Anthony Edwards at the New York City press junket for "Motherhood"
Anthony Edwards wants you to know that he isn’t an actor who wants to get back the fame he had when he starred as Dr. Mark Greene in the TV series "ER." The truth is, Edwards says, after leaving "ER" in 2002, he purposely decided to cut back on acting jobs so he could spend more time with his family. He’s also become more involved in charity endeavors, including the Shoe4Africa organization, which raises money for causes related to sports and medicine for people in Africa.
But Edwards hasn’t completely abandoned acting. He can be seen in the occasional movie, such as the dramedy film "Motherhood." In "Motherhood," Edwards is a professor named Avery, the husband of writer Eliza Welch (played by Uma Thurman), who’s transitioned from writing fiction to blogging about her experiences with motherhood. Avery’s seeming disinterest in domestic duties is a sore point with Eliza, who’s frustrated over her career choices, parenting skills and dealing with inconveniences of living in New York City, where "Motherhood" was filmed on location. Here’s what Edwards had to say when I sat down with him at the New York City press junket for "Motherhood."
How much are you like your Avery character in "Motherhood"?
Same height. He has slightly less hair than I do … I just related to the material. It seems like everything my wife had ever said to me, like "What, are you forgetting everything?" And also, just that kind of relationship thing of how things happen when you have children, and it gets messy and dirty. Well-intentioned isn’t always good enough and yet it is, ultimately, but at times it just doesn’t seem like it, so expectations and frustrations get very dramatic. Also, the thing that happens when you’re a parent is your world gets really focused. If you don’t step back and breathe or get a moment from it, people end up beating their children. [He laughs.] No! Bad analogy.
Or they end up like Jon and Kate Gosselin.
I think there so much [that could happen] individually before we go to that extreme.
Uma Thurman (center) and Anthony Edwards in "Motherhood"
What were the best things about working on a female-dominated set?
It’s just like being at home! I live in a very female-dominated world. And happily, because I think that’s kind of where we are culturally in what the kind of stories that we’re telling and what’s important now and maybe it’s cause the organization I work with is about empowerment of women in Africa through sport and coming out of the fact that if you’re going to have a fundamental health or educational change in a continent like Africa, which needs so much, only through the leadership of women is that going to change. And that’s something that is very topical.
So the fact that ["Motherhood" writer/director] Katherine Dieckmann was able to get the money to make this movie makes sense because this is something that’s important to us. What is the role of mothers and women in our world and how do we relate to them without first understanding them dramatically or letting them be part of the story? I mean, that’s how we start everything. You take the stigma away by actually talking about it.
Someone said, "Are men going to go to this movie?" The joke response is, "Yeah, if they want to get laid." Who decides what movies you’re going to ultimately see? In my world, it’s my wife. That’s it. And it’s OK. You don’t lose anything for being a man if that’s part of your life.
Anthony Edwards in "Motherhood"
You have four children. What’s been the hardest thing about parenting so far?
For me, the hardest thing is keeping my own prejudices and expectations out of it ... It’s that thing of like not wanting to become your parents but you do, you have to, in a sense. It’s difficult to keep that perspective, I think, as a parent, to know your boundaries as to what’s good parenting or just projecting your own expectations on your kids. That’s the hardest.
Did Eliza remind you of your wife or mother?
My mom is a mother of five. She’s a strong force in our childhood. She really did call a lot of the shots in how that house worked. It’s a story that I’ve been around a lot, so I could relate to it in that way. But it’s really how the stories are told, and I think that’s what’s exceptional here [in "Motherhood"] is the talent of Katherine Dieckmann as a screenwriter — on top of the fact that she’s a great director — to be able to tell that story in a funny and endearing way without it being pedantic. That’s the trick, because we’ve all heard these ideas before. If you can do it in an entertaining way, then we’re raising it up to a level.
Anthony Edwards, Uma Thurman and Minnie Driver at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival
Have your kids seen "Motherhood"?
My daughter [Esme] has. She was at Sundance with me. She liked it a lot. She liked Minnie [Driver, who co-stars in "Motherhood"] a lot. She was obsessed with Minnie. It’s all about Minnie!
Do you have a favorite scene in "Motherhood"?
Not really. I mean, there’s so many I like for different reasons. I love the music and spirit of it. I just like that it keeps moving without having to, like I said, hit you over the head with "Do you get it?"
When you mentioned earlier that your wife chooses the movies you see in your household. When it comes to picking the projects you work on, obviously you have the final say ...
What’s so obvious about that? [He laughs.]
Anthony Edwards at the New York City premiere after-party of "Our City Dreams," February 2009
Is there anyone who’s been really influential when it comes to the projects you choose, whether it be anyone in your professional or personal life? And would you consider returning to series television or do you want to continue working on movies?
You know, you never say never because before I did "ER," I always said I’ll never do a TV series, so that’s what I said. And I used to joke, "Oh, well, when I have kids or something then maybe I’d do it." My son was 4 months old and "ER" came up. It was like, "Oh, I get to stay home and work," and that meant a lot to me then.
But to me it’s all about the material and what you read. And I’m always surprised. I kind of stay away from expectations. Working has not been a big priority for me for the last seven years. So I haven’t been out there doggedly looking for what that great film is — obviously, because I’ve only done four of them in the last six years.
Was that a conscious decision to not take on as much acting work as you used to do?
Yeah, very much. I just spent a lot of time on "ER" for that eight years. I also started working when I was 16, so by the time I left "ER," I was 40 years old, I had this incredible experience, my wife had this great company, we had four kids. It was like, "Let’s go to New York and live for a while and make that the priority." And it’s been great, because you meet people in your life who very rarely do you meet. Someone who says they wish they spent less time with their kids when they were younger. All those things come true. I cannot believe that my youngest is 7 years old now, and my son’s 15 like, thinking about college. You’re like "What? When the hell did that happen?" And I’ve been around. It happens quickly, being there.
Anthony Edwards in "ER"
Was it hard to break out of the Mark Greene character on "ER," after doing it for eight years?
[He says jokingly] Yeah, a lot of Dr. Greene was me — obviously, the smart part. [He says seriously] The routine and the work is hard to break out of. That’s where I was kind of lost. I spent so much of my life focused on the work and the material and the script and the preparation an all that. And when you take that away you’re like, "Where do I go?" I kind of bounced around here in New York for two years wondering, "Who am I? Where am I?" That’s more seductive than the character itself — or more overwhelming — that work ritual, which I think everybody can relate to. You’re so locked into a job that that becomes your life.
Before "Motherhood," your previous two movies were the mystery thrillers "Zodiac" and "The Forgotten." Do you see yourself doing more comedy films?
Yeah, I did a fun one with Rob Reiner this summer called "Flipped" that’s a nice comedy, kids’ comedy. I do, yeah, definitely. I did "Thunderbirds," a totally ridiculous big silly kids’ movie. No one saw it but, you know, it’s alright. I had fun doing it.
What can you say about the "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" reunion photo shoot that was in Vanity Fair in 2008?
It was all Photoshopped.
Minnie Driver and Anthony Edwards at the New York City premiere of "Motherhood"
In "Motherhood," there are scenes with Eliza and other people in her neighborhood being inconvenienced by a movie being filmed on their street. As a New Yorker, have you ever been frustrated by movie shoots in your neighborhood?
You know, I so know how to avoid a set and get around it that I don’t find it a hassle at all. I’m on my bike anyway, so I don’t sit in a cab waiting for streets to clear … I’d much rather be on the subway or on my bike to get around.
So you don’t have any parking issues, like in the movie?
No, no. When I left L.A., I was like, "I’m not driving here [in New York City]. I spent years driving. Forget it."
Anthony Edwards at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival premiere of "Motherhood" in Park City, Utah
Do you have any other projects coming up?
I’m running the marathon on the 1st of November for the children. We’re building a children’s hospital in Africa. It’ll be the first public children’s hospital in Kenya. And it’ll be the largest children’s hospital, so Dr. Greene has come back to life to help build this hospital. It’s Shoe4Africa.org. We mostly do these running events and sporting events for women all over Africa. This is a stand-alone fundraiser. We’re going to raise about $5 million for the bricks and mortar … I’ve run marathons before. It’s been six years, and I forgot how slow you get.
Do you read any blogs?
I don’t. I’m not a big blog person … It’s in such a transition now with Twitter, and what is defamation of character and what isn’t, and privacy. All these issues are huge.
Photo credits: Photo #1: Carla Hay. Photos #2, 3: Freestyle Releasing. Photo #4: Getty Images. Photos #5, 7: AP. Photo #6: NBC. Photo #8: Reuters.
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