Mira Sorvino
The Oscar-winning actress on her second baby and new film.
by Mina Hochberg
October 23, 2007
Elle Fanning started acting at age three. Did working with her make you think about how you would feel if your own kids wanted to act?
Elle really impressed me as a young lady. Whatever her parents are doing it's the right thing for her because she seems happy and doesn't seem to have lost her childhood to this business. I don't think, though, that I will let my children do anything more than maybe a cameo on something that we're doing, so that when we see the movie they could be like, "There's me, Mommy!" Because children have to work like the adults. They have shorter time frames, but they're performing a job and they have to meet the expectations of a whole movie studio. And that's a lot to put on a little head.
You play a music teacher. Do you plan to send your kids to music lessons?
They already go to this little [class] in the city. It starts off with puppets and then it goes to the kids all having individual maracas or xylophones. Then they have one major instrument per week that the teacher goes around and plays for each one of them. And then they start introducing concepts like forte and piano and notes and rests, but they weave it in so seamlessly with all this fun singing and dancing that the kids love it.
How has having kids affected your movie choices?
I find I'm much more selective about the quality of the work. I just want it to be important, good work. And I want it to be a short time frame because I hate being away from home at all. Even on a day level I get sad.
Have you maybe avoided roles that are intense or psychologically draining?
I don't know that that has yet happened. I turned down opportunities that were huge time commitments because I just knew I wasn't gonna be a happy person doing it. Even if it was a good career move or a good money situation, this time is never gonna come again with my kids. I don't wanna rob them of me and I don't wanna rob me of them because sooner When I was a kid you didn't even think about the philosophy of the preschool. We just went to the local church preschool near my house.than you know it they'll be in school and they won't even wanna be around me.
This is looking way down the road, but having gone to Harvard yourself, do you think you'll encourage your kids to go to an academically rigorous university?
I think it's gonna be up to them. I'm still trying to figure out which preschool philosophy I adhere to. There's Montessori, there's Waldorf, there's academic, there's Bank [Street] school, just in New York City alone. When I was a kid you didn't even think about the philosophy of the preschool. We just went to the local church preschool near my house. I almost feel like throwing my hands up and walking away from that whole system. But it depends on what their particular proclivities are. I loved academia. I love studying and writing and reading. I was that geeky kid, so if they're like that I would certainly encourage the path that I took because Harvard was probably the four most fun, exhilarating years of my life, only topped by the last four since I've had [my kids].
©2007 Mina Hochberg and Nerve Media
About the Author
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Mina Hochberg is a movie critic at amNewYork. She lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn. |
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