Minnie Driver claims producers for 1998’s Hard Rain told her she couldn’t wear a wetsuit because “they wanted to see my nipples.”
The Good Will Hunting actress said on Mondays’ episode of the I Weigh with Jameela Jamil podcast that she was made to feel like “an idiot” when she pushed back on a costume decision for the disaster action thriller, despite filming in “20 million gallons of water.”
“It’s set during this massive storm,” she explained. “There were huge rain machines. We shot crazy hours. It was tough. … Everybody else could wear a wetsuit underneath their costume, and I was told by the producers that I couldn’t because they wanted to see my nipples, and that there was no point in having the wet T-shirt if you couldn’t have what was underneath it.”
Hard Rain costume designer Kathleen Detoro told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement Wednesday that “the costume department ordered custom made to order wets suits for all cast (including Minnie Driver) and crew,” adding that “cast had many wetsuits, full, shorties, tops bottoms and booties.” She concluded, “No expense was spared. The film took place in the water and flood for almost the entire film.”
Driver didn’t name the producers in her comments on Monday, but added that she didn’t “understand that this is what’s going on” when she challenged the decision at the time and was ultimately “punished” for it.
“I remember saying this is wrong. I remember calling my agent,” the Speechless actress said. “I then remember it being like, boy, people wouldn’t speak to me on the set. I was so punished for it. It was leaked to the press that I called and complained about conditions, but it was as if there was nothing to complain about and I was just complaining. It’s this gaslighting. Media gaslighting that’s supported by the environment that you’re in. … So eventually, you do turn on yourself, you do go, ‘It’s my fault for saying anything, you stupid big mouth. You should’ve shut up.’”
Hard Rain, directed by Mikael Salomon and starring Morgan Freeman and Christian Slater, sees a small town forced to evacuate when torrential rains bring rising flooding waters. However, local residents learn a group is planning a heist of $3 million from local banks during the disaster and work to stop it.
The film’s producers Ian Bryce, Mark Gordon and Gary Levinsohn couldn’t be reached for comment.
