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On mommy duty

Jessica Alba talks about the new Spy Kids movie

T’S BEEN A busy time in the home of Jessica Alba and her husband Cash Warren, and it just got busier.

Alba gave birth recently to her second daughter, Haven Garner Warner, and her new movie, Spy Kids: All the Time in the World 3D, is out in UAE theatres.

“Cash and I are so excited to announce the birth of our daughter Haven Garner Warner,” Alba posted on her Facebook page. “She weighed 7 lbs. and 19 inches long. Healthy and happy! Big sister Honor couldn’t be more excited about the new addition to our family.”

Being a mum mirrors Alba’s role in the fourth installment of Spy Kids. Both she and her character, Marissa, have new babies in their lives, but that’s where the similarities end. Marissa is a retired secret agent and when she is pulled back in to action, she brings her two stepchildren along.

Prior to giving birth, Alba, 30, sat down to talk about the film, her career and motherhood.

This is the first time you’ve played a mother on the big screen. Did being a real-life mum have anything to do with wanting to be a part of this project?

Yeah. I probably wouldn’t have done this movie if I wasn’t a mum already. So I definitely wanted to do the movie because of (three-year-old Honor). She inspired me to want to do that.

Your character juggles a lot in the film between a new born, step-kids and a career. Did that ring true for you?

That’s definitely one of the topics that (Spy Kids filmmaker) Robert Rodriguez and I talk about a lot and how much time flies when you have kids — he has five! All of a sudden they’re on two or three milestones down the road. You’re like, ‘Wait! When did they start doing that?’ I can certainly relate to that. And I certainly relate to trying to juggle and balance work and family life.

With another little one on the way, that will add a whole new set of variables.

I feel like I’m just getting my footing as a woman and just feeling comfortable in my choices. It’s a challenge to figure out how much is too much work or not enough. Or if I’m giving up so much that I’m not going to have the opportunities that I would have if I worked a little bit more. I don’t know. But my focus is Honor’s happiness. If she’s cool, I think everything will fall in to place.

How did Spy Kids come your way?

I was talking to Robert after I had Honor about how I’d really like to do a kids movie and how I’d love to do a movie that portrays a mum that’s modern and cool. That’s part of what this character is.

You can’t get a cooler mum than one who’s a spy!

(laughs) I really enjoyed doing the action sequences in the beginning of the movie. I haven’t really done too much action since I did (the TV series) Dark Angel, so it was fun to do. I’m actually eager to do an action movie now — a full action movie. I think that’s what I’ll be looking for next.

Do you find that you’re now making different career choices because you have children?

(Before kids) my choices were to try and stay globally relevant and become relevant as a movie star. That’s what my manager said! (laughs) I concentrated on movies that were going to be globally distributed and had a sufficient (advertising) budget, that were going to be a paycheque and where I was the lead. That was my focus for a lot of my career. After I had my daughter, that (goal) was not fulfilling creatively. I had worked with a lot of first time directors, which was fine, but there’s only so much that you can learn as an actor from someone who’s trying to find their way on set. Now it’s about working with filmmakers that I look up to and that I feel are going to challenge me and take me to the next level as an actor.

Have those projects come along yet?

Yeah - working with Robert Rodriguez, Michael Winterbottom, whom I worked with (on 2010’s The Killer Inside Me) and Paul Weitz with Little Fockers. And Gary Marshall, even though I had just a little scene in Valentine’s Day, but nobody does romantic comedies like Gary Marshall.