Minnie Driver is promoting her latest project called The Lesser Dead. It’s an audio series set in New York City in 1978. Minnie plays a matriarch vampire and apparently it’s violent, which is not her thing, according to Minnie. But she said the story was so good, she was able to justify it. In anticipation of this new venture, Yahoo and Minnie looked back on her career highlights and surprises. She considered her best movie Good Will Hunting, her best dress was the red one she wore to its premiere and what surprises her the most is that she’s still working. Not just working, but still the same person, without any addictions, work done or a collection of ex-husbands in her wake.
Minnie Driver has enjoyed a sort of longevity in Hollywood not many actors have, but there’s one experience she considers to be the “best” of her career: Good Will Hunting. The 53-year-old star looks back at the film fondly, which comes as no surprise as it earned her an Oscar nomination in 1998.
“That genuinely is a classic,” she tells Yahoo, explaining she and the young cast — including the Academy Award-winning film’s writers and co-stars Ben Affleck and Matt Damon — “didn’t really know” what kind of magic they were creating at the time.
“We were just kids just having a great time making this really a fantastic story,” she continues, adding they were “exhausted, laughing, hilarious, cracking jokes on set.”
Good Will Hunting led to another “iconic” moment in Driver’s life. The Circle of Friends star went on to score her first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She calls the ruby-red Halston dress she donned “an iconic moment in my life.”
“It’s aged really well,” she notes. “Like, I could wear that today. I think it’s in some museum somewhere.”
Driver says it’s a “pinch me moment” that she’s “still here working.”
“I’m not addicted to anything. I’ve kept some level of sanity. I don’t have five husbands and my nose is still my nose! I feel like those are the pinch me moments,” she laughs, “That I’m actually just still here and recognizable.”
Driver adds, “And trust me, I do believe, like, women have had it rough. Women should do whatever it is that makes them feel comfortable. But for me, I just think having a level of sanity this far into a career in Hollywood — I’m astonished by that!”
I’ve been a fan of Minnie’s since Circle of Friends. I believe that is her original nose. I don’t love her referencing not having “five ex-husbands” as a point of sanity, though. Relationships can be elusive and their end is not a character flaw. No one blames her for Matt Damon appallingly dumping her after the best movie of her career. She was engaged to Josh Brolin and had a son with Timothy Lea before settling down with Addison O’Dea. They were significant relationships, albeit not marriages. We all have romantic pasts. Some people love love, nothing wrong with that. It’s not a huge thing for me, I’m just quibbling because she brought it up.
Minnie is still recognizable. And not being addicted to anything is probably a miracle in Hollywood. I’m glad that she’s made it this far on her own terms and I agree with her, women should do what makes them comfortable. I think if any of us make it into our second half with some level of sanity we should chalk it up to a win.
Photos Credit: Arlett Vereecke / Avalon, JPI Studios / Avalon and via Instagram
Ummm girlfriend did nothing but date other famous actors for a good decade there. So being shady about other actresses failed relationships ain’t it. I wouldn’t have even brought the relationship thing up. I like Minnie as an actress. But I have always found her rather boring as a person.
Definitely not a good look, especially given the messy breakup she and Matt Damon had sometime before the film was released (don’t hold me to the timing exactly…).
She looks great here, but she looked somehow different in Starstruck. IDK. Maybe it was just that I hadn’t seen her in awhile. I was a big fan of her work in the 90s. And then The Riches was brilliant for one season but then tried to power through the writer’s strike and fell apart.
I’m just here to say The Riches was absolutely incredible and died a terrible premature death.
She was messing with her face there for awhile. I think she stopped but yeah she was looking extra fresh for a good couple of years there.
I think the title of the show is awful. I saw it and thought it must be a show about people who are murdered and the police don’t do anything about it, “Less dead” is a term i first heard in reference to the missing/murdered indigenous women and how if they were white people would be up in arms about finding the people responsible.
She’s not kidding about that red dress – holy heck that dress was fabulous and she wore the heck out of it.
I like her. She deserves a bigger career and more work.
At least she didn’t start retelling old stories about MD breaking up with her on Oprah.
I sometimes feel that is going on her gravestone, it is always brought up 20+ years later.
The five to seven husbands era is when actresses felt they had to marry every man they slept with. I would probably roll my eyes at someone who got married five times, because they are clearly not thinking clearly when it comes to love. But as long as there isn’t bad behavior or people left feeling abused and used, go for it.
Chicken Run! I’ve seen it a million times. I’ve always liked her, but that interview not so much.
She was also super focused on making sure we knew that she was firmly in Chris Rock’s corner when he got smacked last year. She went on for a bit about how the Academy abandoned him. No word of how Rock or the Academy has abandoned black women for decades.
I read her memoir book of essays and it was delightful! I’d be friends with her.
I get that I look like her fairly often (in the way all women with big curly hair look alike) and it does make me happy every time I get it, haha.
When I was young, my celebrity comments were Liz Taylor (yeah. right.) Oh and LB (Linda Blair) because during football games, on the field, people said my eyes glowed like the f*cking Exorcist lmao.
I don’t think she meant it all literally. It’s okay to take stock in your own life and be pleasantly surprised that, by your own accounting, you’re doing okay.
I don’t mind that comment. It’s clearly a joke at her own expense, calling herself boring as opposed to others in Hollywood. I think it’s great that she still has her head together. Anyway, I loved her in that tv series Speechless. She was amazing! I hope she does another comedy series.
I thought the same, I don’t think it’s a dig at anyone else, just like “wow, I turned out more ok than I expected!”
She was very good in Speechless. I enjoyed that show a lot.
That red Halston was fantastic and probably my favorite Oscar gown of all time. She looked incredible.
YES!! I just Googled it again – she looks absolutely stunning. Just a gorgeous dress and she looked amazing in it!
I just love her.