Author: By Kim Williamson
Moira Kelly believes that, in real life, being a mother is
the "role of a lifetime." At this point in her career, the
26-year-old remains single and childless but, with her new
role in "The Tie That Binds" Kelly can live her dream at
least on the big screen.
In the thriller, which marks the
directorial debut of screenwriter Wesley Strick ("Cape
Fear"), Kelly plays an adoptive mother of a six-year-old
girl whose biological parents (Keith Carradine and Daryl
Hannah) come calling for their progeny-while they're on
the run for murder. "It is my job to protect this child,"
explains Kelly, sitting in her trailer while taking a noon
break from a fall day's shoot in Pasadena, Calif. "And I
never thought that I would be called upon so early in the
relationship with the child to protect her this way. To be
tested."
Well known for her turns as
coming-of-age women in the likes of "The Cutting Edge" and
"With Honors," Kelly sees her role in this Interscope
production as a test of another sort-at least in
producers' eyes, who might be unaccustomed to "the idea of
me playing a mother." When Disney's Hollywood Pictures
releases "The Tie That Binds" this August, Kelly hopes
that "Hollywood will look at me and say, `Okay, I can see
it: Moira Kelly can play a mom.' It's been hard for me to
prove to them that I can play a 20-year-old sometimes,"
she says, chuckling. "They see me as the young college
girl, or even back in high school."
For those that know Kelly well, though,
her playing a mother must seem like typecasting. Growing
up in a small Long Island town, "I just wanted to be
married and to be happy ever after," she recalls. "I used
to babysit a lot, and I used to be a nanny. So all those
old tricks and instinctual things that I had when I was
taking care of kids back then are coming back to me [on
the set] and reminding me of times I had working with
kids. Really good, fun times. Julia [Devin, who plays the
little girl] is amazing and so much fun. Children are so
creative and imaginative that they just bring you to life
all over again. I feel warming, maternal emotions on this
film."
Outside movie sets, though, her life is
a different story. "Why am I not a mom yet?" she asks
rhetorically, laughing. "It takes another partner,
actually, for that to happen. This is something I like a
lot of people who are looking to get into this business to
realize: It's not as easy a life as you think. It means
sacrificing a lot of things like time, and a settled
place"especially being in my position and at my age. Still
kind of starting, getting in there, proving myself. You're
always moving here for three months, then here for three
months. Trying to get someone to accept that"that you're
going to be away for that amount of time"is hard. I don't
like being away from my family and friends all the time. I
don't like not being able to plan things months in advance
because you don't know where you'll be. It takes a lot out
of you to be in this business."
When she's not at work, Kelly is more
than likely to be back home with her parents. "Family is
everything," Kelly says. "They'll accept you for anything
you do. They'll love you through everything, they'll
support you through everything. They'll always be there if
you need them. And they're the most honest people that
you'll ever come across. They'll tell you exactly what you
need to know."
Those ethics, of course, aren't commonly
regarded as those of Hollywood, and Kelly's involvement
with the entertainment industry strikes some as surprising
because she is a devout Catholic"as if Hollywood and
Catholicism were entirely different creeds. "Well,
Hollywood and anything are entirely different creeds," she
says, laughing. "Hollywood is a world all its own."
Another frequent point of interest in
Kelly is how she balances her religious beliefs with the
nude scenes she's done"and has since rethought her
position on. "I find nothing wrong with the naked body,"
Kelly says. "I'm capable of going to museums and looking
at sculptures and paintings and being `responsi-ble' for
the bea-uty of the piece, rather than some perversion of
the piece. But in movies it's too easy for too many people
of too many different backgrounds, too many beliefs, to go
and see what it is that you are doing. I don't think a
majority of audience members are `responsible' to the
actual piece they're watching. They should say, `I'm not
here to get my kicks from looking at a naked body.' But
all a lot of people see is the naked body and they go
`off.' So I look at it now as my responsibility not to
give them something to go `off' on."
(As fate would have it, Kelly's next
project is "Dorothy Day," a biopic about a 1920s Catholic
relief worker/activist. The film is being made by Paulist
Productions.)
As for what her own future holds, Kelly
says the day may come when Hollywood no longer entices
her. "Everyone says, `Don't say that! Don't let anyone
know that!' But it's true. I'm happy to be here, but this
is not it for me. Maybe one day I will be married with
kids, and I'd like that." Which is no surprise. As Kelly
says, "Family. That's it."
"The Tie That Binds." Starring
Moira Kelly, Daryl Hannah, Vincent Spano and Keith
Carradine. Directed by Wesley Strick. Written by Michael
Auerbach. An Interscope production. A Buena Vista release.
August.
