Sarah Jessica Parker Interview - I Don't Know How She Does It

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By Anthony Morris

Interview with Sarah Jessica
Star of I Don't Know How She Does It

The publicity machine around Sarah Jessica Parker is a well-oiled one. Paired off with another journalist (Let's say I'm Journalist A and he's Journalist B), we're given eight minutes to speak to her about her new movie, the comedy about a hard-working mother I Don’t Know How She Does It.

To make matters worse – eight minutes is roughly half the time usually allotted for interviews, and that's with only one journalist asking the questions – it turns out that Parker is actually really nice.

Which means any idea of starting the interview by getting right down to brass tacks goes out the window even before the other journalist present reveals he's been ordered by his editor to make sure he finds out who Ms Parker is wearing.

SJP : On my feet were Nicolas Kirkwood – I'll display them properly for you – a lovely bag by Pierre Hardy, a vintage no-name jacket which the air-conditioning required, a Rachel Comey dress and a Vyes St Lauren vintage belt.

B: You wear it well

Thank you, you would too. I like your shirt very much, Very nice. [to me] And you look very smart too.

B: When weighting up a project like I Don’t Know How She Does It, what leaps out at you first – the entertainment value, or maybe the social relevance. And are you looking for a combination of both?

SJP : Specific to this script, I read it and I just really loved the story. I was not familiar with the book – I was familiar with the title, with the book, but when Alison’s book was first published ten years ago I had no children at the time and it simply wasn’t on my radar. 

So I read this story as a fresh piece of material with no reference point, and what struck me immediately was how accurate a portrait of modern parenthood it was, specifically, in a way unique to these economic times but this was a very familiar person to me and yes, there were things I could relate to but more importantly Kate was telling million and millions of woman's stories, and wouldn't it be nice that she had a face in modern cinema for a moment, that her story be told?

Typically she is not the centre of the story and this is a person who, across the globe, is really holding up a family in a lot of ways and I was really excited that somebody wanted to make this movie, I couldn’t believe it.”

B: There’s all this talk about how working mothers can do everything, but not anything – or perhaps I’ve got that the wrong way around

SJP : No, I get what you're saying – they can have it all, but...

B: There are only so many hours in the day.

SJP : Right, and there are only so many things they can juggle. I think – I wouldn't say "What Kate learns", but I think what's revealed to Kate in this movie is that, her husband says this seemingly unimportant line "sometimes it's okay just has to be good enough", it's really what she ultimately arrives at, there is something virtuous in "just okay".

That, sometimes, it's the very best for everybody and children aren't nearly the harsh critics of mothers as we are of ourselves and perfection isn't – it's a thrill to ponder, but as a destination point its' incredibly unrealistic.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t countless men and women out there striving for it and it's a wonderful endeavour. But the reality of working day-to-day life as a mother both in and out of the home just doesn’t allow for perfection.

I can’t tell you a day that goes by, I can’t recall a day where I didn’t think "Arrgh, where did I fall short, what did I forget, who did I screw, what child was neglected, what phone call didn’t I return, who's disappointed in me in my work life".

It’s just the nature of it.

A: Well, that comes across in the film, that it's an internal pressure to do everything that she’s feeling, not one that’s imposed on her by the characters. She can do her job – she’s not struggling to make ends meet – it’s just pressure she puts on herself.

SJP : Yeah, which I think speaks to a lot of women. I don’t know that it’s so much any outside influence that’s saying "you must" – some might say it’s unique to our gender, that we really want to be incredibly well though of in everything we do.

We want to be well-regarded in out professional lives and well-regarded at home and be though of as dependable and professional, we want people to have high standards for us and...

Ooh, a helicopter!

[a helicopter flies close by the hotel]

That’s odd to see it so close. 

[Back to question]

And I think, generally speaking, men don’t feel the same concern as to what everybody is thinking of them all the time. 

I thing it for some people it’s a fatal flaw, because it just dominated your thinking. But I think there is something to be said for wanting to be the best you can be. I would prefer that over a lazy approach to my everyday life. 

But I think it’s very hard – I look around at the women I admire, whether they’re alone or with someone or in a partnership or married, I see how hard it is, and it’s very touching frankly. And that’s why I love this story, I think Kate is a very relatable person.”

A: How important is comedy when it comes to telling a story like this?

SJP : I don’t worry about that, because I think it’s a hard thing to predict – it’s a little bit result-orientated for me. 

I think a situation or an environment can be funny, and hopefully if it’s well written it’ll be funny, and then you have people like Seth Myers and Olivia Munn, people that you know who come into it and really do their jobs and really buoy the material in a way that’s melodically correct. 

Kate, if she’s funny or not, it’s more of an environmental or responsive thing, she’s not really a funny person, but there are things that happen in her life that are funny. 

My son said to me the other day, I was literally on the threshold of the street and he said "Mummy, you have your house slippers on again".

Fully dressed, very nice, certainly presentable head-to-not-toe.

I DON'T KNOW HOW SHE DOES IT IS IN CINEMAS NOW