By Iain Blair

Had dinner with Holly Hunter the other night for a piece I’m doing on “Saving Grace,” her acclaimed TNT series. Hadn’t seen her in years but she’s still one of nicest people in the business and amazingly down-to-earth considering all her accomplishments. She’s been nominated for four Academy Awards - for  “Broadcast News,” “The Firm,” “The Piano” and “Thirteen” – and she won the  Best Actress Oscar for her performance in “The Piano.”  “Saving Grace” has also earned nominations for a Screen Actors Guild Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Lead Actress in a Drama Series, and her credits include the Coen brothers’ films “Raising Arizona,” and  “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” with George Clooney and John Turturro and Mike Figgis’ “Time Code.” I asked her how Hollywood’s changed since she started making movies back in the ‘80s, and she told me, “It’s become far more conservative. Indie films were like the Wild West there for a while. There were no rules and people could make whatever they wanted if they kept budgets low. But that’s all changed. I used to make a lot of movies budgeted at $12, 15, 20 million – mid-range movies. But those kind of movies don’t get made now – and if they are, they have to get Julia Roberts. Often if you make a film for just $5 million now, you have to get major stars to do it with you.”

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