CIRCLE OF FRIENDS' STAR MINNIE DRIVER

All About

Minnie Driver

Get the latest photos, news, and more

Minnie Driver has always had an ambition to dance naked in a James Bond movie. ''You know, in the beginning, doing all that woo-woo dancing,'' she says. Well, now her woo-woo dream is coming true: Cast as a country & western lounge singer in Goldeneye, the upcoming 17th 007 installment, she expects she'll get to show her stuff-if the director keeps his promise. That will be a huge departure from Driver's introduction to American audiences in Circle of Friends, in which the 23-year-old English actress plays a dowdy Irish coed stunned by the affections of Chris O'Donnell. At first, she says, the producers weren't convinced this beautiful, 5-foot- 10, and, most important, thin young woman fit the part. ''I begged,'' claims Driver. ''I wanted this role more than I wanted to live.'' To get it she gained 25 pounds and morphed into the kind of young woman who wears big, sturdy clothes and sensible shoes, which is kind of risky for an actress hoping to make a splash in glamour-struck America. Not that life's fair: ''When a man puts on weight for a part, he's called a great actor. When a woman puts on weight for a part, she's called fat,'' she notes, adding, ''Why should we be scared of that perception?'' Director Pat O'Connor (The January Man) agrees: ''It (won't) hurt her at all, playing the homely Benny Hogan. I have not the slightest worry about her future career.'' Up until now, Driver has made her home on the small screen, landing ever greater roles-from a spot on the equivalent of Rescue 911 to her own British TV series, My Good Friend, this spring-since graduating from drama school in 1991. Now she's ready for more movies, and maybe even a move to hazy New York, which she considers a relief from sun-challenged London. But she says she doesn't yet understand America, especially our national obsession with happiness. ''Don't try being unhappy in America,'' she warns. ''Or admitting + it. If you admit it, you have to go on Oprah.'' Actually, maybe she understands America just fine.