                   |
Minnie Driver - `an awfully good chameleon' who rejects starlet label
Web posted May 5, 1997
By Douglas J. Rowe
And while almost all have the wit level of second grade, which is about where they started, they didn't end there.
``Yeah, endless,'' she says, explaining that the insipid punch lines invoking cars and golf continue to this day.
``Some people think it's endearing. It's really annoying.''
Born in 1971 and given the name Amelia, Miss Driver got her nickname from a sister who was about 2 at the time and couldn't pronounce Amelia.
So given her aversion to playing off her name, it would be a mistake to suggest that her career is shifting into high gear - for not only would Miss Driver be irked at you for putting it that way, she doesn't see it that way, either.
She's co-starring now with John Cusack in the darkly funny film Grosse Pointe Blank. And she'll be in Gus Van Sant's next movie. But she demurs at the suggestion that she's a ``sought-after'' actress.
``I never think that I am. I'm not who they're coming to to get their films made,'' the 5-foot-10, brown-haired British actress says.
``I'm not the Hollywood norm. I'm not blond, I'm not small. I don't just meld in. I think if you cast me in a film, I'm not going to blend in to the background. And I haven't been in a film that's made an enormous amount of money. And I'm not going out with a movie star. And I haven't got an Oscar.
``All I have is what I do on the screen. I sometimes don't think that talent is enough, unfortunately.''
She says she doesn't want to sound self-righteous in maintaining that talent is all she has, but she admits: ``I would like it to be enough.''
``I see the actresses that I love, the Meryl Streeps, the Diane Keatons, the Glenn Closes, I see that they have powered their way through their careers riding the backs of their talents.''
One thing Miss Driver shares with those idols is that each can be ``an awfully good chameleon,'' a term she applies to Mr. Cusack during the requisite logrolling to promote his movie.
Still, it's true that's she been rather protean in her roles.
Moviegoers probably still know her best as the dowdy, chubby Irish coed who hooks the hunk (Chris O'Donnell) in 1995's Circle of Friends. In the last couple of years, she has also appeared in Big Night, Sleepers and GoldenEye, in which she plays a Russian country singer.
In snagging roles, some of it comes down to luck, she says, ``but you always have to realize where luck ends and your ability to make choices begins.''
The daughter of a financier and interior designer, and with two brothers and two sisters, Miss Driver says she always wanted to be an actress.
``Maybe it was pointed out to me by siblings, or parents or some grounding person that the roots of acting are often based on real insecurity, and built on such sand ... the need for acknowledgement, for your voice to be heard, for acceptability, to shine, to be noticed.''
So before going to drama school, she thought if those were the only reasons to do it, then she shouldn't embark on an acting career. She wanted to do it for deeper reasons - ``something that explores what it is to be alive on one amazing playground'' as well as working with people she admires and with good writing.
Speaking of writing,}She keeps a diary, which she says helps her keep perspective so she doesn't enter ``cuckoo land.''
``It's such an extraordinarily altered state sometimes, being an actor. You go through these weird periods of total quiet, when you're just in your house with the dog, and going on hikes and walking by the sea, and being completely unnoticed and then you're vaulted into this arena where everyone is fiddling with you, and commenting on and dressing you, and you're out there and speaking your mind and people are either feigning interest or they're genuinely interested in what you have to say, and it's all a big circus. And then you're back to peace.
``So I think writing about it, about these extraordinary vicissitudes, helps.''
Sometimes, though, when she looks back at what she's laid down on the pages, she feels like she's living someone else's life.
As for any deep, dark secrets in that diary, she admits to a few, without being very specific.
``It's nothing particularly interesting. It's mostly to do with relationships, and mostly to do with the view of self, and self-esteem, and all the ways in which that manifests.''}
She has found that the themes she notes recur, and that scares her since they indicate that signs of personal growth may just be a delusion.
``When I look back two or three years ago, you see the same stuff. It just has a different hat on. But it's the same thing. You're just calling it a different name.
``That scares me that you can go through your entire life thinking that you're solving these issues in your life, but really they're just reoccurring and you're calling them something different. And that is my idea of hell.''
|
|
Comments or questions? Contact the webmasters @ugusta. |
