Toni Collette has insisted she had no problem shaving her head to play a cancer sufferer in her new movie Miss You Already.

The 42-year-old actress stars with Drew Barrymore in the comedy drama about two best friends whose relationship is tested when one is diagnosed with cancer while the other is struggling with IVF treatment in order to have a baby.

Toni said of shaving her hair off: “They bought me a bottle of vodka thinking that I was going to be in a panic, or overwhelmed by it. But it was the fifth time I’ve shaved my head.”

Drew exclaimed: “I mean, she’s so casual about it. We did have drinks afterwards.”

Drew, 40, had only given birth to her second daughter Frankie a couple of months before shooting began last year (she also has three-year-old Olive with her husband Will Kopelman), and joked that she “waddled in”.

The E.T. star laughed: “It was horrible for the costume lady and brilliant for me, because I could eat everything in sight, and, lived in my body, that was a life-maker.

Toni Collette and Drew Barrymore
Toni and Drew play best friends in the movie (Entone)

“It was so amazing to me to be on the spectrum of the full circle of life and death and love and humour and friendship and platonic love.

“I was a complete open wound of a heart and I just thought I really want to tell this story about these two women for my two daughters, for them to see one day.”