To be pregnant is to be vitally alive, thoroughly woman, and undoubtedly inhabited – Anne Buchanan & Debra Klingsporn
It’s one of the first books an expectant woman receives and read by more than 90% of pregnant women who read a pregnancy book. With over 14.5 million copies in print, New York Times bestseller What to Expect When You’re Expecting. holds the distinction of being one of USA Today’s 25 most influential books of the past 25 years. This iconic book is hitting theaters as a film directed by Kirk Jones with an adapted screenplay written by Shauna Cross and Heather Hach.
In preparation for the film’s opening, I attended a screening and press conference with some of the talent including Jennifer Lopez, Cameron Diaz, Elizabeth Banks, Anna Kendrick, Wendy McLendon-Covey, and Heidi Murkoff and director Kirk Jones, Matthew Morrison, Rodrigo Santoro, Chace Crawford and Ben Falcone. The film follows five couple’s unique but interconnected stories and experiences surrounding the “birth” of a child.
So how does a fact-based book such as What To Expect When You’re Expecting become a full-length film?
Interestingly enough, English director Kirk Jones had no prior knowledge of the book and initially thought the idea of adapting it for the screen would be challenging. But recalling the births of his three children, he noted that those pregnancies were “filled with some of the scariest, funniest most dramatic moments of my life.” He made an interesting point that all of the things we look for in a movie are encountered on the journey of pregnancy, which is why the film worked. [Pregnancy] is an exciting subject…it makes us queston our relationships and our future and if we’re going to be good parents (Jones).” When Matthew Morrison was first approached to work on the film, he knew nothing of the book. However, he recalled how honest, funny, and messy the script was which is a lot like pregnancy. Diretor Kirk Jones “weaved all the stories [together] in a beautiful, eloquent way, making it appear seemless (Morrison).”
Author Murkoff cites her first pregnancy as inspiration for the “guru” pregnancy guide, and never expected the book would become a full-length feature film. Despite the fact that she’s enjoyed the venture onto the big screen, she won’t give up her job as a writer and plans to author additional books.
Surprisingly, most of the talent in the film have yet to be parents and thus had not read the book. However, Lopez found What To Expect When You’re Expecting to be “incredibly accurate.” “Pregnancy is the type of thing people talk about your whole life but you know nothing about,” recalls Lopez. This book tells you what’s happening inside your body, where you should be…it helps you calm down as an expectant mom (Lopez). While the book is not going to take those uncomfortable and incredibly normal symptoms of pregnancy away, it will help you cope with them and reassure you that you’re not alone in this experience (Murkoff).
The film portrays a variety of scenarios including infertility, unplanned pregnancy, miscarriage and adoption. Holly (Lopez) and Alex (Santoro) pursue adoption when their trial with infertility treatments fail. When asked whether or not Lopez had ever considered adoption prior to working on the film, her response was that she had always wanted to have her own baby and never thought about adoption. That changed dramatically when she was introduced to the twin boys who were cast in the film. “When I held those two little Ethiopian twins, I fell in love instantly. I can see how somebody can do this. How easy it is to embrace a child that has nothing. [Adoption] is a beautiful, selfless act of love.” Lopez told the heartwarming story about how the parents of these twins went over to Ethiopia in hopes of adopting a little girl. When they encountered the twin boys, who’s mother had died in childbirth, those parent fell in love and brought them home with them. Eight months later they were cast in their first film.
What To Expect When You’re Expecting is a fact-based book offering advice in a Q&A type format. Given the fact that the film was more inspired versus based on the book, Jones wanted to ensure that the information and scenarios depicted were as real as possible. A midwife was enlisted to consul,t and Murkoff made several trips to the set during filming. Misconconceptions surrounding pregnancy were also humorously and accurately portrayed with Wendy being the epitome of those misconceptions (Murkoff).
One of the unique attributes of the film is the includsion of the “dude’s group.” Murkoff felt like it was important for dads to be well represented in the film, since the media is always bashing them. She wanted “full-on participants in the process.” “We had good dads, very involved dads,” Lopez recalls. “Good dads need other dads to help them through [parenting] and I thought it [the dude’s group] was a great addition to the movie (Lopez).” Jones commented on how thrilled he was to work with the men in these particular dad-focused scenes because they were constantly competing to make the scenes better and as funny as they possibly could.
Apart from the director, none of the men present during the press conference have children. When asked whether or not they would like to have children in the future, all were agreeable, given the right timing and circumstances. “I’m not a dad, but I have always wanted to have kids,” stated Morrison. And Santoro was quick to comment, “I’d love to have kids, [but] it has to feel right and it has to be [with] the right person.”
With an A-list cast, Jones found that the most challenging part was getting everyone together, since he knew who he wanted in the film. “It’s always difficult to put couples together because you want that relationship to be believable (Jones).” Similarly, all of the couples had to balance each other out throughout the film and in the end, Jones was thrilled with the talent.
Unlike traditional press conferences, this one was entertaining, amusing, interesting, and engaging. Here are two of the most interesting pieces of information I took away from the day:
1. A woman’s brain shrinks up to 8% during pregnancy. But don’t worry, it isn’t permanent. Lopez recalled forgetting the lyrics to one of her songs while pregnant and on tour.
2. Morrison delivered two babies as a senior in high school. His dad is a midwife and while filming, he took the liberty of asking him a lot of questions.
Having carried and delivered two beautiful children, I understand the unspeakable joy and privilege it is to be a mother. Parenting is difficult. “It’s really really hard to be a human being and even harder to raise a human being,” remarked Diaz. This film, as light and humorous as it is, offers some real, honest moments about this time in a couple’s life. One of Murkoff’s favorite lines in the film is from Chris Rock: “I love my baby so much I’m afraid I’m going to eat her.” “What parent hasn’t felt that overwhelming love for a child?” quips Murkoff.
What to Expect When You’re Expecting is in theaters now.
No compensation was received for this post. I attended a press conference for the film which helped facilitate this post.
Photos: Lionsgate Publicity
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I so want to see this movie. I have heard great reviews.