Tina Fey: To Surrogate, With Love

Tina Fey: To Surrogate, With Love

Tina Fey takes on pregnancy in 'Baby Mama': Aidin Vaziri | Tina Fey knows you don't think of her as a leading lady. "When we made 'Mean Girls,' I was very aware that my part should be small and you need movie stars to make movies, so we got all these beautiful young girls to do it," the "Saturday Night Live" alum said by phone recently about the 2004 big-screen comedy she scripted. But after scoring a hit with the Emmy-winning NBC sitcom "30 Rock," the 37-year-old writer, producer and actor is making the jump with her new PG-13 film, "Baby Mama," which opens Friday nationwide. Written by Michael McCullers and co-starring Amy Poehler, both of whom worked with her at "SNL," Fey plays Kate Holbrook, a career-minded single woman with fertility issues who hires a seriously mismatched surrogate to carry her child. It's a bit like "The Odd Couple" meets "The Girlfriends' Guide to Pregnancy." It's also a lot funnier than you might expect. Fey talked to us about taking the lead.

Q: How much of Tina Fey is in Kate Holbrook?
A: Well, it's sort of a more conservative version of myself. She's a little better educated and classier and more preppy.
Q: And her taste in home decor?
A: Much earthier, greener, nicer.
Q: How about men, do you find your character's interest, Greg Kinnear, attractive in real life?
A: That's kind of a loaded question. I think empirically he is very handsome.
Q: Did you get to pick your leading man?
A: A little bit, yeah. When we found out we could get a super legit actor like Greg, we were very excited.
Q: Who else was in the running?
A: Let's see, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Christian from "Project Runway."
Q: I can't believe you settled on Greg.
A: I know. He got really lucky. But I believe he was the studio's first choice. Continue reading.