Elizabeth Banks on Being an Actress and a New Mom: “You push through just like any other working mom”

Maternity leave?  Not for Elizabeth Banks.  The actress now has a five-month old son Felix with her husband Max Handelman, yet Banks admits to People that although she isn’t doing such a great job of balancing motherhood and her career she has no plans on turning any roles down because she is a new parent. 

She tells People, “I’m not really a break-taker.  I’ll just keep on going, and then we’ll see. You do it. You push through just like any other working mom.  I don’t want to say I take it day by day, but I pretty much take it month by month. My life is now in monthly increments.”

Still, Banks does claim that she understands why new mothers do often take time away from their occupations for their children, explaining,  “The thing about motherhood is it’s a full-time job and everything else gets piled onto it.  I don’t think I ever really understood that until it came into my life. You put so much of your brain energy, and your emotional and psychological energy into, ‘Where is he? What is he doing?’ that it’s almost hard to concentrate on anything else.”  Read more

Uma Thurman talks ‘Motherhood’

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Here’s another group interview group interview that my favorite mom blogger Jen (@mammamania on Twitter) was able to weasel me into.

I couldn’t ask questions but that was fine… it’s Uma Thurman. How could I say no?

I edited down the interview to things dealing with this website.. and to the parts where her cell phone didn’t cut out.

In an earlier conversation that we all had with Catherine she told us that she was really moved, moved to tears actually, watching one scene in particular.  It was you and Anthony Edwards sitting in a car towards the end of the film.  And she said that it was actually her favorite scene.  And we were just wondering if you could share anything about what was going on in that scene, what was it for you to act that scene, because it obviously made a real impression on her?
It’s a scene where I guess in a way the character of Eliza, which Catherine wrote, basically is explaining why she, what the source of her unhappiness is, and how she is basically is getting lost in the minutia of her domestic life, has lost herself in that service and has lost a sense of purpose.

I think something obviously drew you to motherhood and specifically Eliza’s character.  So, I’m wondering what do you feel is authentic about how motherhood is portrayed in the movie and how will we, meaning audiences, really be able to relate to that?
I think first of all, you know, this is a story where the mother is actually central to the experience, where she is the one being seen through her actions.  She’s not there to focus your attention in a role of how the mother relates to the person of interest who is either a man or a child.  You kind of have, you know, mothers are often used in narrative.  Filling in the blanks, per se, about another character, but it’s not really about them, themselves.  And I just think, you know, Catherine’s character was so honest,  you know, I mean she’s someone who’s chosen to be a stay-at-home mother and yet she’s struggling with that decision.  And feels fulfilled but at the same time compromised in a way at times by you know being in total baby land and not stimulating other sides of herself that are obviously important.  And I like that she has flaws, you know, I like that she has anger issues and yet she still loves her kids.  She’s funny and charming and she’s just sort of real.

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Anthony Edwards talks to Daily Actor (sort of!) about becoming a better actor as you get older, working in NYC and much more

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Anthony Edwards is starring in the new film, Motherhood (also starring Uma Thurman), and he recently had a group call with who else? Mothers.

Now, since I’m not a mother, I wasn’t able to participate in this estrogen fest but I was able to sneak on the line courtesy of my friend Jen. Jen (@mammamania on Twitter) runs the blog mom blog, HipAsIWannbe.

Anyway, the moms asked some great questions about the film, the life of an actor and working in New York City.

So, with that, here’s Anthony… and a bunch of moms!

Question: I’m the parent of four and I understand the amount of chaos that’s inherent to be a parent. I’m wondering, how do you balance those demands with a career in film and TV. Specifically, when you’re on location.

Anthony Edwards: Well, for me, the first priority is hanging with the kids and I’ve been really lucky because of the success of ER. I’ve had these years here where I’ve been with just the kids. So going to work is the weird thing for me. I always feel like I have to get back to the kids to get the balance because the work doesn’t give it to me.

Q. How has this film changed the view that you have of your wife or even of your daughters.

Anthony Edwards: I guess the reason why I took this film is because when I read it, it seemed like a very organic and real thing. It really kind of reminded me of what the dynamic in a family is like. In my case, I have a very creative and strong wife who’s a mother and hearing her frustrations and her experiences. , the way that Katherine Dieckmann wrote this film, it just felt very real in a way that I hadn’t seen in film. I guess I found it comforting in a way when you have things you can relate too. Even if they aren’t the prettiest things, you have a sense of community.

Q: How does your experience with fatherhood and being a parent influence your characters whether the role is a parent or not.

A. I find that as an actor, you want to draw from all of your experiences. I think there’s a reason why actors can get better and why older actors often have so much richer performances in later parts of their career. Because, every experience you have that you deal with fully effects how you work as an artist. So if you’re going to portray a father, whatever you’re portraying, if you don’t have those life experiences, you’re faking a lot of it. Even though acting is faking, the truth is you want to fake it really well . And the best way to fake something is understand the experience in a deep way.

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