“I was definitely pinching myself,” the actress said of shooting the 1983 coming-of-age classic with Matt Dillon, Rob Lowe, Tom Cruise, Ralph Macchio, and Patrick Swayze.

Diane Lane was ‘overwhelmed’ filming with ‘hot’ costars of The Outsiders: ‘Too much testosterone for one girl’

"I was definitely pinching myself," the actress said of shooting the 1983 coming-of-age classic with Matt Dillon, Rob Lowe, Tom Cruise, Ralph Macchio, and Patrick Swayze.

By Emlyn Travis

Emlyn Travis is a news writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2022. Her work has previously appeared on MTV News, Teen Vogue, and *NME*.

EW's editorial guidelines

October 29, 2025 2:45 p.m. ET

Matt Dillon and Diane Lane filming 1983's 'The Outsiders'. Credit:

Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty

Turns out Diane Lane felt like a bit of an outsider while filming *The Outsiders*.**

The actress explained on Wednesday's episode of *The Drew Barrymore Show* why she chose to put some space between her and her up-and-coming male costars — Tom Cruise, Rob Lowe, Emilio Estevez, Ralph Macchio, C. Thomas Howell, Patrick Swayze, and Matt Dillon — while shooting the 1983 film adaptation of S.E. Hinton's celebrated coming-of-age novel.

"What was it like to be with literally every single young man who would become the biggest male movie stars?" host Drew Barrymore asked her. To which Lane replied, "It was hot! It was great."**

Tom Cruise, Rob Lowe, C. Thomas Howell, Matt Dillon, Ralph Macchio, Emilio Estevez, and Patrick Swayze on the set of 1983's 'The Outsiders'.

Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty

That is, to a certain extent. "It was kind of… too much testosterone for one girl," she admitted. "So I kept to myself. But I was definitely pinching myself. I was definitely overwhelmed."

Barrymore could easily see why Lane would feel that way with so many handsome actors on set. “I think that was the movie that made me realize like, 'I like boys,'" she said. "I was like, 'Oh wow, I get it now.'"**

Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, *The Outsiders* chronicles the growing tension between two rival gangs: the working-class Greasers and the rich Socials, or Socs for short. When young Ponyboy Curtis (Howell) befriends Lane's character, Cherry, one night at the drive-in, he sets off a chain reaction that leads to unspeakable tragedy for both groups.

'The Outsiders' cast: See the actors over 40 years after the film made them mega-stars

An oral history of 'The Outsiders'

While visiting *The Drew Barrymore Show*, Lane also recalled her extra-sweet experience shooting the drive-in scene with Howell. **

"I remember when we were at the movie theater and they were creating this windstorm," she said. "They had these big huge fans and they were throwing cocoa powder to make the dust so it wouldn't be toxic or get in our eyes."

***Get your daily dose of entertainment news, celebrity updates, and what to watch with our EW Dispatch newsletter.*****

The powder also happened to make one pretty excellent snack in between takes. "By the end of the night we would just be, like, white striping," Lane said as she pretended to lick her hands, wipe them across her face, and then eat the imaginary cocoa. "Like, 'Mmm! That's good!' We all looked tan and sweet."

Drew Barrymore and Diane Lane on 'The Drew Barrymore Show'.

The Drew Barrymore Show/Ash Bean

Lane isn't the only member of the *Outsiders* cast who has reflected on the film in recent years. In February 2024, Coppola shared footage of her, Dillon, Macchio, Cruise, Lowe, Howell, and Swayze's auditions on social media in honor of its 42nd anniversary. **

"Forty-two years ago, we cast *The Outsiders* in a unique way," Coppola wrote. "We had all the actors together on a soundstage and would alternate different actors reading for different roles."**

The filmmaker noted that the process could have gone off the rails "because each of them was watching their competition." He continued, "So while it could've been a volatile situation, it turned into a very positive one."**

It was through that experience that "there emerged the natural respect and sense of colleagueship among them," he said. "The result worked beautifully and reminded me of my days as a camp counselor."**

*The Drew Barrymore Show* airs weekdays on CBS.

Original Article on Source

Source: “EW Movies”