It gets me emotional to talk about it cause there... no one would tell that story. I don’t know, it seems so strange when you can see people head’s being blown off, the kind of sexual objectification of women, and all kinds of things that they’re empty in what they’re offering up out into the world. And you go and tell a story that might actually bring comfort to somebody, or remind you of your, remind us of our humanity, and how what survives of us is love. That’s it. That’s what we got. So when you get to do that in your job which is kind of, sometimes superficial as being a celebrity or as an actress, that’s very good news. -Minnie Driver discussing the television film “Return to Zero”
Picture Legend:
1. Minnie
2. Minnie’s birthplace, Middlesex Hospital, London, England
3. Young Minnie
4. Minnie with her mom, Gaynor Churchward
5. Minnie and sister Kate
6. Minnie with her dad Ronnie and her son Henry
7. Ronnie and Minnie’s parental grandmother Mary in December 1939
8. Minnie and brother Charlie
9. Minnie With Brother Edward (holding his daughter) while shopping for Thanksgiving (yes, they celebrate Thanksgiving in Briton... if they feel like it)
10. The location of the Heligoland Bight
11. The Heligoland Bight
12. Vickers Wellington twin-engined, long-range medium bomber.
13. Couture model
14. Example of “Minnie Driver’s English Living,” her line of home textiles.
15. Bedales School
16. Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art
17 Collingham College
18. Minnie selling Right Guard
19. In “God on the Rocks"
20. “House of Elliot” 1991
21. In “Casualty”
22. In “Lovejoy” 1992
23. Omi the Zebra Man
24. Minnie as Arlette in “Maigret” 1993
25. In “Mr. Wroe's Virgins”
26. Minnie and Keira Knightley on “Screen One” 1993
27. Minnie on“Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge” 1994
28. Alan Cumming in “That Sunday”
29. “Circle of Friends” 1995
30. As a Russian nightclub singer in “Goldeneye”
31. Minnie and George Cole in “My Good Friend”
32. In “The Politician's Wife”
33. Minnie with Tony Shalhoub, Stanley Tucci, and Marc Anthony in “Big Night” 1996.
34. Minnie with one of the most underrated actors in the business, Brad Pitt, in “Sleepers”
35. Minnie with John Cusack in “Grosse Point Blank”
36. Minnie and Damon in “Good Will Hunting” 1998
37. Ben Affleck, Minnie, and Matt Damon
38. Alyssa Milano
This morning it is my great pleasure and honor to give a great big Joyce’s Take shout out to one of my very favorite actresses, musicians, singers, and songwriters, Ms. Minnie Driver!
Amelia Fiona Driver (“Minnie" would become a childhood nickname) was born at a very early age as a small, wrinkled up, female infant, at 5:25 A.M. precisely, deep within the turgid bowels of Middlesex Hospital, in the Fitzrovia district (a district in central London, near London's West End, lying partly in the City of Westminster (in the west) and partly in the London Borough of Camden (in the east); north of Oxford Street and Soho between Bloomsbury and Marylebone), of London, England (It is purported that Winston Churchill was treated there in 1962, which seems to make sense. After all, Churchill was British, probably living in or around London, as most British people do... the hospital was in London, sooner or later the two were bound to get together. And we know for almost certain (about as certain as anyone can be about these kind of things) that our good friend, the actor Peter Sellers, died there in 1980. The hospital giveth, and the hospital taketh away) Alas, that fine institution is no longer with us, having closed in 2005.
Yes, I know what you’re thinking dear readers. Minnie, if I may call her that, is just another of those damn foreigners who entered the United States to steal all of our acting jobs, justifying themselves by rationalizing they are only taking the menial roles that Americans didn’t want or couldn’t physically manage. One of those immigrants our great leader is valiantly trying to keep out of our glorious country.
Well, in that you would be correct, but she is truly one of us now. More about that later.
As an adult Minnie would reach the height of 5' 10" (1.78 m). This will be come interesting later (if you watch the videos). She has dark brown eyes and (naturally curly) hair. Her average weight is 148 pounds (2,368 ounces, depending on what she had for dinner). Her net worth is 20 million dollars. She does not have but certainly deserves her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (I looked into the process of nominating her and discovered it would cost me $40,000 to do so, and that she would have to sign a form giving me permission to nominate her and that she would need to agree to personally show up at the commemoration ceremony, and since I don’t have her address I decided to hold off on this idea, not that the money was an issue, mind you. I could easily get that from Joyce’s Take petty cash... So every time you see someone get their star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame you know the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce got paid (Hollywood Historic Trust, a 501(c)3 charitable foundation actually, or so they say))
Ms. Driver’s lineage is a tad unusual, or unconventional I should say, in that her mother and father never married. Or perhaps that is the norm. Only the statisticians and sociologists know for sure.
But there was something else.
Her father, Charles Ronald (“Ronnie") Driver (1921–2009), was married to another woman throughout his relationship with her mother, Gaynor Churchward (née Millington), making Gaynor Charles’ mistress. A secret mistress at that.
Ronnie was a successful Swansea (a city and county on the south coast of Wales) businessman and financial advisor. His company, London United Investments, gave financial advice to the Royal Family and other high end clients.
Minnie says: “My parents met in 1962 and were together for 13 years. They broke up when I was six. During that entire time, my dad was married to someone else and had another family. I didn’t know my parents weren’t married until I was 12 or 13 – my dad lived a very split life. We just did not talk about where he came from.”
Ronnie’s first wife Annie had given birth to a daughter, Kate in 1969, making Kate the elder half-sister to Minnie. Apparently, Ronnie married a second time, and that union produced a son, Charlie, and Gaynor married after the break up with Ronnie, which produced son Edward. Both families were unaware of each other's existence.
How Ronnie was able to pull this off and survive to the age that he did is the stuff situation comedies are made of.
Before all of this happened Ronnie had been a member of the Royal Air Force and participated with distinction in the Battle of the Heligoland Bight, which occurred in 1939, soon after England declared war on Germany on September 3rd, two days after Germany obstreperously invaded Poland.
Heligoland Bight (a bight is a bend or curve in a coastline, river, or other geographical feature) is a bay which forms the southern part of the German Bight, itself a bay of the North Sea, located at the mouth of the Elbe river.
The Battle of the Heligoland Bight occurred on December 18th and was actually the first aerial battle of World War II that got it’s own name... “The Battle of the Heligoland Bight.”
You see, the German’s had been and were able to cause all sorts of mischief in the North Atlantic Ocean with their fancy U-Boat submarines. They were sinking Allied ships all over the place, and Britain, personified by aforementioned Winston Churchill, got fed up with it.
The Air Ministry decided to launch an attack on German surface ships to prevent them from supporting those U-boats, and on the 18th three RAF bomber squadrons (one squadron consisted of 8 bombers) was sent to engage German ships in the Heligoland Bight and sink or damage as many as possible.
24 Vickers Wellington long-range medium bombers took off. 18 year old Ronnie and his buddy 21 year old Walter were in one of them.
Two turned back owing to engine trouble before reaching German airspace. The German reaction was slow, but eventually they scrambled strong fighter aircraft forces to intercept the bombers. They scrambled a whole bunch of them, over 120 aircraft.
120 German vs 22 British, it hardly seems fair does it? Fortunately for the British only 44 German fighters made contact with the British bombers. Still, that’s like an almost exact two to one advantage the German’s had over the British, and the British were flying big unwieldy bombers, with no fighter support (which in itself is rather odd. Why was there no British fighter support? I just don’t know).
The Germans destroyed half of the British forces. Walter was one of 61 British airmen who failed to return that day.
The British Air Command reconsidered the idea of air raids during daylight hours after this incident, so the battle did have some historical and strategic significance overall.
Minnie only discovered her father was an RAF hero when a friend recently bought a book at a rummage sale in Kent (a county in South East England, sort of like Riverside or San Bernardino counties here in Southern California, but with castles). Inside there was a story about Ronnie, aged 18, receiving the Distinguished Flying Medal for bravery in 1939.
When his aircraft was badly damaged, his gun turret at the front of the plane was all but blown away. Ronnie put out a fire which threatened to destroy the whole plane, using only his hands.
Later his pilot related: “My gunman was very prompt with the fire and beat it out with his gloved hands. But for this, the aircraft would have been well alight in a few seconds. His quick action saved our lives.”
Minnie broke down in tears when she learned of her father’s heroism which continued as the plane ditched into the North Sea. Dangling from the remains of his flimsy gun turret, in freezing conditions, Ronnie was then able to launch a dinghy and get the three other members of his injured crew inside. But despite his best efforts, the men discovered that Ronnie’s best friend, the rear gunner, Walter Lilley, had died in the attack.
Walter had been at the back of the plane and in the end they had to leave his lifeless body in the wrecked plane as it sank into the ocean. The four men in the dinghy were eventually rescued by British forces, which was pretty much a miracle in and of itself.
Having escaped death by the narrowest of margins, Ronnie, a wool clerk (Wool is the hair that grows on sheep and on some other animals) before joining the RAF, suffered from post-traumatic stress and was hospitalized twice to receive treatment. In the archives of the RAF Museum in Hendon, North London, Minnie discovered newspaper pictures where Ronnie is showing his mother his medal, at home in Stockton on Tees. It was the first time she had ever seen a photograph of her grandmother.
Minnie’s mom, or mum as they say in England, is a fabric designer and former couture model (Haute couture; French for "high sewing" or "high dressmaking" or "high fashion") is the creation of exclusive custom-fitted clothing. Haute couture is high-end fashion that is constructed by hand from start to finish, made from high-quality, expensive, often unusual fabric (wool) and sewn with extreme attention to detail and finished by the most experienced and capable sewers - often using time-consuming, hand-executed techniques. Check out Paul Thomas Anderson’s film “Phantom Thread,” starring Daniel Day-Lewis, and you’ll find out everything you ever wanted to know about haute couture and its models).
The following is taken (stole) from an article in People Magazine, dated May 8th, 2017:
“When Minnie Driver came home from school one day to find her mother, Gaynor Churchward, making cushions, ‘I thought she had gone a bit mad,'she tells PEOPLE.
Churchward was reeling from her recent divorce and didn’t have much in the way of job experience, Driver says. “But she successfully made some very beautiful cushions. And she began what ended up being a multi-million pound (British money, not weight) company.”
Now Driver, 46 (she’s a lot older now), is following in her mother’s footsteps. The actress has exclusively announced to PEOPLE that she’s launching Minnie Driver’s English Living, a line of home textiles on HSN (Home Shopping Network).
The collection — including bedding, window treatments and throws — was created in collaboration with Churchward, who first inspired Driver’s passion for interiors.
‘I’ve always been really interested in design, mostly because of my mom and how I was raised,' Driver says. ‘She’s a really inspiring person.’”
Gaynor has her very own Internet Movie Data Base (IMDB) page by appearing on Lifetime’s biographical television series, “Intimate Portrait,” in 2000. Presumably the episode was mainly concerned with her actress daughter.
Here’s a link to Minnie’s HSN page.
As Minnie shared above, Ronnie and Gaynor broke up when she was just six years old. Ronnie moved to an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of North America, named Barbados (13° 6′ 0″ N, 59° 37′ 0″ W), where Minnie spent her school holidays (some sources state that she was raised there).
At some point she was shipped off to the Bedales School, in Hampshire, as a boarder. The school is a co-educational day independent school in the village of Steep, fairly near the market town of Petersfield.
Wikipedia whispers to me: “Bedales is renowned for its eccentricity, liberal ethos, relaxed attitude, fashionable parents and famous alumni. The Tatler Schools Guide used to cite Bedales as ‘a bohemian idyll with bite,’ and The Good Schools Guide states that, although the school is ‘less distinctive than in the past,’ it is ‘still good for 'individuals,’ articulate nonconformists, and people who admire such qualities."
They have fashionable parents! A lot of schools don’t.
I wonder if that’s a prerequisite.
Charmingly Bedales calls their alumni “Old Bedalians.” Here’s a few of them, in no particular order: the singer, songwriter, author, and television presenter, Lily Allen. Daniel Day-Lewis and his sister, the television chef and food critic, Lydia Tamasin Day-Lewis. Actor George Sanders, and the lovely and talented actress Alice Eve. The bookbinder, Roger Powell. Painter Nina Murdoch. Anthropologist and psychologist, John Layard. Tom Arnold (the politician, not Roseanne’s ex). And the actor Simon Cadell and his younger sister, Selina.
Many others have attended Bedales, but I just don’t have room for all of them. I just don’t.
At the age of 15, Minnie got a tattoo of a red rose on her right butt cheek. Not the left one mind you, but the right butt cheek.
This is one of the things Minnie and I have in common.
Minnie later attended the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Arts in South Kensington (an affluent district of West London split between the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and the City of Westminster). Notable alumni include the lovely and talented actress, Natalie Dormer, Stewart Granger, Siobhan Hewlett and Hunter, Angela Lansbury, Patrick Macnee, Julia Ormond, Terence Stamp, and Omar Berdouni.
She also attended Collingham College, an independent college also in Kensington.
In a 2016 interview, Minnie revealed that she was sexually assaulted at the age of 17 while vacationing in Greece. When she reported the incident to police, she was partially blamed for the incident.
Just in the United States one in three women and one in six men experience some form of contact sexual violence in their lifetime. Imagine what it must be like for women in Greece.
Minnie first entered the entertainment industry not as a actress, oh no, that was just what they expected, but as a singer-songwriter-musician when she was at Bedales, being part of the Milo Roth Band, which got their own recording contract when she was just 19 years old.
“How did you get into music?”
“By going to a very musical school where I was encouraged to sing, write and perform. I got a record deal at 19 with a group called the Milo Roth Band; then I followed the acting path, but I've always made music as well.”
Minnie has said that she thought about acting as a career when she was very young, around 12 years old let’s say, and was heavily inspired by the actress Meryl Streep in Alan J. Pakula’s rendition of the William Styron novel, “Sophie's Choice” (1982).
In a 2013 interview she spoke of her time at school.
“Well,” she says, “maybe it was the school I went to, but the drama department was the English department and I still break down characters in the way I was taught to in English.” She was, she says, “rubbish at maths”, but “really good at music” and always a “voracious” reader. “I'm sad now,” she says, “that I didn't go to university. I'm mad about linguistics and semiotics, language and literature. That was always there, but it was all siphoned into acting. I was so focused. I think you have to be as an actor.”
After being trained as an actress at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Arts (making ends meet not as a waitress, which is the traditional route most budding actors choose, but by finding gigs as a jazz singer and guitarist in London. She was a member in the the jazz group Puff, Rocks and Brown, earning a development deal with Island Records.
“I don’t know if I actually did the whole Malcolm Gladwell thing [a Canadian journalist, author, and public speaker. His 10,000 hour principle holds that 10,000 hours of "deliberate practice" are needed to become world-class in any field] of playing for 10,000 hours, but I felt like I did,” Driver recalls. “I had planned to make music my primary thing, but then I got offered a film and it all went off in a different direction. At the time, I thought that I was ready to take on the music industry, but I don’t think that I really was. I had to grow up enough to have something to say.”
When she wasn’t playing music she found work as an actress. There is some controversy as to what is Minnie’s very first appearance on television. The good folks at Wikipedia insist that it was in 1991 for a Right Guard Deodorant commercial in which she was partially nude. The IMDB however, and a few other sources maintain that she was cast in the television movie “God on the Rocks," with Bill Paterson and Sinéad Cusack (no relation to John, Ann, and Joan) in 1990, in which case this would be her first appearance on the telly, as they say in England. YouTube, and a few other sources list the film as being made and broadcast in 1992, so I just don’t know what to believe and may start drinking again due to this unsolved and annoying mystery.
In any case Joyce’s Take has sparred no expense searching long and hard for video clips from both of these entities... first up, the racy deodorant commercial. And now “God on the Rocks,” which is described thusly: “Growing up in a household incapable of showing love and affection, Margaret's life is transformed when Lydia (Minnie), a worldly teenage maid, arrives.”
Before being offered that film she mentions above Minnie appeared in Episode #1.4 of the British television series “House of Elliot,” staring Stella Gone and Louise Lombard as the ubiquitous Elliot Sisters, which aired on September 21st of 1991. In November she was found on the longest-running emergency medical drama television series in the world, “Casualty,” as Zena Mitchell, who suffered from what Inspector Clouseau would call a “bimp” on the head. The show was concerned with the staff and patients at Holby City Hospital's emergency department. This program started in 1986 and is still running! By Golly you could go to England this very minute and watch new episodes of “Casualty” if you had a mind to. She appeared with the Irish actor Derek Thompson who seemed to make a habit of appearing on the show, being in 783 episodes as the steadfast Charlie Fairhead.
On March 15th of 1992, a Sunday, the episode “Kids,” aired from the on the comedy-drama mystery series “Lovejoy,” with Minnie on it as Sarah. The show starred Ian McShane way before he became an American God. In this episode Lovejoy learned that his daughter was living with a middle-aged man and that a close friend had been duped into buying an expensive forged painting.
My God! Will the carnage never end!?
She also appeared on 3 episodes of “Kinsey,” playing Louise Kinsey, and staring Leigh Lawson as Neil Kinsey.
“Midlands lawyer Neil Kinsey, known for being a maverick, takes on a new partner, Tricia Mabbott, who has recently left a larger firm. He brings an unconventional approach to dealing with his clients' cases, but has to contend with his estranged wife, Judy, his rivals, and the potential of romance with Tricia.”
Now I happen to be in possession of some secret information that confirms that Neil Kinsey’s estranged wife Judy was in fact portrayed by the actress Marian McLoughlin. Leigh Lawson was 47 years old when the three episodes Minnie appeared in were produced, and Marian 40. Minnie was all of 22 years old, so her character Louise Kinsey, if indeed she was related to the Neil and Judy characters at all, may have been their daughter, I’m thinking. If not the whole thing dissolves into a crumbling mass of utter confusion.
When I google “Minnie Driver Kinsey TV show” or just “Kinsey TV show,” looking for pictures and videos to support this portion of Minnie’s life I keep getting nude pictures of the lovely and talented Lizzy Caplan, so I don’t know what’s up with that. Sorry.
On a personal note, Leigh Lawson once canoodled my very first one true love, the actress Haley Mills, producing a son, Jason, before he married the actress/model Twiggy.
I’m pretty sure I hate him.
Minnie’s first female lead was in the 11 minute short film, “The Zebra Man,” with Duncan Bell. “The true story of Major Horace Ridler, an English aristocrat who returned from the First World War to 1920s London where he began his transformation into one of the world's greatest oddities, tattooed from head to foot in black and white stripes: Omi the Zebra Man.”
Okay.
I don’t know if this guy was related to the Elephant Man or not. It doesn’t really matter. But really... zebra... elephant. All I know is that there were more than an average amount of British African animal people in the past.
More work in television in 1993 and 1994. Minnie Appeared in the “Maigret and the Night Club Dancer,” episode of the crime/drama/mystery “Maigret,” starring Michael Gambon, way before he became Professor Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter franchise (he’s now a Sir Michael Gambon, and deservedly so).
“From Montmartre to the remote French countryside, Maigret encounters the dark side of the human psyche. Yet, he manages to maintain both compassion and a sense of humor as he explores the complex motives that lie behind every crime.”
Minnie plays Arlette in her episode.
“After a beautiful but alcoholic stripper reports overhearing a murder plot in the club where she works, she recants and is murdered shortly thereafter.”
I’m fairly sure Minnie played the beautiful but alcoholic stripper (which description is very judgmental I believe) as the only other female in the cast for that episode was the lovely and talented actress Brenda Blethyn, who was like 47 years old when this was made.
Not that I’m saying 47 year old women can’t be both beautiful and alcoholic. I happen to know some that are both, and they can be very fetching... and alcoholic.
Minnie played Leah in the 200 minute mini-series “Mr. Wroe's Virgins.”
“Based on the novel by Jane Rogers, the series follows the stories of seven young women who came to live and serve in the household of 19th century cult leader John Wroe.”
John Wroe was a real person. You can learn all about him here if you have a mind to. Jonathan Pryce (“Brazil” “The Brothers Grimm” “Pirate of the Caribbean”) played him. One would suppose Minnie played one of the virgins.
Hey, stop laughing!
How rude.
The only clip I could find of Minnie in this movie was at the pornography site, Porn Hub as it contained full frontal nudity on Minnie’s part, and I don’t feel like going there in this post. You’ll have to look it up yourselves, you nasty people.
Full frontal nudity on British television in 1993. We have a great deal to learn from our friends in England.
Minnie also played Sally in the “Royal Celebration” episode on the anthology series “Screen One.”
“July 29, 1981: After two years of the Thatcher administration, there is recession and unrest, but the economic boom is just around the corner. Meanwhile, there's the fairy tale wedding of Charles and Diana to celebrate.”
The lovely and talented Keira Knightley made her on-screen debut in this episode.
1994 saw Minnie playing Sue Keel in the “ Enemy Within,” episode of the long running medical soap-opera “Peak Practice.” She was Daniella Fores in the “Show 2,” episode of the comedy series “Knowing Me, Knowing You with Alan Partridge.” She worked with the Scottish-American actor Alan Cumming (“Romy and Michele's High School Reunion" “The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas” “The Tempest”) in the charming, romantic-comedy short, “That Sunday.” How do I know that it’s charming? Because I just watched it! And here it is if you want to watch it too (at last a clip of Minnie working with her clothes on)!
Alan and Minnie would work in at least three films together in the following year (or at least the movies were released the following year and probably filmed in 1994).
And Minnie appeared on two episodes of the six episode comedy series “The Day Today,” with Steve Coogan (“The Other Guys” “Holmes & Watson” “Stan & Ollie”).
“A spoof of the British style of news broadcasting - including ridiculous stories, patronizing vox pops, offensively hard-hitting research and a sports presenter clearly struggling for metaphors.”
Here’s a clip featuring Minnie.
And now it’s 1995 and we can get to that movie offer that altered Minnie’s career choice away from focusing on music, and that movie was called “Circle of Friends.”
It was directed by Irish filmmaker Pat O'Connor (“Inventing the Abbotts” “Fools of Fortune” “A Month in the Country”), and based on the novel of the same name written by Maeve Binchy.
Some anonymous person summarized the film on the IMDB like this: “'Circle Of Friends' is set in 1950's Ireland. The movie focuses on Benny Hogan and her best friend, Eve Malone. The story centers around Benny and Eve as they enter student life at University College, Dublin. Here Benny and Eve reunite with their childhood friend, the ice-cool Nan Mahon, the 'college belle'. They also encounter the handsome and charming Jack Foley, whom Benny quickly falls for.”
I agree with that, although I’d have to add a goodly amount of romantic intrigue, scheming, and a betrayal.
The film stars Minnie (who gained 25 pounds for the role), Robin, er, I mean Chris O'Donnell, Saffron Burrows, Alan Cumming, Geraldine O'Rawe, Aidan Gillen, and Colin Firth.
It is interesting for me at least that only two of the seven main actors listed above are actually Irish. I can only surmise that all the other Irish actors in the world were busy at the time of production.
I actually saw this movie in a theater when it was released and that was when I was first introduced to Ms Driver, who made a fair impression upon me, so much so that I followed her career as best I could, and looked for her in other vehicles. It is my estimation that she is one of those rare actresses or actors (I refuse to call female actresses actors... I don’t know why) that make any project they are associated with better just for their participation.
I’ve always remembered one of her lines from “Circle of Friends,” that goes something like this: “Jack says it’s his job to try and seduce me, and that’s it’s my job to stop him.”
That makes sense considering the huge difference in the time needed for human reproduction between males and females (males about 10 minutes on a good day - females about 3 years for each child, which includes gestation and initial child-rearing), especially significant in the 1950s.
By that as it may, Minnie was now the female lead of an international big budget film and was introduced to the largest market in the world, the United States of America.
“Circle of Friends” was positively received by critics, as the film holds a 78% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 36 reviews.
It made money! It cost 15 million USD to produce, and made 45 at the box office.
"I just felt that you never see parts like that," said the ringlet-haired English actress. "When you're young, you don't get character leading roles. You're generally playing the daughter, the nurse, the mistress, the young wife. This was an extraordinary part for me when I was 22 -- this great big, warm character."
Here is a fan video featuring Minnie in “Circle of Friends,” accompanied by the song "You're the One" sung by Shane McGowan and Maire Brennan, which played during the film's credits.
By the way, the characters Sean Walsh and Simon Westward, played by Alan Cumming and Colin Firth respectively, were just despicable and poor examples of the male gender. I apologize on behalf of all males for their reprehensible and shameless behavior.
“Circle of Friends” was released in April of 1995. In November Minnie was in another international big budget movie ($60 million for this one) having a small part in the James Bond film “Goldeneye,” with Pierce Brosnan as Bond (his first time as that character), Boromir, er, the Hitchhiker, er, Ned Stark, er.. I mean Sean Bean, Izabella Scorupco, Liam Neeson’s “Taken" wife Famke Janssen, and Alan Cumming as a computer programmer working for the bad guy (Bean, I know it’s hard to believe but Sean plays a villain in this film). Minnie plays Irina, a Russian nightclub singer and mistress of Valentin Dmitrovich Zukovsky (Robbie Coltrane).
Minnie sings “Stand by Your Man” with a thick Russian accent.
Does this make Minnie a “Bond Girl?”
Why yes, it does!
The movie of course was a huge success, getting generally favorable reviews and making around $350 million US dollars.
It has been reported that Minnie was paid $5,000.
She must not have had one of those profit sharing deals.
I need to say this about Minnie, she seems to be rather fickle. In 2017 she stated that Daniel Craig was the best Bond ever, and that she loved him. When reminded that she had worked with Pierce she said she loved him as well. In the future she would proclaim her love for Dwanye “The Rock” Johnson.
Women are like this sometimes.
1995 also saw Minnie as a regular cast member in the first season of the comedy series “My Good Friend,” appearing in all seven episodes as Ellie, Harry's landlady (Richard Pearson). The show also starred George Cole. The show was on the air for two seasons and for some unknown reason the character of Ellie was played by Lesley Vickerage in the second.
She was in the dramatic television mini-series “The Politician's Wife” as a former escort (British for hooker) turned parliamentary researcher who has an affair with a married member of Parliament.
Minnie played Flora Mussell in the TV movie “Cruel Train,” which concerns trains with a bad temperament, and “In wartime England, a railway official learns that the chairman of the line had sexually abused his wife as a child, then given him the job so he could continue having sexual access to her. The husband and wife kill him together, but are seen by a train driver, who also has problems of his own. The wife tries to divert suspicion by implicating another driver and befriending the witness, but it doesn't go that smoothly.”
Nothing about that sounds smooth at all.
She was also in “Coping with Christmas,” which probably has something to do with the December holiday. I’d be awfully surprised if it didn’t. In it she is reunited with co-star Alan Cumming.
In 1996 Minnie played police Sgt. Cole in the “Confess” episode of the comedy/crime/mystery series “Murder Most Horrid,” with Dawn French.
“Two policewomen [Minnie and Dawn] try to get a confession out of an ex-convict suspected of murdering a police inspector. The interrogation finally leads to an unexpected conclusion.”
Minnie also was in two big time Hollywood productions. “Big Night,” written by Joseph Tropiano and the actor Stanley Tucci. Directed by the actors Campbell Scott and Stanley Tucci. And starring Minnie, Bilbo, er, I mean Ian Holm, Ingrid Bergman’s lovely and talented daughter Isabella Fiorella Elettra Giovanna Rossellini, Tony Shalhoub, and, you guessed it... Stanley Tucci. “New Jersey, 1950s. Two brothers run an Italian restaurant. Business is not going well as a rival Italian restaurant is out-competing them. In a final effort to save the restaurant, the brothers plan to put on an evening of incredible food.”
“In the year after its premiere, Big Night got great reviews (96% fresh, according to Rotten Tomatoes), won multiple awards for its screenplay, and its co-directors, and earned nearly $12million [$12,008,376] against its estimated $4.1million budget, according to IMDB.
More important than that, Big Night helped kick off a revolution in American food culture. It wasn’t just that restaurants were changing, with ‘authenticity’ the new watchword. How we looked at and thought about food shifted, in both minor (the band Cibo Matto released its first album, featuring food-mad tunes like Know Your Chicken and White Pepper Ice Cream) and major ways.” -Matt Gross of The Guardian
Here’s a clip (Yes, Minnie has her clothes on but they’re all wet).
And she was in the crime/drama/thriller/revenge flick “Sleepers,” also with Kevin Bacon, Jason Patric (Jason Miller’s son. Who’s Jason Miller? Jason Miller is the author of the Pulitzer Prize winning dramatic play, “That Championship Season,” and he was the priest that wasn’t Max von Sydow in 1973‘s “The Exorcist”), Brad Pitt, Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, Billy Crudup, and Vittorio Gassman.
“After a prank goes disastrously wrong, a group of boys are sent to a detention center where they are brutalized. Thirteen years later, they get their chance for revenge.”
The film garnered generally good reviews, and made some money, $165.6 million against a production budget of $44 million (which doesn’t take into account print, advertising and distribution costs (or they might be included in the $44 million budget figure. I’d have to actually ask one of the producers, or the studio to find out for sure, but I’m much to high to do that. Producers and studios generally will only report production costs, a lower figure than if everything like advertising were included. They do this to make whatever profits or losses look either greater or less than they might actually be. They’re sneaky that way). Trying to figure out how movies make money will give you a migraine and make you wonder why anyone even bothers at all).
Directed by Barry Levinson (“Rain Man” “Wag the Dog” “Rock the Kasbah”), and based on Lorenzo Carcaterra's 1995 novel of the same name. Minnie plays Carol. She got the “And, Minnie Driver” treatment in the opening credits after everyone else, which can be construed as a sign of distinguished respect, at least that’s the way I’m taking it.
She was really the only woman in the entire film (except for a small part of one of the witnesses).
I hadn’t seen it since it was initially released, but I watched it the other night in preparation for this post and it was a lot better than I remembered it.
Here’s the trailer.
Now an established Hollywood actress, 1997 would see Minnie in what she has called her favorite film (that she’s in), “Grosse Pointe Blank.”
“Martin Blank is a freelance hit-man who starts to develop a conscience, which causes him to muff a couple of routine assignments. On the advice of his secretary and his psychiatrist, he attends his 10th year High School reunion in Grosse Pointe, Michigan (a Detroit suburb where he's also contracted to kill someone). Hot on his tail are a couple of over-enthusiastic federal agents, another assassin who wants to kill him, and Grocer, an assassin who wants him to join an ‘Assassin's Union.’” Written by Afterburner
And he reunites with an old flame (Minnie as Debi Newberry, a local DJ). After arriving in the town and patching things up with Debi (Martin disappeared on her 10 years earlier when he went off into the military, and discovered a natural talent for killing people, eventually becoming a private contractor) and rekindles their relationship, he takes a look at his orders to discover that his intended target is Debi’s father (Mitchell Ryan, as Mr. Bart Newberry). He decides he’s not going to kill him as Debi would probably look unfavorably on such a corse of action. But Martin has competitors who suffer from no such qualms. For instance Dan Aykroyd as Grocer being the fiercest and a twidge, just a twidge, over-the-top. So Martin takes up the task of protecting Bart, while explaining to Debi all of what is going on. Is he successful? I’m not going to tell. I’ve already given freely way too much information as it is. You’ll just have to watch the movie and find out for yourselves. You can do that, can’t you? Of course you can.
Here’s some more information. John Cusack’s sister Joan plays his secretary. His other sister Ann is one of the reunion people with a baby. His brother Bill is in there somewhere (talk about nepotism), as well as the lovely and talented Jenna Elfman and the lovely and talented Hank Azaria.
Alan Arkin plays John’s pyschiatrist who feels threatened after Martin tells him what he does for a living. And Jeremy Piven is an old high school chum.
The film was directed by George Armitage (“Private Duty Nurses” “The Big Bounce” “Miami Blues”), and was well received by critics but didn’t make a whole hell of a lot of money ($31,070,412 on a budget of $15 million during its initial theatrical run) despite my having gone to see it in a theater about three times.
But the important thing to remember here is that Minnie had a good time making this film.
Here is a clip of Minnie, John, and sister Ann. Here’s another one with just Minnie and John. And one more with John and Aykroyd.
In about three years or so, Minnie would work with Dick Cusack, John’s, Joan’s, Ann’s, and Bill’s dad, making her conquest of the Cusack family nearly complete (only former mathematics teacher and political activist mom Ann Paula Cusack and actress sister Susie would escape her mendacious clutches).
Minnie would provide the voice for Lady Eboshi in the English version of the animated historical fantasy war epic, “Princess Mononoke (original title “Mononoke-hime“).”
“Princess Mononoke” is set in the late Muromachi period (approximately 1336 to 1573) of Japan with fantasy elements. The story follows the young Emishi prince Ashitaka's involvement in a struggle between the gods of a forest and the humans who consume its resources. The term "Mononoke" is not a name, but a Japanese word for a spirit or monster: supernatural, shape-shifting beings.”
Other actors involved with the English version are ex-sleeper, Billy Crudup. Billy Bob Thornton, Claire Danes, Jada Pinkett Smith, Scully, er, I mean Gillian Anderson, Keith David, and Tara Strong.
The IMDB lists this film as being released on December 19th, 1997, but Wikipedia tells me that the movie was only released in Japan in 1997 (where it was a critical and commercial blockbuster, becoming the highest-grossing film in Japan of 1997, and also held Japan's box office record for Japanese-made films until 2001's “Spirited Away,” another Hayao Miyazaki film (director)), and released in North America (after being dubbed into English) on October 29th, 1999.
Here’s a 9 second clip with Minnie showing how to kill something while being perfectly still.
She appeared in the 12 minute short film, “Baggage,” with Juan Carlos Malpeli, and Liev Schreiber.
And then there’s this movie called “Good Will Hunting,” that was released on the 5th of December, 1997.
“When professors discover that an aimless janitor is also a math genius, a therapist helps the young man confront the demons that are holding him back.”
That’s how Netflix describes the film.
I would add that it was the courts that ordered the Will Hunting character (Matt Damon) into therapy as a condition of release to a distinguished M.I.T. mathematics professor (Stellan Skarsgård) due to Hunting inexplicably starting a fight (with his friends, Ben Affleck, Affleck’s brother Casey, and Cole Hauser) with another group of men (apparently this is what passes for fun in Boston, or “Several scholars have examined the film as a portrayal of residual Catholic–Protestant tensions in Boston, as Irish Catholics from Southie (South Boston, a densely populated neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, located south and east of the Fort Point Channel and abutting Dorchester Bay) are aligned against ostensibly Protestant characters who are affiliated with Harvard and MIT.” Hence, the fight is a mini-version of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. But this is not apparent while viewing the movie). When the police attempt to break it up Hunting hits one of them, thus his interaction with the courts.
The late Robin Williams plays the therapist, Sean, and Minnie plays Hunting’s love interest, Skylar. Matt’s dad, Kent Damon had a cameo as a chess player. Stephen Trouskie played an uncredited bystander.
Damon and Affleck are credited with writing the original screenplay (after a somewhat tortuous process) and won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for their efforts (beating out “As Good as It Gets,” “Boogie Nights” Woody Allen’s “Deconstructing Harry,” and “The Full Monty,” at the 70th Academy Awards.
Robin Williams won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, beating out Robert Forster for “Jackie Brown,” Anthony Hopkins for “Amistad,” Greg Kinnear for “As Good as it Gets,” and Burt Reynolds for “Boogie Nights.”
Our heroine got nominated for an award for Best Supporting Actress, along with Joan Cusack for “In & Out,” Julianne Moore for “Boogie Nights,” and Gloria Stuart for “Titanic.” Kim Basinger won for her work in “L.A. Confidential.”
Minnie was also nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role at the 4th SAG Awards.
Freaking Kim Basinger won again (actually she won this before the Academy Awards on March 8th, 1999. The Oscars were presented on March 23rd)!
The film itself was nominated for a total of 9 Academy Awards; Best Picture (losing to “Titanic “), Best Director (Gus Van Sant (“Drugstore Cowboy” “Finding Forrester” “Milk” James Cameron won for ”Titanic”), Best Actor (Matt. Jack Nicholson won for “As Good as it Gets”), Best Film Editing (Pietro Scalia), Best Original Score (Danny Elfman), Best Original Song (Elliott Smith (song "Miss Misery"), and Best Supporting Actor and Actress, and Best Original Screenplay.
Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a rating of 97% based on 70 reviews and an average rating of 8/10. The site's critical consensus reads: It follows a predictable narrative arc, but Good Will Hunting adds enough quirks to the journey – and is loaded with enough powerful performances – that it remains an entertaining, emotionally rich drama.
I agree.
“Good Will Hunting,” made a hell of a lot of money for the company that eventually produced it (after being shopped around practically everywhere else), Miramax, headed up at the time by future alleged serial sex offender, Harvey Weinstein. It grossed $138,433,435 in North America
and $87,500,000 everywhere else for a worldwide total of $225,933,435, on a production budget of $10,000,000.
The hope that this phenomena will be repeated is why producers bother to make movies.
So the film was a big success for everyone involved (especially Damon, whose career seemed to be going a little better than his friend Affleck at that time. Ben would eventually catch up, winning another Oscar for Best Picture (as a producer) in 2012 for “Argo”). Both actors were not completely unknown at the time as some have suggested. For Damon “Good Will Hunting,” was sandwiched between “The Rainmaker (directed by Francis Ford Coppola),” and “Saving Private Ryan (directed by Steven Spielberg).” And Affleck was working steadily.
In my opinion the screenplay was intricate, and strong. The acting was top notch. Here's a clip.
Yet I really didn’t care for the film and was hesitant to watch it again (having first seen it when it was initially released). Why?
It’s rather simple. The Matt Damon character Will Hunting is a big pain in the ass and rather unlikable, so why should I care for him or about what happens to him?
I shouldn’t and didn’t.
He starts fights with people he doesn’t know. He’s a smart ass to practically everybody, especially those who are trying to help him. He treats Minnie’s character, Skylar, like shit. He treats her about as bad as Damon treated Minnie in real life (the two dated for about a year after making this film, with Damon breaking it off publicly while on Oprah (when asked his relationship status he said he was single, disavowing his relationship with Minnie. This was news to her (Minnie told the Los Angeles Times how she felt about the way he’d ended their relationship, and while she clearly held her tongue, she also was obviously not very happy. “ It’s unfortunate that Matt went on Oprah,” she said. t seemed like a good forum for him to announce to the world that we were no longer together, which I found fantastically inappropriate. Of course, he was busy declaring his love for me on David Letterman a month previously”).
I might as well mention this here. Minnie has never married, but she has been in some high-profile romances with the likes of actors John Cusack, Harrison Ford and David Schwimmer and rocker Mick Jagger (another thing Minnie and I have in common).
Minnie started dating Josh Brolin after working with him in straight-to-video flick “Slow Burn,” in 1998. In January 2001, they were engaged. However, they broke up in October supposedly due to her prospective mother-in-law’s interference in producing the wedding.
Later in 2001 she hooked up with the American singer and sometimes actor, Chris Isaak. The magician Criss Angel in 2006 -2007.
In and around 2007- 2008, Minnie had a short lived affair with the Australian television writer and producer Timothy J. Lea who worked on four episodes of the television show “The Riches,” which Minnie was working in at the time. Their liaison resulted in Minnie getting pregnant with her son, Henry Story Driver, who was born on September 5th, 2008 (She gave birth naturally at home after enduring a 25-hour labor. Henry weighed 9 lbs. 12 oz). Minnie kept the identity of Henry’s father secret until 2012.
In 2011 was in a relationship with American writer, producer, actor, and former model, Matthew Felker, which lasted until 2013.
I found this on the Internet machine: “Elliott Smith (2014) – In 2014, Driver was reported to be dating singer Elliott Smith after they were pictured holding hands while having lunch. Minnie first met Elliott while working in Good Will Hunting and thereafter became close friends. Elliot did the music for the movie.”
This entry onto the Internet machine is highly inaccurate. Elliot did not “do the music” for “Good Will Hunting.” Jenna’s uncle-in-law Danny Elfman did. Elliot wrote the song "Miss Misery," which was used in the film and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song, losing to "My Heart Will Go On" from Titanic, music by James Horner and Lyrics by Will Jennings.
And Elliot Smith died on October 21st, 2003 at the age of 34 from two possibly self-inflicted stab wounds to the chest.
So someone needs to find out who it was that Minnie was holding hands with.
Minnie debuted a new relationship with American businessman and film producer, Ryan Kavanaugh (Relativity Media) at the Golden Globe Awards held in January of 2014, the same month Kavanaugh received a divorce from his ballet dancer wife, Britta Lazenga. Minnie and Ryan’s relationship (if indeed there ever was one) soon ended as Kavanaugh married model Jessica Roffey in 2015.
As for current relationships I have no further information. If she is indeed single right now there is hope for guys like me who think very highly of her. I’m 63 and she’s 49 as of today. We’re both 5‘10“, and have identical tattoos on our respective asses, and if she can go out with an old bastard like Harrison Ford I feel I still have a chance.
But probably not. She seems to prefer high profile men, and I’m very shy and adverse to publicity.
Back to “Good Will Hunting.”
The only thing that made Will Hunting (and what’s so “good” about him anyway?) vaguely interesting was the gimmick of him being a yet undiscovered super math genius (which in itself seems unlikely), and that only went so far.
Having watched it again my distaste for it remains.
Minnie was fantastic (Minnie is always fantastic). So was Matt, that’s why he was nominated for Best Actor. He played an asshole very well. If you were mean you might say it came naturally to him. Fortunately I’m a very nice man and would never say that about him.
Never.
Now Matt is on the surface a very likable person. He has a certain boyish quality that is appealing. He appears in cameos quite often, ofttimes poking fun at himself. (“Saturday Night Live” “The Cobert Report”).
He appeared with two other of my very favorite actresses, Milana Vayntrub (Lilly, from the AT&T commercials, “This is Us” the subway rat woman in “Ghostbusters” and the classic “I Dunno” short) and Stevie Nelson (“Mad Men" “The 7 Worst Ways to Thank a Veteran" “Just Shut Up!") promoting water. Take a look.
See how cute, funny, and concerned he is!
But Matt has a much darker side as you can plainly tell from his Bourne movies and “Suburbicon.” This man is a natural born killer. There’s just no getting around that.
He didn’t even give credit for his dad in “Good Will Hunting” for God’s sake! He could have done that!
A couple of years ago, following Weinstein’s outing as having molested up to 80 women, Matt was asked about how he felt about this, especially since he is the father of four girls (and remember, Harvey had a lot to do with getting both Matt and Affleck into the movie business). Matt had an interesting answer, attempting to put sexual abuse into some form of gradient system, maintaining certain acts are more acceptable than others. Here he is talking about it.
Minnie, and another of my very favorite actresses (there are so many!), Alyssa Milano (“Who's the Boss?” “Fear” “Charmed”), took exception to Matt’s comments, and spoke publicly about it.
Here’s a synopsis of what happened.
Okay, we’re at 15 pages (you can’t see the pages but I can) and about 9,000 words (it takes so long to count them). I think we should take a little break, and give you time to digest all of the information that has been presented.
I will publish the thrilling conclusion of Minnie’s birthday tribute in a few days, but on this day, all of us here at Joyce’s Take wish you, Minnie, continued good health and fortune for you and your family, and wish you a very happy birthday!
Happy birthday Minnie Driver!
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