After first hitting the big screen ten years ago, the Spy Kids franchise, Spy Kids 4: All the Time in the World in 4D is on its fourth run opening in theaters this past weekend.
Of course, the film’s leading lady Jessica Alba is back for more action and more world saving.
Between pregnancy, promoting her new movie and starting a baby line, the actress has a lot on her plate.
We got a chance to hear some of the bombshell’s thoughts on how she balances it all, her urge to jump back to work after birth and looking for an action film.
Check out Jessica’s thoughts below.
GlobalGrind: What did you think about playing a spy and a mom?
Jessica Alba: I thought it was cool. I’m a fan of Robert Rodriguez’s kids movies. I love he empowers kids through his movies, it’s not just the grown ups that get to do all the cool action and take part in saving the world, it’s the kids and I think that’s really neat. He knew that I wanted to do a kid’s movie after I had my daughter. When he suggested it, I was like, cool. The only thing was I thought maybe I was too young to play the mother of the grown kids. Being a first time mom was fine, but we settled on them being step-kids.
It was very important for you to have many concepts of a working mother, to show how she juggles different things.
Yeah, it was also nice to see someone in a movie who struggles with it and who isn’t perfect at doing it all and is also torn between working and staying home. I think those were all things that moms or parents really can relate to. It’s tough to go back to work and to spend so much time away from your kid, but then you have to make a living. It’s also important to hang on to your own identity and be a good example. So there’s all these things that you struggle with as a parent and I thought it would be nice to have that in the movie.
How helpful was it being a parent playing this character and working with kids?
I think it was helpful and I don’t know if I would have even done this movie if I weren’t a parent. I actually brought my real life experience to work for sure.
Check out what Jessica Alba has to say on the roles she picks, pregnancy and more on the following pages.
[pagebreak]
Do you find this role more natural?
Yeah, probably because I’ve been in a lot of those circumstances.
So does being a mom affect the kind of roles that you’re taking on?
Not really, it’s more about the time commitment and the people I’m working with more than anything. I won’t just take a job for a paycheck necessarily. Before, it was more like what’s the distribution, what’s it going to do for my career, how big is the paycheck. It was financial and then it was also career driven. Now it’s, am I going to grow as an actor and is this going to be challenging, do I absolutely love this character, do I respect the filmmaker, is it going to be six months out of the year or is it going to be two weeks? So I’ve taken jobs that aren’t really time consuming and are more creatively fulfilling.
What’s your ideal next project?
I’d like to do an action movie. I haven’t really done action, like real action, since Dark Angel. It would be really fun to get back in that game.
How do you think you’ve grown as an actress since Dark Angel?
I’m much more of a risk taker and more fearless now than I was when I was 18. I was much more self aware and I cared too much about what people thought of me and now I really don’t. I probably should.
You have a thicker skin now?
JI do and it’s kind of like if you don’t like it, then whatever, moving on, it’s not the end of the world. Where when I was doing Dark Angel I was such a people pleaser.
[pagebreak]
Is there anything you have in production right now? Or is having your child the next thing and then you worry about your career after?
I’m working a TV show and a movie idea, two different writers and directors and then I’m working on a baby line that I’ve been working on for like two years that’s going to come out in the fall. I’m just working on that and once I get my body back together and I’m mentally ready to get back to work, I’m really going to be looking for an action movie.
So having a baby line is going to be something you can do as a mom. You won’t have to go on set and work from your house.
Yeah, it’s going to be online so I have an office and work out of the office.
Is pregnancy the second time around easier and do you have any crazy cravings?
We’ll see. I really crave watermelon. I think it’s because it’s summer and it’s hot. I think a lot of people probably crave watermelon.
How many more kids would you like to have?
I don’t know. I can’t really imagine having anymore. Well, I’m at the end of a pregnancy it’s kind of a cruel question to ask. ‘You’ve been pregnant for almost a year now. Want to have more?’ It’s like, ‘Ugh, I can’t really imagine that right now.’
