As romantic comedy classic 50 First Dates celebrates its 20th anniversary, the film’s star Drew Barrymore is revealing new details about the film’s making — including a surprising “original ending” that did not come to fruition.
Perhaps the most radical divergence from the original plan was the setting. Rather than the shores of Hawaii for the love story between Barrymore’s character, Lucy Whitmore, who suffers from memory loss after an accident, and Adam Sandler‘s Henry Roth, Barrymore said it was originally supposed to be set in the continental United States.
“It was a drama set in Seattle,” said Barrymore on The Drew Barrymore Show, to the shock of co-host Ross Mathews. Barrymore also revealed that the movie’s title had been changed from its original name, 50 First Kisses.
The film’s narrative ends with Sandler and Barrymore’s characters married, having found a way to be together while navigating Lucy’s short-term memory loss that resets each day.
“The original ending was her saying, ‘You should go and live your life, because this is no life here,"” revealed Barrymore. “And he goes away as he does, and he comes back and he walks into the restaurant and just sits down and says, ‘Hi, I’m Henry,’ and the film ends.”
“Thank you for changing it,” Mathews said to Barrymore after the big reveal.
50 First Dates hit theaters in 2004 with Sandler and Barrymore starring alongside Rob Schneider, Lusia Strus, Dan Aykroyd and more.
The Peter Segal-directed movie brought in over $196 million, according to The Numbers, a film industry data website that tracks box office revenue.
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