When Minnie Driver was filming the dramedy “Motherhood,” she was very pregnant with her son Henry, who was born in September 2008. But you won’t hear Driver telling any sentimental drivel about how wonderful and rosy it was for her to do a movie while she was pregnant. The reality is, she says, pregnancy was very uncomfortable for her during filming — especially since many of her “Motherhood” scenes were shot outdoors in the blistering heat of a New York City summer. But Driver isn’t complaining about being a successful entertainer; she’s just someone who tells it like it is — which is refreshing, because in interviews, so many actors describe their work experiences in such gushing terms of perfection that you know it’s just too good to be true.

And Driver certainly isn’t complaining about parenthood, because she’s never looked or felt happier since becoming a mother. Driver’s pregnancy was written into the “Motherhood” script so that Driver’s impending motherhood could mirror that of her character Sheila, a sassy Brit preparing for life as a single mom in New York City. Sheila is the best friend of writer Eliza Welch (played by Uma Thurman), who has a website where Eliza blogs about motherhood. Being a first-time mom was very much on Driver’s mind when I caught up with her at the “Motherhood” press junket in New York City, where she opened up what her life has been like since giving birth, what her are plans for her next album, and how she feels about paparazzi who target children.

If you could blog about anything, what would it be and why?

Whoa! Well, I’m actually writing at the moment this thing. Sometimes when you see these pictures, like when you’re followed by paparazzi. I would love people to know really what the history is behind an actual photograph: what was going on, like what actually preceded it, what went before the kind of day you were having, to sort of humanize that experience so that people go, “It’s not just that kind of oh, they shouldn’t whine about being photographed.” But somehow to go, “I’d actually had five stitches in my foot that day, my son had fallen over and we were on our way to the pediatrician, and I was running and the paparazzi wouldn’t get out of the way.”

Whatever it is, like whatever things that sort of go on. I always thought that’d be kind of interesting to blog about just cause it’s an angle that people, you read one of those hellish magazines and you’re sort of like, “Oh look, she got kind of fat!” And that’s sort of it and it’s like, “Wait a minute, there’s a person in here and a story and a life and a human being.” And I like the idea of humanizing this rather than cannibalizing celebrity.

Would you do that on a personal website?

No, I’m going to do it in a book, I think, which I might publish electronically. I don’t know. It’s tying in with sort of a bigger thing, but that’s one aspect of it. So, yeah, I think I’d blog about that. I probably end up will be blogging about that quite soon. That seems how books are done these days.

It’s a great way to test the material and see how people react.

I think so. Definitely get very immediate. People leave comments. “This sucks! I don’t care! What are you wearing to the Oscars?” [She laughs.]

What’s the one thing about parenting that has just thrown you?

The love. The unquantifiable love. It just takes my breath away. My son’s face in the morning, or if I hear him [say], “Mama, Mama, Mama!” And I go and he’s just sitting there in his crib in the dark, because often he wakes up early and it’s still dark outside. When I turn the lights on he’s like “Mama!” And it feels like Christmas. It’s the thing of loving something more than you can [imagine] … It’s sometimes terrifying and … you can’t go there thinking of the absence of that. It’s so extraordinary, and everyone tells you that and everyone says that. You can’t know until you have it. It just blows your mind. Yeah. Henry.

How was it acting in this movie while you were pregnant?

It was horrible. I don’t recommend it. It was really sort of a great idea. It was me in my previous incarnation thinking, “Oh, it’ll be fun!” I’d just been on tour and that had been a bit tough but I was like “Oh, it’ll be fine. It’s a small part.” You forget, like, it was a heat wave in New York. It was 100 degrees. You’re on New York City streets, the stink, I’m in a long-sleeve T-shirt with overalls. I was so hot and uncomfortable and waiting around. You should just be at home.

How pregnant were you?

I was seven-and-a-half months.

That wasn’t even a very small part. You’re in a lot of the movie.

Really? That’s good. I think that she had a big impact but I don’t think I did. I hung around more than I worked, which is usually fine if you’re not that’s part and parcel. I rarely noticed it because I was so pregnant. And we went over [the production schedule] a little bit and I had to stay longer than I’d anticipated. And I remember I was close to tears one evening and I was on the phone with my mom and I was like, “I just want to go home and iron onesies. I just want to do laundry, Mom!” She was laughing and she goes, “You’ll have plenty of time to do laundry, love. Don’t worry. There’s loads coming.”

But I did want to be nesting. I’m glad I did it … The whole of my adult working life has been chronicled on film, and I didn’t want this part to be an exception. I’m really glad that I made it — selfishly … for my own history.

Do you have anything to say about your TV series “The Riches”?
Oh yeah, it was totally eighty-sixed, 100 percent. Yeah, it was devastating. Really sad. Really, really awful. It’s just terrible when a great show is canceled. But I’ve made a couple of really beautiful films this year. Really amazing. I just finished one; that’ll be great.

Can you tell us more?

I just finished this movie ["Barney’s Version"] in Montreal with Dustin Hoffman, Paul Giamatti, which will be, I truly believe, kind of epic and wonderful. And then the one before that was ["Betty Anne Waters"] with Hilary Swank — she was absolutely incredible — and Sam Rockwell and Juliette Lewis — just beyond amazing actors — and Peter Gallagher, and that’s going to be great. Those will be out in [2010].

Do you have anything else coming up?

I’m just about to make another record. I’ve worked back to back and had a baby. [She laughs.] I’ve got to have break! Hold on! Stuff usually comes up but I need to do the record. I need to do this cause it needs to be done before I think next year it’s going to be busy.

How is your next album going to sound? And will the lyrics be influenced by you becoming a mother since your previous record?

I’m actually doing a covers record. I think there’ll be one original [song] on there, and it’ll be a bonus track. This [album] has been in the works. The stuff that I’m writing … is interesting. You have to be careful that you don’t get terribly sappy. [She jokes in a sing-song voice] “I love everything.”

Do you think you’ll have another child?

I want to. I really want to. I’m 39. A part of me wishes I started 10 years ago, but I know where I was 10 years ago. Ten years ago, I was getting nominated for an Academy Award, and the whole thing was just sort of beginning and roiling and boiling — and there was no way! I’m expecting to have another baby at some point. And if I don’t, it’ll be fine, because I’ve got my Henry. So we’ll see.

How has motherhood affected how you want to choose projects. Anthony Edwards says that being on a series like “ER” helped him be home more often for his kids …

It’s kind of what I want to do. I want to get a show so I can be home. That’s my plan.

You’ve done a tour for every album you’ve done. Will you take Henry on tour?

Oh yeah. He goes everywhere I go.

What would you say if Henry wants to be an actor when he grows up?

I would say, “Good luck! Good luck and I’ll always cook for you when you’re totally broke.” [She laughs.]

You’ve been able to maintain your dignity in dealing with the paparazzi and how they literally stalk celebrities …

I have it easier than a lot of people. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t know how you would live in the world of Angelina Jolie or Jennifer Aniston and being stalked. It’s just brutal.

So what do you wish would change about how celebrities are covered by the media?

There should be legislation about children. In England, we have laws where [the paparazzi] can’t take pictures of children, because of things that can be done on the Internet — and that should be addressed in this country … That is legislation that should categorically be passed. And when you children get frightened, when [the paparazzi] are up in your face, with flashing light bulbs, it’s scary for them … There’s something rabid about those photographers as well, because they’re not seeing you as humanity; they’re seeing you as what they can sell to magazines.

And those editors [who use paparazzi photos] have a responsibility that they’re not taking. They say, “Well, the public has an appetite [for these photos].” Well, the public didn’t have an appetite before. They [the editors] can say, “We’re not going to publishing photographs of such-and-such, endless photographs of babies on the swings in parks and on play dates.” It’s gross! Those poor children have done nothing to deserve it to be born to famous parents. I don’t think a public has a right to [intrude on] a childhood. What I chose to do is my business. My son didn’t choose it.

That’s where I stand on it, and it’s hard, because I haven’t gotten in trouble with those guys [the paparazzi] yet, but God knows, if they did anything to come near my kid and do something … If you see me in jail, come and support me with a banner. Get moms together!

Source.

Minnie Driver has said that she will never film another movie role while heavily pregnant.

The actress stars as parent-to-be Sheila in Motherhood alongside Uma Thurman and Anthony Edwards.

Driver told Parade: “They needed an actress to play pregnant, but I offered them the real thing. I was so pregnant in this film that I was in a kind of different world.

“You shouldn’t really be on a film set when you’re that pregnant, you need to be at home with your feet up. I wouldn’t do it again.”

She added: “They took care of me. They were lovely and very sweet, but you should be getting ready for your baby to come and taking it easy, you shouldn’t be out making movies. Now, I’m back to work and taking [my son] with me on film sets.

“It was incredibly challenging. The first one I did, Betty Anne Waters with Hilary Swank, when Henry was five months old, was really hard. We were in Michigan in the middle of winter and it was ten below. I was like, ‘What am I doing?’.”

The star also said that she is planning to record another album now that her son has stopped breastfeeding.

MINNIE DRIVER is keen to become a mum again because her baby son HENRY has brought so much joy to her life.
The Good Will Hunting star gave birth to her firstborn a year ago (Sep08) and now she wants more kids.
She says, “I’ve waited a long time to have children because I had this career that was kind of like my kid. It required as much nurturing and as much attention.
“But I was absolutely ready to be a mother. I would like to have more children. I’d like Henry to have a brother and a sister. I think it would be nice for him. There’s no amount of hassle that could ever be bigger than my love of Henry and the hilarity and joy that he has brought into my life.”

Minnie looked absolute stunning at the opening night gala for Cirque du Soleil’s Kooza, and it looks like she brought her new love?

Pictures has been added to the gallery and below you’ll find a short interview with Minnie on the red carpet.

GALLERY LINKS:
2009 Appereances: Cirque du Soleil’s Kooza – Opening Night Gala

Added some gorgeous pictures of Minnie at the premiere of Motherhood. She looked beautiful like she always do!

GALLERY LINKS:
2009 Appereances: Premiere of ‘Motherhood’ hosted by Gotham magazine

Minnie Driver’s 13-month-old son is a “handsome flirt”.

The 39-year-old actress claims Henry is already a hit with the ladies, and draws admirers wherever he goes.

She said: “He blows kisses at ladies in the supermarket. He’s a big flirt! Big blue eyes, white-blonde head of hair – he’s very handsome.”

Minnie – who has not revealed the identity of Henry’s father -is amazed by how quickly her son is growing up.

She explained to In Touch Weekly magazine: “He’s walking, he’s starting to say a few words, he snuggles with the dog. He is just heaven!”

Minnie is not the only celebrity to have a flirty son.

Gwen Stefani’s three-year-old Kingston – her child with Gavin Rossdale, who she also has 13-month-old Zuma with – is hugely popular with his playmates.

A source said: “All the little girls in Kingston’s class are enamoured of him. He is a total flirt! They are constantly surrounding him, especially at story time. He is very popular.”

New pictures of Minnie at Annette Tatum’s book signing for her new book The Well-Dressed Home. You can view previews of the pictures below.

GALLERY LINKS:

2009 Appereances: Annette Tatum’s book signing for her new book ‘The Well-Dressed Home’

Just over a year ago, shooting was underway on a Katherine Dieckmann project. Just over a year ago, Minnie Driver was pregnant with her first child. Now not only do we have Motherhood hitting theaters but we also have a mini Driver, Henry.

Dieckmann never planned for Driver’s character, struggling mother Eliza’s (Uma Thurman) best pal Sheila, to be pregnant, but since Driver was sporting a baby bump at the time and since the movie was about motherhood, why not? She admits it was extremely difficult trudging around the set during a New York City heat wave, but is thankful that she can look back on Motherhood and remember this monumental time in her life.

Celebrity babies gracing the pages of tabloids may be all the rage, but paparazzi be aware; if you get in Driver’s way she’ll probably just blog about it, but if you get in Henry’s she won’t take that so lightly.

If you could blog about anything what would it be?
Driver: Whoa. Well, I’m actually writing at the moment this thing. Sometimes when you see these pictures, like when you’re followed by paparazzi, I would love people to know really what the history is behind an actual photograph that when they – what was going on, like what actually preceded it, what went before the kind of day you were having to sort of humanize that experience so that people go ‘It’s not just that kind of oh, they shouldn’t whine about being photographed’ but somehow to go, you know, ‘I’d actually had five stitches in my foot that day, my son had fallen over and we were on our way to the pediatrician and I was running and this paparazzi wouldn’t get out of the way.’ Whatever it is, like whatever things that sort of go on I think that, I don’t, I always thought that’d be kind of interesting to blog about just cause it’s an angle that people, you know, you read one of those hellish magazines and you’re sort of like ‘ Oh look, she got kinda fat!’ And that’s sort of it and it’s like, wait a minute, there’s a person in here and a story and a life and a human being and I like the idea of humanizing this rather than cannibalizing celebrity.

Would you do that on a personal website?
Driver: No, I’m going to do it in a book I think which I might publish, you know, electronically, I don’t know. But I certainly – it’s tying in with actually with a, something, sort of a bigger thing but that’s one aspect of it. So, yeah, I think I’d blog about that. I probably end up will be blogging about that quite soon. The this is that seems how books are done these days.

It’s a great way to test the material and see how people respond.
Driver: I think so! Definitely get very immediate, you know, people leave comments, ‘This sucks! I don’t care. What are you wearing to the Oscars?’ [Laughs]

What’s the one thing about parenting that’s thrown you?
Driver: The love. The unquantifiable love. It just takes my breath away. My son’s face in the morning, or if I hear him ‘Mama, Mama, Mama’ and I go and he’s just sitting there in his crib, in the dark cause, you know, often he wakes up early it’s still dark outside. When I turn the lights on he’s like ‘Mama!’ And it’s just, it feels like Christmas. It’s just, you know, the thing of loving something more than you can – it is, it’s sometimes terrifying and I can’t, you can’t really go there. You can’t go there thinking of the absence of that. You know, it’s so, it’s so extraordinary and I, you know, everyone tells you that and everyone says that. You can’t know until you have it. It just blows your mind. Yeah, Henry.

How was it acting in this movie while you were pregnant?

Driver: It was horrible. I don’t recommend it. It was really sort of a great idea. It was me in my previous incarnation thinking ‘Oh! It’ll be fun!’ I’d just been on tour and that had been a bit tough but I was like ‘Oh, it’ll be fine. It’s a small part.’ You forget, like, it was a heat wave in New York. It was 100 degrees. You’re on New York City streets, the stink, I’m in a long sleeve t-shirt with overalls, I was so hot and uncomfortable and waiting around. You should just be at home.

How many months were you?
Driver: I was seven and a half months.

That wasn’t even a very small part. You’re in a lot of the movie.
Driver: Really?

I thought your character had a big impact.
Driver: I’m glad that she had a – that’s good. I think that she had a big impact but I don’t think I did – I hung around more than I worked which is usually fine, if you’re not that’s part and parcel. I rarely noticed it cause I was so pregnant. And we went over a little bit and I had to stay longer than I’d anticipated and I remember I was close to tears one evening and I was on the phone with my mom and I was like ‘I just [gasp] want to go home and iron [gasp] onesies. I just, I just want to do laundry mom.’ She was laughing and she goes ‘You’ll have plenty of time to do laundry, love. Don’t worry. There’s loads coming.’ But I did want to be nesting. I’m glad I did it. I just think, I said before, when you’re – the greater part, in fact, the whole of my adult working life ahs been chronicled on film and this, I didn’t want this part to be an exception. I’m really glad that I made it selfishly just to have him, you k now, for my own history.

Is there anything happening with the Riches?
Driver: Oh yeah, it was totally eighty sixed; 100%. Yeah, it was devastating. Really sad. Really, really awful. It’s just terrible when a, you know, a great show is canceled. But I’ve made a couple of really beautiful films this year. Really amazing, I just finished one, that’ll be great.

Can you tell us more about that?
Driver: Yeah! I just finished this movie in Montreal with Dustin Hoffman, Paul Giamatti and, which will be I truly believe kind of epic and wonderful. And then the one before that was with Hilary Swank and she was absolutely incredible and Sam Rockwell and Juliette Lewis, just beyond amazing actors. And Peter Gallagher and that’s going to be great.

Do you have anything coming up?
Driver: I’m just about to make another record. No, I’ve worked back to back and had a baby. [Laughs] I’ve got to have break! Hold on! I don’t actually but stuff usually comes up but there – I need to do the record. I need to do this cause it needs to be done before I think next year it’s going to be busy.

What would you say if Henry wants to be an actor when he grows up?
Driver: I would say good luck! [Laughs] Good luck and I’ll always cook for you when you’re totally broke.

Minnie Driver has been seen kissing a mystery man in Santa Monica, California on thursday afternoon (Oct. 8).

The “Good Will Hunting” actress kissed her gentleman caller goodbye and hopped into her car shortly after she realized that there were shutterbugs nearby.

CHICAGO — Chicago International Film Festival founder Michael Kutza wants his event to take the city’s mind off last week’s loss of the 2016 Summer Olympics to Rio de Janeiro.

The 45th edition of the Windy City festival kicks off Thursday with Katherine Dieckmann’s high-energy comedy “Motherhood,” starring Uma Thurman, Anthony Edwards and Minnie Driver.

Kutza is hoping Dieckmann’s film, as well as Lars von Trier’s “Antichrist,” Russian director Valery Todorovsky’s “Hipsters,” Lee Daniels’ “Precious,” Ken Loach’s “Looking for Eric” and local favorite Brian Caunter’s “Chicago Overcoat,” fill seats and garner attention.

“We’ve searched out first- and second-time filmmakers for the past 45 years,” Kutza said. “We’re always looking for that brand-new director.”

Kutza is keen on Todorovsky’s musical “Hipsters,” which travels to 1955 Soviet Russia to glimpse young Russians getting a taste of American hype and greed. He wants it to be this year’s “Slumdog Millionaire.” He also points to Romania’s Corneliu Porumboiu-directed “Police, Adjective,” which carried home trophies from Cannes, along with John Woo’s “Red Cliff” and Daniels’ “Precious” as the top films he has secured.

The founder started the event in the mid-’60s — making it one of the oldest ongoing U.S. fests — with “Who’s That Knocking at My Door,” which helped launch the career of Martin Scorsese. The CIFF has since brought new films from Werner Fassbinder, Wim Wenders, Quentin Tarantino and Andy Davis, among others. Kutza also championed “Slumdog” last year, and the CIFF had a U.S. premiere of Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds” this summer.

This year, all 112 films will unspool at one of the Loews Complex downtown theaters, which Kutza said is something the audience wants.

Kutza also responded to criticism from Sony Pictures Classics co-partner Tom Bernard that the fest was not that aggressive in soliciting films from that company for inclusion.

“Chicago wasn’t banging on our door a lot,” Bernard told the Chicago Tribune.

Fest coordinator Mimi Plauche said she discussed taking several SPC titles, including “Broken Embraces,” which is closing the New York Film Festival, but the logistics didn’t work out.