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How are you doing?
It comforts me knowing that everyone is going through the same thing.
But celebrities have been really coming in for it.
Thats the extent of our duties right now.
Dont say anything about what youre doing, because, oh my God.
Its bad right now.
I loved your Instagram about being pantsdrunk.
A post shared by Min.
Anything thats like, You know, Im just doing laps in my pool nobody wants to hear that!
Dont say that you feel likeyoure in jail.
Just open a bottle of wine and wander around in your underwear like everybody else.
And they were so annoyed.
They were like, Why not?
I mean, I would enjoy that specific content.It may yet happen.
Were only in April.
like join me on Instagram Live.
Im just there with my bar cart and a bunch of vodka.
Chicago in the summer!
Which I know, if anyone who lives there, its super-intense and so insanely hot.
But for essentially a tourist, I had a bike, and Id ride all over the city.
Which Id visit every day becauseI fell in love with the apes.
Id go hang out on my days off.
The great apes would spit water on me and the chimpanzees would scream at me.
But that movie is Chicago to me.
That beautiful city, being by the lake.
I was so happy.
Id ride my bike to set, and we had these amazing thunderstorms.
I remember just sitting byCarroll OConnor and Robert Loggiaand asking questions about their lives and movies and the theater.
Id just sit and listen at their feet.
God, we had such a laugh.
That neighborhood is so beautiful.
Did you live around there while filming?Are you?!
I lived in this apartment right byCabrini Green.
The crew were horrified that I would ride my bike directly through Cabrini Green.
I got to know all of the dudes there by name, like, Hey, Joey!
I have a very positive memory of Chicago.
Its like the back lot of a movie studio, that neighborhood.
We were all at this breaking point.
Suddenly, there was the biggest crack of thunder and smash of lightning, and the heavens opened.
I remember all of us just standing outside, getting drenched, because we were so hot.
I have such intense memories from that movie because it was such an incredibly happy time.
It was so unusual to have a female filmmaker, who wrote and directed it, in 2000.
Were a long ways away from that being kind of the norm.
David Duchovny is one of the smartest hes exactly as you would imagine.
Hes as funny and smart as he is handsome and charming.
Id barely worked with any women in that capacity.
It was completely different, and it was amazing.
Bonnie is the triple threat: a great actress, a great writer, a great director.
And shes from Chicago.
There was so much ease about what I imagine was a very pressured situation for her.
It was literally her baby.
A big movie,ish, at the time MGM and it was a big deal.
I loved watching her enjoy it.
What stressed her out making this film?Ill tell you what.
Absolutely epic to be shooting in Rome in the summer.
Hes refusing to launch the freight elevator to let us onto the rooftop.
And he goes, Hey.
Take your hair out of your ponytail, and go tell the story of the movie to the manager.
I was like, What do you mean?!
I dont speak good Italian.
And he was like, Just speak the language of like, a pretty girl.
I managed to tell the guy the whole story.
I tell the whole story like I was at The Moth.
Everyone was stumped, and David was like, Just go be a signorina.
He was like, Use your superpower!
I rub it into the roots of my hair instead of putting it on the end.
And its a magical elixir.
The likes of which Ive never come across in any other hair product.
I was basically drafting on the back ofGood Will Huntingand having become overwhelmingly well-known.
I was just kind of freewheeling, taking projects I really liked and living in L.A.
I bought a house, I was 29 years old and it was an amazing time.
I felt super-free and like I was enjoying my life.
I was young and in a business that I loved.
They were pretty halcyon days.
Return to Meis the sort of story that could very easily not work.
What made you believe in its quality?I had breakfast with Bonnie.
Ill never forget it.
At the Four Seasons, which is so fancy.
In England, breakfast is literally tea and toast.
You dont go out.
And Bonnie is just the most disarming, wonderful mixture of so hilariously funny and so articulate.
She had the clearest vision of the story.
It wont be a maudlin melodrama.
Well shoot this as if it really did happen.
And I just believed her.
And all you have as an actor is your instinct about people.
Hes a big actor, and [his daughter] Mira Sorvino is a big actor.
He looks at me and he goes, No offense, honey.
I mean no offense by this.
And he turns to Bonnie and he says, You should really cast my daughter in this movie.
And he was like, Im just saying.
No offense, Minnie, I think youre wonderful.
It was the most bizarre we thought it was about the funniest thing that ever happened.
She was like, This town is insane.
But we also both went, Wow, what a great dad.
This is like, the third great story youve told me in 20 minutes.
I called my dad in the middle of the night.
Matt [Damon] and Ben [Affleck] said, I need you to tell a joke.
And I was like, I dont have a joke!
So the only person I knew who had the best jokes ever in my whole life was my dad.
And he goes, Hold on, hold on.
Does it have to be clean?
And I said, No, it can be filthy!
Just tell me a joke.
And that was the joke my father told me at 4 oclock in the morning.
And it ended up in the movie.
What was the airplane joke?Oh my God.
Its such a great joke.
You know how they have to do an airplane-rated version?
So we recorded it at the time.
And hes clinging on the side of the cliff.
And its 100 feet below him, and hes gonna fall to his death.
And he calls out, Oh my God, help, is there anybody there?
And hes hovering over John, whos clinging to the cliff.
And he goes, John, let go!
And all will be well!
And John looks over his shoulder at God and goes, Is there anybody else?
[Laughs loudly.]
I love how well you remember that.I remember all of my dads jokes.
He and my mother were both great storytellers.
I never watch that movie, really, but if I ever catch it on the telly …
I wonder if people think that about actors that they sit around watching their own films, enjoying it.
How often do people bring that joke up with you?It gets referenced a lot.
A lot, actually.
Which is why I did it with an Irish accent.
I mean, it was all just so weird.
And he lovedSpeechless.He loved it.
And he lovedAbout a Boy.But most of my movies arent very kid-friendly.
Hes totally on track for lovingGrosse Pointe Blank.
He loves that humor.
Hed think theres too much kissing inReturn to Me.
In the early scenes ofReturn to Me, youre playing a woman on the verge of death.
At one point your eyes are taped shut for surgery and youre in a coma.
Because the film is so full of life.
It was a really tricky line that Bonnie walked with that.
Have you ever worked as a server?Oh, yeah.
I was fired from so many waitressing jobs.
Mostly because I complained about handsy fucking customers.
Having your bottom patted or your boobs talked about.
And Id answer back.
I look back and Im really glad that every single persons hand was slapped away.
Theyre lucky they didnt get spaghetti in their lap.
That was the only straight-up romantic comedy.
But there are people who do that a lot better than me.
I think Im a little more off-center, perhaps.
I think the characters I play are a little more unhinged.
Why do you think that is?
Are you a little off-center?I wouldnt describe myself as unhinged.
She was this beautiful, straightforward, loving, loved person.
How do you feel about where you are now?Well, golly.
Im still here, is what I have on my T-shirt.
Its not a patient business for women getting older.
Im a creative being.
I made a life here.
I have a production company now, and we have projects set.
Thats my next chapter.
