Celebrity Moms Who Took Roles To Impress Their Kids

1.

Julianne Moore’s kids were huge fans of The Hunger Games and encouraged her to read the series before she was cast as President Alma Coin in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Parts 1 and 2.

Moore told Vulture that her son Caleb was the one to first introduce her to the dystopian trilogy. She recalled, “Years ago he read [The] Hunger Games when it first came out and he was [like], ‘Oh, Mommy, there are these books that I really love,’ and I can remember when I bought Mockingjay because I was like, ‘Look, here’s the third one of the series that you like!'”

And Moore actually read the books at the suggestion of her daughter, Liv. Said Moore, “We were on vacation in Mexico and I didn’t have anything to read. She was playing ping-pong, so I picked up the book and I was like, ‘Oh, this is great!’ And she was like, ‘Finish the books, Mommy!’ Because she likes me to read the things that she’s reading. So anyway, I read them and I thought they were kind of amazing.”

That shared enthusiasm made Moore’s decision to accept the role of the calculated rebel leader all the more thrilling. She said, “It’s been a great thing for my kids to have me in these. [Director] Francis Lawrence is tremendous. A really, really exciting filmmaker, so it’s been a lot of fun.”

2.

Kate Winslet told MTV News that she accepted the role of Erudite leader Jeanine Matthews in the Divergent franchise because she “wanted my kids to think I was cool.”

Winslet said that she “didn’t have any hesitation at all” about attaching herself to a “great script” and a “fantastic book,” and as an added bonus, her kids’ classmates wholeheartedly approved of her choice in roles.

She explained, “My daughter is going to be 13, and my son is almost 10, and they’re getting to that age where this is the type of literature they’re going to be reading very soon. In fact, my daughter, two days ago, came home from school and went, ‘Mom! You’re never going to believe it. Rufus came up to me at school and said, ‘Is your mom really in Divergent? Is there going to be a premiere? Can you get me a ticket?'”

No word on whether Rufus made the invite list, but Winslet said her daughter developed a “newfound respect” for her following the incident.

3.

Cate Blanchett, who starred as the villainous Hela in Thor: Ragnarok, told a Comic-Con audience that her kids are the reason she got involved in Marvel.

She said, “It’s a universe that I’ve sort of been happily dragged into by my kids.”

Blanchett called joining the MCU as Hela, the vengeful sister of Thor, a “happy accident.”

4.

Sigourney Weaver told Entertainment Weekly that her daughter encouraged her to play the villainous Warden Louise Walker in Holes.

Weaver said of the 1998 novel, “It was one of the first books my daughter read that she really fell in love with — I remember she described the warden to me and said, ‘Mommy, you should play this part.'”

The actor acknowledged that the warden wasn’t exactly the sort of character you’d hope to be typecast as. Said Weaver, “I don’t know why she thought that. Maybe because my hair is a little reddish. Maybe because I’m a beast.”

5.

Jodie Foster told the Manchester Evening News that she wanted to play the reclusive author, Alex Rover, in Nim’s Island because she wanted to “make a movie that my kids could see, and that they could be a part of, and that they would love.”

Foster went on, “I’m tired of the kind of CGI digital laser beam stuff, and I think that kids are yearning for this kind of ‘back to nature’ simple idea of building their own hut and making their own food. This movie is about the idea of real independence; that you can take care of yourself as a kid. I also liked what it said for young girls.”

Despite the fact that the role was a departure from those she’d played previously, Foster found commonalities between Alex and other characters she’d played.

Foster explained, “About halfway through the shooting, I realized all my dramas are about people dealing with fear, and these solitary characters that are trying to find a heroism within themselves in order to be fully [fleshed-out] characters, and there’s a heroism that they didn’t know that they had, or that they learned through this survival. And I was like, ‘Wow, that’s exactly this character, except in a comedy!’ So it’s actually like doing a dramatic performance and making fun of yourself.”

6.

Michelle Williams told the New Zealand Herald that part of the reason she decided to sign on to The Greatest Showman was her desire to make a movie that she would be “able to take my daughter’s Girl Scout troop to see!”

Playing Charity, wife to the ambitious P.T. Barnum, included some perks beyond just Girl Scout troop MVP status. Williams said, “I loved the story; it’s an amazing musical and it meant I could sing and dance and see the wonderful Hugh Jackman all the time. I love working with him! Also, I really wanted to have a good time. I had just finished doing a Broadway play, Blackbird. It had taken years off of my life and I wanted something else that I wouldn’t have to bleed for. I needed a break from doing intense dramatic roles and this was the perfect project.”

7.

Jennifer Garner, a star and producer of Yes Day, told USA Today that her daughter’s adoration of the children’s book from which it’s adapted inspired her to make the movie.

The movie follows two parents who decide to say nothing but “yes” to their children for an entire day. Garner’s own family took up the “Yes Day” tradition once her daughter discovered the book by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld.

Garner said that “nothing is as crazy” as the movie during her family’s own Yes Days, “the older they get, the more [the kids] spend their Yes Days plotting against their mother.”

One Yes Day involved rock-climbing, which Garner faced with some trepidation. She explained, “I mean, I used to literally jump off buildings on Alias or hang from a helicopter, do the craziest things. And now that I’m older, I just get a little more nervous about heights.”

8.

In an interview with Collider, Whoopi Goldberg said that appearing in 2014’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as Bernadette was something of a full-circle moment, since her daughter had always wanted her to star in one.

“I have a grown daughter, and all through my career, she has always said, ‘Why can’t you be in a Ninja Turtles movie? Why can’t you do a voice or something? Please!’ Now, she’s got three grown kids and I’ve got three grown grandkids. I happened to meet up with the folks that were doing it at Paramount, and I said, ‘Look, if there’s anything in there, would you let me come and play?'” Goldberg explained. “Everybody always says, ‘Oh, sure!’ But very few people follow through. But, these guys followed through, and I had the greatest time.”

She went on, “Even my grandkids were like, ‘Granny, that’s really cool. That’s very hip.’ One of them is in their 20s, one is 18, and one is 15, and they’re like, ‘Wow, that’s pretty cool. Go ahead, granny!’ Things that I enjoyed and that I know that they like, if I can get in there, I will.”

9.

And finally: Despite the fact that it’s a horror movie, Emily Blunt and her husband John Krasinski told HelloGiggles that they thought of A Quiet Place as an ode to their children.

Blunt said, “The character is so close to home for me. That’s what I want for my kids: to infuse their lives with happiness and protect them at all costs. What this mother experience[s] would be my deepest fear. So it was very personal. I think there was so much we could draw from.”

For his part, Krasinski said that the movie is “a love letter to my kids.” He explained, “This is truly a story about, ‘What would you really do for your children in order to protect them?’ The family stuff is so emotional for me.”