Drew Barrymore as "Little Edie" in Grey Gardens (Photo courtesy of HBO)

Somewhere along the way, I think we've all forgotten how much we love Drew Barrymore. Anyone who sits down to catch HBO's Grey Gardens this weekend will get a quick reminder. Her ability to charm has never been in question, but she will surprise many with her incisive portrait of legendary, real-life character Edie Beale.

She and Jessica Lange play Little and Big Edie, respectively, in the film version of the notorious Beale family's story. The matriarch and daughter (who were famously aunt and cousin to Jackie Kennedy) gained notoriety in the early '70s with the release of the Maysles Brothers' documentary Grey Gardens. The original movie chronicled the women's bizarre and transfixing life of squalor in a formerly-grand East Hampton house.

The new HBO movie adaptation expands the narrative, rewinding back to '40s and telling the story of their gradual descent into poverty and looniness. But what remains in this more slickly-produced version is the humanity of both women and their touching, paradoxical relationship.

Drew Barrymore and writer-director Michael Sucsy talked to AfterElton.com earlier this week about making the movie. Not surprisingly, Drew campaigned heavily for the role and threw herself into it headfirst once she was cast. She prepared for over a year, working with dialect coaches, reading Edie's journals and sitting for countless fittings:

"We kept changing the prosthetics according to my face to make it look more like hers," Drew recounted, discussing the 9 months of makeup tests leading into production. "We redid the teeth like seven times."

Clearly, this role and this level of acting is something we've never seen from Drew Barrymore, and she acknowledges that. "The discipline of what I did to be as authentic to her — sort of a strict box I put myself in to play her — I now know that I am capable of that level of discipline."

In fact, Drew stayed in character throughout shooting, from morning make-up until the final take of the day — to the point where her director took to calling her Edie on set. "But then sometimes we would be at dinner on a Saturday night,” he said, “and I would just look across the table and I would be staring at her, thinking: Who is this lady? I was hanging out with Edie Beale all week and all the sudden I was with Drew. It was amazing."

Drew admitted that the process of doing the movie changed her life, from the instant bond she formed with co-star Jessica Lange to the psychological depths she plumbed in order to understand a proud, quirky and enigmatic character such as Edie Beale.

"I always believed that Edie is a walking contradiction. That was sort of my big thing with Michael when I first met him. She is a recluse, but she is a born entertainer. She bitched and moaned about getting out of this house every day of her life yet the door wasn’t locked."

Michael Sucsy added, “These women — they actually had a lot of pride. They were confident in who they were. Ultimately, they were themselves despite the adversity in which they were living.”

Check out our full review of the movie and be sure to check it out when it airs on HBO on Saturday.