Drew Barrymore Reveals Original Ending to Adam Sandler Rom-Com 50 First Dates
It’s been 20 years, but Drew Barrymore can’t forget how one of her rom-com classics almost didn’t come to fruition. Drew Barrymore, known for her role in the 2004 rom-com 50 First Dates, recently shared that the movie almost had a different ending than usual.
In the New episode of The Drew Barrymore Show, Barrymore revealed to Drew’s News contributor Ross Matthews that the movie 50 First Dates, originally titled 50 First Kisses, was initially written as a drama set in Seattle.
While the final version of the film ends was a happy one with Whitmore regaining her memory after watching a videotape made by Roth and then reuniting with him and his daughter, the original conclusion isn’t a happy one.
Whitmore tells Roth, “‘You should go and live your life because this is no life here,'” Barrymore recalled. “And (Roth) walks away, like he always does, and comes back and walks into the diner and sits down and says, ‘Hi, I’m Henry.’ And the movie ends.”
A shocked Matthews shared his relief that the proposed ending ended up on the cutting room floor.
“I can honestly say: thank you,” Matthews told Barrymore. “Thank you for changing it.” Also read – In a new court document, Kevin Hart recounts the time he cheated on his pregnant wife Eniko in 2017
More on 50 First Dates
Released in February 2004, 50 First Dates grossed $198.4 million at the worldwide box office. The film earned Barrymore and Sandler a People’s Choice Award for Favorite On-Screen Chemistry.
50 First Dates offered a romantic perspective on a neurological injury (Lucy Whitmore in the film has amnesia). It showed love as a force capable of creating new beginnings, especially after someone’s life is changed by a tragic accident.
According to Collider, it was loosely based on a true story. Michelle Philpots is a woman from Lincolnshire who wakes up every day believing it is 1994. Much like Lucy from the movie 50 First Dates, Philpots was involved in accidents that left her with a particular type of amnesia.
The first accident happened in 1985 and the second in 1990. She also suffered a head injury and was diagnosed with epilepsy due to the trauma.
Over time, her memory simply freezes in 1994 and every day she believes it is the same year. Unlike Lucy in the movie, whose memory resets every night when she sleeps, Michelle’s memory loss works a little differently. She forgets what happened every day, and that doesn’t change, but sometimes her memory loss can happen in a matter of minutes.