Transplanting Bonnie Hunt
By INGRID RANDOJA

Bonnie Hunt is the 21st-century Eve Arden -- moviedom's perpetual best friend. She's the supporting pal, the woman who helps a depressed heroine laugh at her problems or face her fears. She's done it in Only You, Jerry Maguire, Random Hearts and The Green Mile.
But playing a handy gal pal doesn't necessarily feed the creative juices, and Hunt has branched out to direct, co-write and co-star in the romantic comedy Return To Me.
Sheltered life
The film stars David Duchovny as an architect whose wife is killed in a car accident. Her heart is transplanted into Minnie Driver, who's led a sheltered life with her grandfather (Carroll O'Connor) in a working-class Chicago neighbourhood. It's only a matter of time before they meet.
"Studios wanted me to direct a movie," says Hunt on the line from Los Angeles. "MGM had this body-parts movie -- you know, someone gets a transplant and they keep the memories of the other person. They asked what my writing partner, Don Lake, and I would do with that, and we pitched our scenario."
She's made a very sweet movie about two somewhat inexperienced characters who ooze naivete. It's not a criticism, but rather an observation, and Hunt responds instantly.
"Forget the heart-transplant issue in the movie. There are a lot of women out there who are sexually inexperienced at that age, women who aren't necessarily having sex at 16 or 20. I feel they are under-represented in films, and I wish I could take out the heart-transplant part so I wouldn't have to justify her life.
"Women feel they're either part of the group or not, and it's a really lonely thing when you're not, especially when you're a young girl going to see movies. I went through that. You think everyone else has these incredible romances when they're 15 years old and are in love. You think, 'What's wrong with me?' So it was nice to have a woman in her 20s who didn't know what the heck to do," says Hunt.
Natural charm
You can't help responding to her warm, matter-of-fact tone. Hunt's natural charm and humour have made her a favourite on late-night talk shows; Entertainment Weekly once called her the best guest in America. Hunt's everywoman appeal can be traced back to the fact that she didn't start her working life as a comedian.
After growing up as part of a large Irish family (seven kids), she trained as a nurse and worked specifically with cancer patients. Being the practical woman she is, when comedy and acting called, she kept her nursing job while moonlighting with Chicago's famed Second City comedy troupe. And when it looked like she could survive in show business, she moved to Hollywood, where she snagged supporting roles in movies and wrote, produced and starred in her own short-lived TV series, The Building.
Return To Me is Hunt's love letter to her hometown, the neighbourhood she grew up in and, most of all, her family.
Loving mother
"My mother loved movies," recalls Hunt. "She used to circle it in the TV guide when there was a great old movie on WGN. She'd make Chef Boyardee pizza and wake us up at 11:30 pm to get us ready to watch the movie. It was a big deal. My brother Pat's joke is that every time another kid was born, my mother pressed harder on the dough to spread it around, and by the time I was born you could see right through the pizza.
"But it wasn't just movies, it was storytelling. My dad could sit in a coffee shop and spin a story about something that happened. I love it when people have the group experience of a good story. That's the thrill of seeing our film with an audience. They're having a good time, and that means the most to me.
"You know, I'm very grateful that I get to tell stories. I used to wait for the bus to go to the hospital in my nurse's uniform in minus-20-degree weather, and I know there are still people who do that."

ingridr@nowtoronto.com
NOW APRIL 6-12, 2000 | 109