Hunt does triple duty in new film

04/07/00- Updated 08:50 AM ET

CHICAGO - When first-time director Bonnie Hunt wanted help filming a movie in her native Chicago, a Hollywood resume didn't get her the star treatment.
Her Wrigley Field roots did.
"It wasn't what movies I've been in. It's, 'What neighborhood did you grow up in?' and 'Don't worry, Bon, we'll take care of it. Block this street off, block that street off. Whatever you need,"' Hunt said.
The quick-witted actress, best known for her supporting roles in movies including The Green Mile and Jerry Maguire, does triple duty as director, co-writer and one of the stars of the new romantic comedy Return to Me.
For Hunt, the leap from acting to writing and directing was a natural one. She started out as a player with Chicago's legendary Second City comedy improv group, where actors are expected to write their own material.
"The great thing about Second City is you're trained there by the audience," Hunt said. "You kind of develop that sixth sense after years of performing about how to ride that roller coaster when you're telling a story through characters. And I think it shows in this movie."
Return to Me, opening Friday, stars David Duchovny and Minnie Driver as Bob Rueland and Grace Briggs, two people fumbling through their return to the dating pool. Bob's wife died the year before, and he's not sure he wants to try again. Grace, meanwhile, doesn't quite know how to explain her recent heart transplant to prospective dates.
Hunt's co-writer, Don Lake, said working with Hunt was "a riot." The two met during the launch of a Second City club in Los Angeles - he had worked in the Toronto cast - and immediately hit it off. They also collaborated on two short-lived television series, The Building and The Bonnie Hunt Show.
"When we write, it kind of feels like we're on stage," Lake said. "We improv all the parts, and we laugh and we cry."
With Hunt as director too, Lake said, he knew the film would turn out the way they imagined it when they wrote the script.
"She's a great storyteller," he said. "She's great with actors."
Before The X-Files launched him to fame, Duchovny starred with Hunt in the 1992 film Beethoven, and they have been friends ever since. And although Driver has been a hot name since Good Will Hunting, Hunt said it wasn't too tough to land a meeting with her - they share an agent.
The hard part, Hunt said, was snagging her own role as Grace's best friend, Megan Dayton.
"I had to audition four times for myself," she deadpanned. "I wasn't even taking my own calls."
Besides Hunt, several other former Second City players - including Jim Belushi - appear in the film. Having so many friends around helped when she put on her director's cap, Hunt said.
"Because of the fact that I'm an actor, and most of the time I'm a supporting player, I have a great deal of empathy and respect for the whole ensemble," she said. "So the actors knew that they had that protection and somebody who has been in their shoes."
In fact, shooting the movie - mostly on location in Chicago, save for a few scenes in Rome - "was like a three-month barbecue," Hunt said. Her six brothers and sisters would visit with their children, who often ended up shagging baseballs with Duchovny.
Lake said Hunt's reputation as a daughter of Chicago eliminated the usual tension neighbors feel when a movie is being filmed next door. He was amazed at the reaction Hunt and Belushi, who play a married couple, got when filming their scenes in suburban Oak Park.
"People would come over with home-baked cookies and cakes," Lake said. "I've never seen that before."
Although the movie could conceivably have been set anywhere, Hunt wanted it filmed in her hometown. She grew up in a neighborhood west of Wrigley Field, home of the Chicago Cubs, and visits often.
"The city is a great character itself, and it's very believable that these neighborhoods and that sense of community and friendship exist there, because it does," she said.
Hunt squeezed in roles in two other movies - The Green Mile and Random Hearts - during pre-production on Return to Me. But even though she played Tom Hanks' wife in the Academy Award-nominated Green Mile, she didn't get an invitation to sit next to him at the Oscars.
"Tom Hanks decided to take Rita instead of me, which I couldn't believe," Hunt joked of Hanks' real-life wife, actress Rita Wilson. "I guess he's just not as Method as I am."