As a mum-of-five Marie-Chantal of Greece is something of an expert when it comes to children’s wear. The elegant royal launched a new clothing store for kiddies in Beverly Hills this week with a little help from some of her famous pals and their little ones.

The London-born wife of Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece was joined at the opening of the shop – her third in the US – by Sharon Stone, the actress’ young sons Quinn and Laird, and British star Minnie Driver, who’d taken along her youngster seven-month-old Henry.

Thirty-nine-year-old Minnie said: “I’m a huge fan of Marie-Chantal’s store in Westbourne Grove – I bought lots of things there for Henry.”

Marie-Chantal, 40, said she was particularly proud of her new boys line. “I put a lot of attention into (it),” she revealed. “It’s very much my pride and joy because I have my four boys… It’s made of very beautiful fabrics… very neat and tidy – just the way I like to dress my children.”

The Greek royal, who launched Chantal LLC in 2001, juggles her lively young family – sons Constantine, ten, Achileas, eight, Odysseas, four, nine-month-old Aristide and 12-year-old daughter Maria-Olympia – with running her business.

Her eldest child, Maria-Olympia, also helps out with providing ideas she says. “My daughter helped me with this detail – the polka dots – because she’s a very girly girl,” Marie Chantal explained, pointing to the pattern on one of the blouses in the girls’ collection.

Six months after the birth of her first child, Henry Story Driver, whose father’s name she refuses to reveal publicly, Minnie Driver has also recently released her second album of alternative country songs, all of which she wrote.

Oh, and the TV drama she stars in opposite Eddie Izzard, The Riches has been commissioned for a third series. Not bad for her first year living full-time in her adopted home of Los Angeles.

“I act being calm, but I’m far more panicky as a person than I might seem,” she laughs. The 37-year-old actress has come through a range of incarnations over the past decade or so, in spite of being born with the proverbial silver spoon in her mouth, to a wealthy financier father and fashion model mother.

Television

This is clearly something she’s conscious of as she settles into being a single mother.

“I’ve led a pretty unorthodox life and now I’m moving around a lot. I’m on film sets or the TV show and I just want this kid to be, you know, of the world and to play a lot and have a lot of joy and not watch a lot of television. I know, I can actually get rid of the television,” she laughs.

Born in London, she grew up in luxury in Barbados until her parents divorced and she moved back to the UK. Music was always her first love and she would return to it in a heartbeat if the acting work stopped.

“I write songs and poems all the time and I play guitar; I’d be a musician full-time if this business got tired of me.”

However, with an Academy Award nomination for her role in Good Will Hunting and several Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for her role as the drug-addled matriarch of the Irish American traveller family in The Riches, her relationship with acting doesn’t look like it will come to an end any time soon.

As one of the more genuinely socially engaged actresses of her generation, she launched the Brown Thomas fundraiser for breast cancer research in Dublin last year. “I was honoured to be asked to spearhead the campaign in Dublin. This is an issue that affects so many families, not only women, although we are clearly more directly impacted.”

Three years ago Oxfam named her as its goodwill ambassador, which she says she was delighted to accept.

“The school I went to was based on socialist principles and it was very much about the community and having an awareness of the world.

“I was doing sponsored swims for Oxfam when I was seven or eight and it’s so amazing to wind up an ambassador for them.

“There’s a responsibility when you’re out there and millions of people are looking at what you do and if you have an opportunity to discuss issues in an interesting way, I think it’s great and there’s a place for doing so.”

The question of who the father of her baby is remains taboo and I am warned ahead by her publicist not to even ask. So, of course, I ask.

She becomes visibly more guarded: “I’ll talk about the physicality of it, how I had morning sickness, how tired I’ve been, to the ends of the earth. But to protect this beautiful, private moment, I’m just not getting into it. I’m sure it will come out in time, but right now, I’d like to protect the baby and him and let the focus be on me.”

Personal

Driver endeared herself to many Irish viewers for the role of Benny Hogan, which she played in the film adaptation of Maeve Binchy’s Circle of Friends. She had to put on two stone to play the role of the small town girl who goes to college in Dublin and wins the heart of Chris O’Donnell.

She remains really fond of that role, but she feels that writing her own material and the reaction to it is way more personal than acting a role written by someone else.

“If someone doesn’t like a movie that I made, you kind of take it a little personally, but you can also go: ‘Oh well, I didn’t direct it, I didn’t produce it, I didn’t write it. I’m just an actor for hire.’ But it’s definitely a little trickier with the music. I just believe in artists doing lots of things.”

Minnie updated her blog on MySpace updating all us fans about her plans of a third album (yay!!).

Hi there, just wanted to thank all of you who have sent mail recently, I’m sorry not to answer back but there just aren’t enough hours… I’m starting on songs for the new record which we kind of hope will be done by the end of the year, my son likes to chew on my guitar, especially when I’m playing it, so it might take a while….
all the best ,
Minnie

Although most University of Michigan students have left Ann Arbor for spring break this week, Pierpont Commons on North Campus on Tuesday was bustling with people, including some Hollywood stars.

Actresses Hilary Swank and Minnie Driver were filming scenes for the feature film “Betty Anne Waters,” under the guidance of director Tony Goldwyn, who most famously played the villain in “Ghost.”

The Commons’ main hallway was clogged with equipment carts, a tall, black screen and men with headphones who were watching monitors. Beyond them, more than 100 college-age extras stood quiet and still, waiting for crew members to once again call out, “Rolling!” – at which point the extras would walk in a long circle, providing a moving backdrop for a student union scene in “Waters.” A set on the upper level of the Commons was slated for duty as a law school library later in the day.

On Tuesday, two days of shooting was wrapped up on the U-M campus. “Waters” will continue to be shot around Ann Arbor for approximately four to five more weeks. The film tells the true story of a single mother who puts herself through college and law school in order to exonerate her brother after he is sentenced to death for a murder he didn’t commit,

U-M senior Adriana Rewald said the call time for extras on Tuesday was 8 a.m.

“Most of it’s waiting,” Rewald said, during a 3 p.m. lunch break when she returned to the extras holding area. “It’s been interesting. I was around for spring break anyway, and I had nothing else to do today.”

She hadn’t seen either Swank or Driver during her unpaid shift, but U-M senior Jack Taylor had better luck Monday, when he worked as an extra in an Angell Hall lecture hall.

“Hilary’s character had a paper due at 10 a.m., and she turned it in at 10:01, so it wasn’t accepted,” he said of the scene, where he was seated near Driver.

Hoping to pursue a career in film, Taylor viewed his experience as a learning opportunity. “It was great to be on a working set and actually see the inner workings of it,” he said. “You wouldn’t think that it would take that much to accomplish a shot, but it does.”

Source.

About 150 students are needed as extras on the film, “Betty Anne Waters.” The shooting will take place this Monday and Tuesday on the University of Michigan campus.

Students can apply online by sending name, phone number, birth year and a photo to BAWstudents@realstyleonline.com. Please type “Ann Arbor” in the subject line. Exact filming times and the location of the shoot will be released closer to Monday.

Extras do not have to be U-M students, but must be college-age, 18-23 years old. Roles as extras are voluntary and not paid.

The film, produced by Tony Goldwyn, stars Hilary Swank, Minnie Driver and Sam Rockwell. It is based on the true story of Betty Anne Waters, who struggled from her against-the-odds upbringing to complete her undergraduate and law degrees in order to clear her brother from a murder conviction – a crime she was certain he did not commit.

Wishing Minnie a very happy birthday, she’s getting close to the 40 and she’s still looking hot!

Minnie Driver has joined Hilary Swank in “Betty Anne Waters,” a legal drama that Tony Goldwyn is directing.

The film is based on the true story of Waters (Swank), an unemployed single mother who saw her brother convicted for a murder-robbery in 1983 and sentenced to life in prison. Convinced of his innocence, she spent the next decade earning a law degree and working on her brother’s case, challenging the conviction with DNA evidence. Richard LaGravenese wrote the most recent draft; Pamela Gray penned the original script.

Driver plays Abra, Swank’s law school friend with a wild-party past who helps her with the brother’s case.

Driver received Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for her role in FX’s series “The Riches.” She stars with Uma Thurman and Anthony Edwards in “Motherhood,” a comedy that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

In news just announced from Hollywood, a star-studded production of some of the favourite Looney Tunes cartoons is to be made this year – with live actors!

Yosemite Sam, Bugs Bunny, Tweety Pie, Foghorn Leghorn and all the other favourites will all have their own starring role in the multi-million dollar spectacular.

The storyline at the moment is being kept under wraps, but big names already signed up include Leonardo DiCaprio, Morgan Freeman and Minnie Driver.

Minnie, called at her 4,000-acre ranch in Broken Fork, Arkasas, was cagey about the plans, but admitted she had been pencilled in for the role of Elmer Fudd, and was excited about the prospect.

“In the current economic gloom it will be a blast doing something this fun, and hopefully the public will find it uplifting” she said. Filming starts in Congo in April.

Source.

Fox Home Entertainment have announced the Region 1 DVD release of The Riches Season 2 on 24th March 2009 priced at $29.98 SRP. Eddie Izzard and Minnie Driver return as Wayne and Dahlia Malloy, lovable gypsies and con-artists who adopt the identity of a very wealthy couple, as they continue to deal with the mishaps and difficulties of convincing their greedy “buffer” neighbours that they are indeed the law abiding citizens of the Doug and Cherien Rich family.

All 7 episodes of the second and final season of the show are included on this 2-disc set presented in 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen with English DD5.1 Surround audio and English, French and Spanish subtitles. The only extra is “Eddie Izzard: Revealed” featurette.