Cheryl Hines Looking Forward to her New Acting Role: A Mom in...In the Motherhood

[Brian Damage]

We're used to seeing Cheryl Hines as a foil for cranky sad-sack Larry David on the HBO hit "Curb Your Enthusiasm." Now, we'll get to see her in a role she's used to: mom. This week, Hines, 44, premieres alongside Megan Mullally, Jessica St. Clair, and "SNL" veteran Horatio Sanz on ABC's "In The Motherhood," a sitcom based on a popular web site for harried moms. Hines, who has a 5-year old daughter, Catherine Rose, with her husband, Paul Young, spoke to the Post about her new show, and about her film directorial debut, "Serious Moonlight," which was written by the late Adrienne Shelly Hines' "Waitress" director and co-star who was murdered in the West Village in 2006 and which premieres at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 25.

NYP: Your character on the show, Jane, runs out of diapers, and uses paper towels in their place. Would you actually do that?

Cheryl Hines: Yes. Whatever gets you through the day. I have changed diapers in weird places. I once had to change my daughter's diaper on my lap, and it was not easy. My legs aren't that long.

NYP: How is your approach to Jane different than it would have been before you became a mom?

CH: Before, I probably would have thought some things sounded mean or callous like, who yells that much in real life? But that seems to be the form of communication. Your kid yells at you from two rooms away all the time.

NYP: Any real-life incidents with your daughter that have been used on the show?

CH: I've had life imitate art. We were shooting a scene where I come home from work, my house is a wreck, it's loud, the baby's crying...so I close the door and leave. In real life, that same thing happened to me that very night. I came home after a long day, I opened the door, and the baby sitter was putting my daughter to sleep. I knew if I walked in there my daughter would spring out of bed, and I would be working for another hour. So I hid in the kitchen for an hour. Didn't move sat as still as a deer hunter. I was fearing for my sanity.

NYP: Are all the show's storylines taken from actual mom stories?

CH: I'm not sure, but that's the idea. My sister-in-law told me a story that inspired an upcoming episode. She went to a gym where they have day care, where you drop your kids off and then pick them up when you're done working out. These moms were so happy to have people watching their kids, they'd spend all day at the gym just hanging out, not doing a thing. The person in charge found them and said, "you can't just leave your kids here all day! There's a time limit!" NYP: Tell me about "Serious Moonlight."

CH: It's a comedy. Adrienne Shelly had written this beautiful script, and her husband and one of the producers of "Waitress" asked if I wanted to direct it. It had a very specific tone, and I knew Adrienne, and they thought it would be a good fit.

NYP: Given the circumstances, was there a melancholy vibe to the project? CH: There was always an undercurrent of awareness of Adrienne's voice. It wasn't something we sat around and discussed, but we carried her with us through the project in a very light and positive way. There was never a sadness about it. NYP: What prepared you to direct?

CH: I had directed television before, and I called some of my director friends, like Barry Sonnenfeld, Zak Penn, and Larry Charles. I was texting them all regularly.

NYP: What advice did they give you?

CH: Zak Penn told me to make sure I ate during the shoot, because for some reason, as a director, you never think about eating. I didn't believe him, and he was right. You never have time to eat.

IN THE MOTHERHOOD

Thursday, 8 p.m., ABC

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