaining but it felt gritty and current.
“But it also takes place in the backyard and in suburbia — and I just can’t really relate, acting-wise or viewer-wise, to things that are other-planet.
“I liked that they were talking about problems that were very outlandish in a grocery list kind of way.”
Barrymore stars as Sheila, a realtor who dies and comes back to life as a zombie — or rather, mombie — while showing a house to clients.
Sheila doesn’t look or act like a typical zombie (save for the flesh-eating bit), and even gets a renewed vigour from the condition.
Timothy Olyphant plays her realtor husband, who tries to help Sheila satisfy her ravenous cravings for body parts in a way that doesn’t lead to senseless murder.
Liv Hewson plays their teenage daughter.
“I wouldn’t know how to do the gurgly zombie. I just don’t relate to that,” Barrymore said.
“But a woman who’s like, ‘I don’t know if I would want to give this up, because my life is actually maybe the best it’s ever been. Sure, I have to eat people, but I feel good, I look good, I don’t have to sleep’ — it’s kind of an interesting dilemma: would you give up something so wrong because you feel so right?”
The show explores how people evolve in relationships and also “the instantaneous, gluttonous behavioural society we are and what consequences come with that,” Barrymore said.
“That’s about as current as we’re going to get.”
The series is quite gory at times as Sheila gnaws on limbs, organs and raw meat.
“I can handle blood, I can’t handle people peering in your windows,” Barrymore said.
“So to me this is domestic gore, it’s tolerable gore, it’s make-believe fun, comical gore.”