“It’s one of my strong points, being awful, but relatable,” Driver joked.
“They’re called anti-heroes. They’re funny and they’re strong and diverse and interesting,” Minnie Driver told The Hollywood Reporter during the Comedy Actress Roundtable, how “unlikable” male characters are portrayed differently than “unlikable” female characters, noting her Speechless character. “If it’s something that you celebrate, someone’s diverse emotion, then that’s interesting as an actor. I like it. That’s got ‘likability’ written all over it.”
“I hate saying that we’re created out of some sort of patriarchal idea, but we sort of are. You’re not given that many iterations of what it means to be a woman in film and television,” said Driver.
“Now being the ‘Golden Age of Television,’ I think, where you can do whatever you want. You can write whatever you want, you can direct it how you want, and you can embody it. You can be unlikable and explore what that looks like. Nobody is one thing.”
More roundtables featuring comedy and drama actresses, actors, showrunners and reality creators will continue through July in print and online. Tune in to new episodes of Close Up With The Hollywood Reporter starting May 25 on Sundance TV, and look for clips at THR.com/topic/roundtables with full episodes on THR.com after broadcast.