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Disclaimer: My recorder behaved wonkily during this interview,
so I am reporting the gist of my conversation with Kate Driver based on my notes, minus direct quotes. Let me take advantage
of my tech mishap to blow my silver bugle: In the interest of truth, justice and integrity (I can hear you, you know), if,
on this site, a quote is attributed to someone you can rest assured that the words came out of their mouths and I've got the
tape to back it up and that quotes (to the best of my humble ability), will always be in context.No cut and paste jobs here.
Just the whole truth and nuttin but the truth.
Beautiful will be released at the Toronto Film Festival
on September 29. Talk about girl power! The Spice Girls are clueless! This movie is where its at. You can see that just by
looking at its site on IMDb. It reminds us that there are quite a lot of very talented female faces in Hwood, Minnie Driver,
the smokey-voiced Kathleen Turner and Joey Lauren Adams, co-star as well as, Pepsi Girl Hallie Kate Eisenberg. Behind the
camera, Sally Field is directing. This is not her first voyage at the helm. While this Fields first turn as a feature director,
she has directed two critically acclaimed TV movies; From Earth to the Moon and The Christmas
Tree.
To add to its female appeal Beautiful is produced
by Two Drivers, a production company headed by Kate and Minnie Driver. Kate was producing commercials and the like in London,
while Minnie was making movies in L.A. Minnie found what other actresses, from Bette Davis to Meryl Streep also discovered.
Though ones talent may be towering, a good role is hard to find. The few good scripts tended to be circulated among a very
small pool of actresses. (Very small, like under ten, get out those fingers, lets name em together) Kate says that because
of the difficulty of finding good scripts, Two Drivers was first begun to give Minnie better access to scripts. But they have
bigger plans than just giving Minnie something to do. Their goal is to produce good, entertaining films with a different sensibility;
neither blockbuster action nor star vehicle romantic comedies, as well as to do a little Trans-Atlanic co-mingling, uniting
American budgets and actors with the huge and largely untapped pool of British talent.
The next film up for the duo is At Sachem Farm , which stars, Minnie, Nigel Hawthorne , (whos incredible) and Rufus Sewell (my fave). FARM is the story of a family faced with financial
ruin and the choice between selling off their priceless wine collection, and another...odder solution. Sachem Farm has
been garnering praise since its opening at the Toronto Film Festival in 1998 (I'll keep you posted on when to expect it at
a theater near you), Alex Scudder describes it as a marvelous offbeat tale of the individual spirit, how one strives for unreachable
goals while all along more superior goals, that are easily attainable, are ignored... a warm and inviting film.
With Beautiful and At Sachem Farm slated
for release in the next few months, their third, Glamour Girls set to go next year and other Minnie-less
projects in the pipeline, we will watch with interest as the Two Drivers flex their muscles.
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