Helen's hunt for directorial kudos

Hunt wrote, produced, directed and starred in the film.

By Fiona Pryor
Entertainment reporter, BBC News

"I knew the whole thing could be a minor catastrophe," says actress Helen Hunt, speaking about her directorial film debut.

The 45-year-old Hollywood star is talking about Then She Found Me, a film she has been trying to bring to the big screen for 10 years.

Hunt says she loved the story from the moment she read it.

"I knew that even if someone didn't like it they couldn't talk me out of what I wanted for it," she says.

"I loved it in the beginning, I thought it was a very original idea.

"A grown woman who is found by her birth mother, I just hadn't seen that before.

"I got interested in the aspect of the story that has to do with betrayal."

Firth joined the cast for the chance to work with Hunt

Hunt not only directed, wrote and produced the movie, she also plays leading lady, April Epner.

British actor Colin Firth, best known for Bridget Jones and Pride and Prejudice, plays Frank, her love interest.

The star admits it is hard to describe what genre the movie fits into.

Comedy

"It's funnier than I had expected it to be. Even though the dialogue was always good, it's closer to comedy than I had imagined," she says.

"I do think it alludes genre a bit - not in any ground-breaking way.

"You can't quite call it a comedy, you can't quite call it a romantic thing and you can't quite call it a drama. It's got elements of all those."

After directing some episodes of the hit US series Mad About You, Hunt vowed she would never go down the route of acting and directing at the same time.

It would be great if a lot of people go to see it, but the part my heart is in, is done Helen Hunt

"I loved it, except when I had to act in it," she says.

"I loved all the scenes that I wasn't in. I would be in the middle of a scene feeling the camera landing at the wrong time, and I really found that excruciating."

But ultimately, her choice to star in the film, came down to "wanting to act in the part".

Hunt's character, April, is tracked down by her real mother at the same time as her marriage breaks down.

Hunt had just 27 days to make the movie, which meant meant no time for professional make-up.

Intelligence

"Make-up is an extra hour and a half usually, so I would be on the way to work looking over a shot list, while I put my hair in a beret," she says.

"I also thought that a lot of hard things happen to her in the movie - so it's appropriate to start out the movie looking like a lot of hard things have happened."

Whilst Firth admits the story was strong, it was seeing Hunt's name on the script that drew him to the project.

Hunt bravely chose to go bare faced on screen

"I was interested in the fact she was going to be directing," says Firth.

"I'd never met her, but she projects a degree of intelligence which is convincing to me that she would be able to handle this sort of material very well."

"I was flattered to be asked. I'm a big admirer of her as an actress - and then I looked at the rest of the cast."

His fellow actors included Bette Midler, who plays Hunt's complex and witty mother, and Matthew Broderick, as the distant husband.

For a first-time film director Hunt "commanded a quiet sort of respect", claims Firth.

The 48-year-old actor adds: "It's partly because she's so experienced.

What she communicated was a kind of rather chastening honesty Colin Firth on Helen Hunt

"It's not just the fact that she's known and you're in awe of that, it's the fact that her profile speaks years of experience.

"I think actors tend to make good films when they direct them."

Despite that, Hunt was tough to impress.

"What she communicated was a kind of rather chastening honesty," Firth says.

And Hunt is clearly pleased with the finished product.

"I do feel that the essence of the story is up there and I'm proud of that.

"It would be great if a lot of people go to see it, but the part my heart is in, is done."