24-Hour Woman

State of the Art

by Peg Aloi

When filmmaker Nancy Savoca wanted to tell the story of a woman trying to balance work with motherhood, she went to an unlikely source: daytime television. "I'd watch it constantly," she explains. "I also read self-help books, magazines at the supermarket checkout -- none of them said anything that was in any way connected to reality. Basically, they dispense advice and try to tell women that life is manageable. Well, as a working mother myself, I realized that was bullshit."

Savoca herself has three kids (ages 6, 10, and 12), and while she's been bringing them up she's also been making critically acclaimed films like Household Saints, Dogfight and True Love. Her new 24-Hour Woman stars Rosie Perez as Grace, the producer of a cable talk show with the same title. When Grace gets pregnant and her due date coincides with sweeps week, the show's executive producer (Patti Lupone) decides to film it all: from ultrasound to breastfeeding. Ratings soar, the show gets picked up by a major network, and Grace realizes being a mother and a workaholic do not mix.

Savoca admits her own experiences were less than ideal: "TV tells you that it's doable, and that's great, but if you believe it's doable and you fail, you feel worthless. The old family wisdom many of us got doesn't apply anymore, so you want a new scenario. Women are very susceptible to advice -- I mean, when a man and a woman are in the car and get lost, who asks for directions?"

Grace is a composite, based partly on a producer Savoca met in Miami, "a powerhouse in heels this high, dressed to the nines, barking orders -- she was this concentrated dose of grace, doing what she was born to do, work-wise." And partly on Savoca herself: "She was me. I'm doing what I was born to do. This film is very emotionally autobiographical. All I know is, I love my kids and I have to make films." No doubt it helps that Savoca and her husband "have been partners since day one."

Grace and her husband (the sexy co-host of the show) have a fast-paced yuppie lifestyle that breaks down when the baby arrives. Savoca sought to expose that myth of "the life in control" by making the film "over-the-top in its comedy, its editing, the music, the tone," underscoring the surrealism of trying to "have it all." As its ratings climb, the show morphs from an oddball cable entity to a Regis-and-Kathie-Lee sort of smugness and finally to hand-held cameras and cross-dressing antics worthy of Jerry Springer.

Savoca emphatically denies this is a "chick flick." "Women's movies are put into categories, and that is annoying for me. I love the title, but putting the W word in the title was taking the risk that the film might end up in that `girl ghetto.' But actually the most interesting responses at screenings so far have been from men. This intrigues me, and if I knew how to exploit that for marketing purposes, I would -- but I don't know how."

24-Hour Woman opens next Friday, February 19, at theaters to be announced.