Helen Hunt: Mastering the Art of Movie Multitasking

If you’ve been wondering what Helen Hunt has been up to her since her Oscar-winning role in “As Good As It Gets” and her Emmy-winning stint on the sitcom “Mad About You,” she’s appeared mainly in independent films. But much of her time has been consumed by her labor of love: the dramedy “Then She Found Me,” Hunt’s debut as a feature-film director. Hunt, 44, is also a star, writer and producer of the film, in which she plays schoolteacher April Epner, who’s going through a series of major life changes: She’s desperate to have a child, but her husband (Matthew Broderick) leaves her; soon afterward, her adoptive mother dies. And then April’s birth mother, Bernice Graves (Bette Midler), contacts her out of the blue. In the midst of all these personal dramas, April falls for a student’s father (Colin Firth), whose wife recently left him. Hunt recently sat down with myLifetime.com to talk about the uphill battles she faced in getting “Then She Found Me” made, what it was like to work with legendary entertainer Bette Midler, and lessons she’s learned along the way.

What’s the real story behind getting this movie made?

I read the novel [“Then She Found Me”] 10 years ago. It’s very different from the movie … The mother of April’s story is there, but neither of the men are in the book. There’s no wish for a baby in the book. I tried at first to get [the movie] made as an actress, staying very faithful to the novel adaptation. I’ll skip the boring part where I rewrote it a little bit. And I then put it away for a while and did other movies myself, but it stayed with me. It was the one thing on my desk that just kept blinking for me. And very slowly, piece by piece, it came to me.

Stories are better when the main character wants something — I was wanting a baby at the time, and it just seemed conspicuously right as a mother-daughter story … I had read this essay about the betrayal — motherhood as option, family, betrayal — betrayal is what moved me the most. So Matthew’s character and Colin’s character were born out of a desire to tell that story. One betrays her; she betrays the other.

Can you talk about what it was like to direct a movie with a small budget?

I know this is something people say, but it’s true: This movie would not have been as good if I had a ton of money to make it. Something would’ve gotten messed up. I don’t know what it would’ve been. Some of the ideas I had wouldn’t have happened, because I would’ve had money to buy the thing [instead]. Colin [Firth’s character] talks about his wife, who was a painter who left [and she’s] painting the world with her boyfriend, he says. So I wanted to have paintings in the house to make an impression. There are paintings on the kids’ walls. I couldn’t hire someone to be that painter; I’ve been on movies where they’ve done that. A friend of mine who’s a wonderful painter … I used his work. He came out there and painted on the wall … Choices that I made that were interesting and specific because I couldn’t afford to buy one.

How important is it for you to have creative control of your movies now that you know what it’s like to be a feature-film director?

I had just about total creative control, which is one of the benefits of having 10 cents to make the movie. There was nobody standing next to me saying, “Do it like this.” So that was the bad news and the good news: I didn’t have anybody to turn to, so that put me back to myself, and it was very satisfying. I would love it if somebody would hand me some beautiful part where I could just come out of my trailer when I’m ready … I can barely remember what that’s like, but that would be great. I also like making movies like this. I also wrote another one that I’m going to work to get made. It’s an original idea. Tonally it’s similar [to “Then She Found Me”]: It’s funny and dramatic. It’s about mothering, but in a very different way. There’s a 17-year-old boy who’s the lead in it, and I know nothing about 17-year-old boys. I’m hoping to meet one so I can do a better job of writing him.

What was it like to juggle the genres of romance, comedy and drama?

Of all the things I was nervous about, I was never nervous about that. Many of the people who passed on making the movie said, “We can’t tell if it’s a comedy or drama. We wouldn’t know how to sell it. It’s got famous people, but it’s a little independent movie.” I had no trouble keeping the tone in my head. My favorite movies are disarming by being funny and then hit me over the head by being honest. To me, it’s a win-win. I can go to my favorite art house and see actors that I know. The tone of the movie, I knew that it would work.

What advice would you give for first-time feature directors who are directing themselves as actors?

There was one moment when I had a relatively large amount of money to make this movie, I thought, and it fell apart. We were all at a particularly low point, thinking this would be a foolish exercise to get this movie made. It’s like, “How many versions of ‘no’ can you hear?” And I said to the manager of the sales company, “You’ve seen this happen. Who gets their movie made?” And he said, “It’s the people who don’t give up. There’s no magic formula.”

What’s the most important thing you’ve learned from other directors?

I’ve learned what I want to be and what I don’t want to be as a director. The best directors I work for know the movie they want to make. They’re clearly the boss: “Everybody relax, I know what I’m doing.” The best ones take suggestions from an actor who clearly knows the part better than how you wrote it. They take suggestions from all members of the crew …

The movie I made before this one was “Bobby,” and Emilio Estevez [the film’s writer-director], like his father [Martin Sheen], is the kindest, most gracious guy. [Estevez] was wrangling Anthony Hopkins, Lindsay Lohan and Sharon Stone and Bill Macy and not enough money and a period movie. He did it always with more elegance and grace than I had … That sort of sets the bar.

What was it like to work with Bette Midler?

I didn’t know her [before we did this movie]. I needed someone funny … someone with a good ear, and she’s got the best ear in the business. Her agent suggested that I look at “The Rose” again, which I had seen originally, but when I saw it again, I realized this wasn’t some accident, lightning in a bottle that a director captured. This is one of the great female performances on screen. And it had an independent quality. If she’s going to be in “The First Wives’ Club,” she’s going to be in “The First Wives’ Club.” But if she’s going to be in this movie, she’s going to be in this movie.

Who do you think should watch this movie?

I do feel like there is this middle place for “The Good Girl” and “Juno” and hopefully this [film]. There’s an audience for people who want to see grown-up movies that are also a pleasure to watch, and my hope is that these are the people who will come see this movie. I’m hoping it will appeal to those who have a sense of humor.