10 Brilliant Tweaks That Suddenly Made Actors Cool As F***

Drew Barrymore of course came to prominence thanks to her delightful performance as Gertie in E.T., yet as is often the case with child actors, she struggled to transition into an adult performer audiences could take seriously.

The predictable glut of "wild child" parts she played in the early 1990s were largely met with a shrug from critics and audiences, but everything changed in 1996 when Barrymore took a role in Wes Craven's meta horror film Scream.

Though initially signed to play lead Sidney Prescott, scheduling conflicts eventually caused her to take the smaller role of Casey Becker - the movie's opening victim.

Given that Scream nevertheless marketed Barrymore as the protagonist - being its most famous cast member and all - her demise roughly 10 minutes into the film was a massive shock, and assured audiences that all bets were off for the remainder.

Quite suddenly, Drew Barrymore's name was on everybody's lips again. She'd left the chintzy B-movies behind her, had the humility to let herself die a horribly unglamorous on-screen death, and, at age 20, was once again embraced by both Hollywood and the general public.

With Barrymore's stock renewed, she went on to star in a bevy of successful films of varying genres in the years that followed - most notably The Wedding Singer, Never Been Kissed, Charlie's Angels, Donnie Darko, and 50 First Dates.