During her appearance on the October 29 episode of the The Drew Barrymore Show, 60-year-old actress Diane Lane opened up about what it was like on the set of the 1983 film The Outsiders, where she found herself working amid a nearly all-male ensemble. She recalled simply: “It was hot! It was great.” Yet she admitted that the experience also felt overwhelming. “It was kind of… too much testosterone for one girl,” she said. “So I kept to myself. But I was definitely pinching myself. I was definitely overwhelmed.” (Source: NY Post)

Based on the 1967 novel by S. E. Hinton, The Outsiders tells the story of two rival teenage gangs in 1960s Oklahoma: the working-class “Greasers” and the wealthier “Socs.”  In the film, Diane Lane portrayed Cherry Valance, a member of the Socs who befriends one of the Greasers, accidentally setting off traumatic events. According to an interview she gave to People magazine, she reflected on the lengthy night shoots, saying: “You could sit back and just observe the male… the way they’re working it out with each other.” 

Lane recalled that many of her co-stars in that film would go on to become major Hollywood players: Tom Cruise, Patrick Swayze, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, and Ralph Macchio among them.  She recalled, for instance, being impressed by Tom Cruise’s devotion: he removed a tooth cap so that the result of a fight scene looked real. “I thought, ‘That’s impressive. That’s commitment.’” she said in the People interview. 

Looking back further, Lane’s early career included work with the highly-regarded director Francis Ford Coppola, whose filmmaking approach emphasised detail and presence. In a 2012 interview she said that each “take” required awareness, and that Coppola insisted on long takes and trusting the audience rather than over-editing.Variety also provided an oral history of The Outsiders, exploring how the ensemble cast, the location shoots in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the behind-the-scenes antics among the young actors helped forge the film’s enduring appeal. 

Fast-forward to the present, Diane Lane is promoting her latest film Anniversary, which centres on a couple and their children gathering annually to mark their wedding anniversary — until the arrival of the son’s girlfriend, who is part of a controversial social movement known as “The Change.” In a recent interview on CBS Mornings, Lane stated: “I think that silencing people can radicalize people, and I think two ears one mouth, it’s more important that we listen to each other.” She added: “I don’t think you go to war with people whose moccasins you’ve walked in a mile… So, empathy like we always talk about, sympathy, empathy, compassion.” 

In sum, Diane Lane’s reflections underscore two major themes: first, the exhilaration and intimidation of working in a landmark film with a predominantly male cast at a young age; second, her maturity as an actor who now uses her platform to speak about empathy, listening and the human condition. As she puts it, the memories of that 1983 set stay with her — as does the reminder of how far she’s come.