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To alleviate some of her own fears, Driver spoke with numerous doctors at UCLA who opened her eyes to the true benefit of the procedure. “I know a woman who is one of five people alive because of a young man’s death. I am still a bit scared, but I have now become an organ donor because it’s the right thing to do.”
For Hunt, one of her greatest achievements in the film was luring actor Carroll O’Connor back to the screen after a 25-year absence. When she initially approached his representatives to send him the script, she was told, ‘Look, he’s rich and he doesn’t need to work’. However, she wrote O’Connor a letter saying how much of a fan she was and that, when she wrote the script, she just pictured him saying all of these words. He called to thank her but politely said that he wasn’t interested. She begged him to at least read the script. He agreed and, a few days later, called Hunt and asked to meet for dinner.
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RETURN TO ME |
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Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures presents
a JLT production.
Prod: Jennie Lew Tugend; Exec prod: CO Erickson, Melanie Greene; Dir: Bonnie Hunt; Scr: Bonnie Hunt, Don Lake, from a story by Hunt, Lake, Andrew Stern, Samantha Goodman; Ph: Laszlo Kovacs; Prod des: Brent Thomas; Cost des: Lis Bothwell; Ed: Garth Craven; Mus: Nicholas Pike.
With David Duchovny (Bob Rueland), Minnie Driver (Grace Briggs), Carroll O’Connor (Marty O’Reilly), Robert Loggia (Angelo Pardipillo), Bonnie Hunt (Megan Dayton), David Alan Grier (Charlie Johnson), Joely Richardson (Elizabeth Rueland), Eddie Jones (Emmett McFadden), James Belushi (Joe Dayton), Marianne Muellerleile (Sophie), William Bronder (Wally Jatczak).
International
distribution: MGM/UA.
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“It was amazing. We had this terrific meal and I just kept talking about how important an element he was to the film,” she recalls. “At the end of the meal, he looked at me and said, ‘OK kid, it looks like I am doing your picture’.”
No one was more excited than Hunt’s mother, who insisted that her cameo be in the same scene as O’Connor’s. “It was hysterical,” says the director. “She has this huge crush on him and, in the scene, he brings her a plate of food. ‘I think he should kiss me’, she says. ‘If I go to his restaurant all the time, he would know me so he should kiss me’. How do you argue with your mother, but I still said no. So, next take, Carroll walks over to her, grabs her face and kisses her right on the lips. It took 10 people to revive her.”
The two families together.
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