Director Catherine Hardwicke and stars Drew Barrymore and Toni Collette took a break from their busy shooting schedule for Miss You Already in London last week to meet with journalists and breast cancer survivors.

Drew Barrymore and Toni Collette

Distributor eOne and charity Breast Cancer Campaign held an intimate afternoon tea to celebrate the film, now nearing the end of its six week shoot on location in London and Yorkshire. Screenwriter Morwenna Banks, producer Christopher Simon of Embargo Films and Samantha Horley, MD of sales company Salt, also attended the afternoon tea at a South London pub.

Breast Cancer Campaign chief executive Delyth Morgan said: “Miss You Already is a project that is so important to us. This film helps us keep breast cancer on the agenda and communicate some of the complex issues around breast cancer.”

Banks added: “This is a film about friendship and family and what happens when the bomb of breast cancer is thrown into our everyday lives.”

Collette showed off her newly shorn head, a sign of her commitment to playing the role of a high powered PR executive who battles breast cancer with the help of her broody best friend (played by Barrymore).

Barrymore said it was hard to even talk about the film without “getting overly emotional. The subject is of such importance. It’s an incredible honour for us.”

She also paid tribute to her director, Hardwicke. “Trust it is in the hands of someone who is such a badass.” To which Hardwicke quipped, “it takes one to know one.”