Minnie Driver’s house in west London is tall and elegant, stuccoed, an Audi parked in the designated space by the front door. Through the large window I can see her moving around inside, tall and willowy, cup of tea in hand. Her trademark tight curls are pulled in loosely at the neck, unlike the long, swishing, silky pony she wore as an Academy guest at this year’s notorious Oscars, with a dress slashed to the waist and a sharp shoulder.
The reason I’m on the doorstep of her London rental is that she’s written an extremely good – and funny – memoir,. It’s part of a new phase in her professional life, one in which she has finally taken control of her creative destiny – and her own story. This includes: a podcast,, where she turns interviewer; making more music ; writing scripts for herself, creating good roles with good dialogue; and also working towards a desire to direct.
She tells a story about her stepfather slapping her around the face and her using a marker pen to draw an outline around the mark on her cheek, as a visible reminder. It is an early indication of how she would not take unfairness lightly. She went on to speak up on movie sets about indignities and in the process earned herself a reputation for being “difficult”.
That first very public breakup with Matt Damon seemed to set her on a course, at the very least in the tabloid press. Her mother had told her to love Damon “with loose hands”, but actually she had held on with a vice-like grip, totally in love, intoxicated by the seeming coming together of all parts of her life – fame, success at something she loved, recognition, romantic love – as it was for him, too. “It was unsustainable.
If you look at anybody’s life, she says, you never know what is going on. “Nobody has it good the whole time. Shit doesn’t work out, repeatedly, in all our lives. Painful things happen. People die, people leave you, people cheat. They are part of the vicissitudes of life. “The myth of so many young women is believing that you have to fill the shape of the cookie cutter that is shaped like a dude.”Hard Rain
Hey is Big Bad Bev still Editor?