‘Good Will Hunting’ Star Minnie Driver was Told She Wasn’t ‘hot enough’ to Star in Film

Minnie Driver is reflecting on a “devastating” moment in her life.

The actress, who recently wrote a new book titled “Managing Expectations: A Memoir in Essays,” alleged that a producer told her she wasn’t “hot enough” to star in the 1997 film “Good Will Hunting.”

“It was devastating,” the 52-year-old told The Cut. “To be told at 26 that you’re not sexy when you maybe just got over all your teenage angst and started to think, you know, ‘Maybe in the right light and the right shoes and the right dress, I’m all right.’”

The British star, who appeared opposite Matt Damon in the film, went on to earn her first Academy Award nomination for the role.

“I certainly had insecurities growing up,” Driver explained. “That I was not gorgeous. I was not super pretty. The idea that that was the currency I was then meant to pursue, and I was meant to try and find ways of making myself prettier. I thank God that I didn’t do a ton of stuff that I could have then gone and done. It could have been way more damaging than it was.”

“I had such a lovely family going, ‘F— that. You’re gorgeous on all these levels. And if one person doesn’t think that you’re pretty enough, f— it,’” she added.

This isn’t the first time that Driver has shared her account. 

Driver first told the story in 2016 during an appearance on “Watch What Happens Live.” Host Andy Cohen asked her about the rudest comment she’s ever received in Hollywood.

“I really can’t name names because then I’ll never work again, and I have to work because I have a mortgage,” said Driver at the time. She did claim that the unnamed producer “did not think I was hot enough to be in that film and did not want me in the film.”

Driver noted that Damon, as well as co-star Ben Affleck and director Gus Van Sant “fought very hard” for her to be in the film.

“I am grateful to them until this day,” she said.