Filed under: Film | Tags: did you hear about the morgans, Film, interview, sarah jessica parker
Marc Lawrence isn’t quite Jay-Z, but he can rep as hard for the five boroughs as hip hop’s kingpin.
Sarah Jessica Parker and Hugh Grant rom-com “Did You Hear About the Morgans?” opens tonight.
They say it’s about busted wuv and murder and city folk reconnecting in the wilderness and blah blah blah blah…BUT The Apopcalypse snagged writer/director Marc Lawrence for an interview, and turns out, it’s all that AND an indirect ode to NYC.
Here’s what he had to say…
So. How was making a movie about city slickers in the sticks?
I think some New Yorkers feel that being away from New York is painful. Sarah Jessica is one of those people and so am I. It’s just being here, raising kids here, eating here — it’s just in your blood. It was a good bonding experience, leaving the city for the rodeos and horses. We were both equally terrified whereas Hugh was fascinated by it.
When I talked to him, he seemed very amused by your misery.
Yeah, there is nothing I really like about it. Central Park is all the nature I ever need for the rest of my life and honestly, sometimes even that is too much. In the film, SJ’s character is allergic to horses. I actually am. I managed to exorcise a lot of my fears of leaving New York through her character.
So really, the movie’s not about relationships. It’s about a great terror of the outdoors.
Basically! Don’t go outside! [laughs] New York fits with your bio rhythms in a way no place else does.
I grew up in Queens, so I feel you.
I am from Brooklyn. I know SJ isn’t originally from here, but in that E.B. White tradition, people who come from other places can become even more attached than native New Yorkers.
You mentioned you and Sarah Jessica swapped parenting secrets. Did you meet her kids on the set?
You mean the twins? I have not seen the twins. I sent them some presents but I have not gotten a note back from either of them. [laughs] My daughter is in the movie and SJ’s son came by the set so we continued to talk about kids in the city, school, that stuff. If you can raise a kid in the city, I think it’s an incredibly great thing to do.
Totally. Look how awesome I turned out!
I grew up in Brooklyn until I was 8, and then we moved to Long Island. I always envied kids from the city because it always felt like they were From Somewhere. They just had a unique quality of what they knew and how they talked. You’re exposed to so many different kinds of people and languages and philosophies and influences, it changes how you look at the world. Living here fosters some sort of toleration. Even if you can’t stand some other people, you have to get along with them because everyone is so packed together.
Have you arranged to have play dates with your kids?
My youngest son Linus and SJ’s son John Wilkie are the same age and apparently share a lot of the same interests, including “Star Wars.” The summit is being arranged between the two.
*POP!*
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Nice blog! I wrote a review of this on my site, themoviebros.wordpress.com
Stop by and check it out!
Comment by mattvolke June 15, 2010 @ 2:34 pm