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Garry Marshall is an American icon. The producer/director brought us such classic TV sitcoms as The Odd Couple (1970-75), Happy Days (1974-84), and Mork and Mindy (1978-82). And on the big screen, he's brought us the likes of Pretty Woman, Frankie and Johnny, Runaway Bride, and The Princess Diaries (with a sequel coming in August). (Meanwhile, Marshall's kid sister Penny was also making a name for herself, starring in TV's Laverne and Shirley and directing films like Big, A League of Their Own and The Preacher's Wife.) Garry Marshall also directed 1987's Overboard, starring Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell. During the filming of Overboard, Hawn's 8-year-old daughter Kate Hudson (also Russell's stepdaughter) was running around the set, already aspiring to be an actress. Sixteen years later, Kate is Marshall's leading lady in the romantic comedy Raising Helen, opening next week. Christianity Today Movies joined other members of the religious press for this recent conversation with Marshall.

Kate Hudson, director Garry Marshall, & John Corbett on the set

The actors say you're a lot of fun to work with.

Garry Marshall: I am a total believer of making the process a good time—make it memorable, have some fun, try to shoot high in your quality and then don't get crazy, see what happens.

It's not often you see a movie in which a clergyman is the romantic interest. What's behind that?

Marshall: That was one reason I took the picture. I thought it was an interesting spin on the love story. And to be very honest, with some of the religious things going on in the news, I thought there should be a positive statement, you know, that religion has a good place and it has its good people. It was a difficult thing, though, because John Corbett was really against playing a nice fellow. He had done too many movies in a row in which he was a nice guy, and he didn't want to be a nice guy any more. But, slowly, this intrigued him that it was a different kind of love interest. Some of the early takes had 14 religious jokes, but we didn't need them all, so we took some out. I thought it came out well. We played it for some Lutherans, and they thought it was good. We can't compete with Mel Gibson, but we figured we could do our part [laughter]!

Did you get any flack at all?

Marshall: It was the weirdest flack. There was one moment where they (the preview audience) said that the ministers shouldn't touch the kids. I asked why. They said, "Well, with all that is going on in the world, maybe it ought to be such and such." I said, "I don't think they're going to think about that." That's the only piece of flack that ever occurred.

I've been directing a lot of years. In television, they wouldn't let you do a show about a religious person—unless they flew like the Flying Nun. But in the '60s and '70s, they always felt the priest or the minister would not be a good topic for a comedy show, because the audience would perceive that nothing bad could happen to them. But now I think it has changed. It can be done, I think, with humor. In this movie, people were more concerned about how these kids are going to survive. Kate Hudson, with these three kids, meets a religious man who is solid enough that these kids will be alright. It built the case better than if she was running around with a bartender or a band singer or something. There is nothing wrong with a bartender or band singer, but this man would give us solidarity.

Why did you want to do this movie?

Marshall: Because, in my mind, it is a salute to parents and how hard it is to raise kids these days. I have three children. I have two sisters who have children. It's a hard job. It means giving up some things, but on the other hand they keep saying "you can have it all." You can't really have it "all" so easy. You can do a little of this and little of that. There's a scene we shot for Raising Helen that we had to cut. It was at the end, where the modeling agency set up a childcare center. That is how it works now. If you had a childcare center at your office, you have a prayer of having a life as a career. They have them at Warner's, at Paramount, at Disney. Everybody has a childcare center now. It's not perfect, but it gives you a running shot, and that is what I think is important.

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Related Elsewhere:

Raising Helen	Printer view

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John Corbett	Printer view
Best known for his roles in Northern Exposure, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and HBO's Sex and the City, John Corbett now plays a Lutheran pastor—and Kate Hudson's love interest—in his latest film.

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Kate Hudson	Printer view
The daughter of Goldie Hawn—and stepdaughter of Kurt Russell—got a taste of motherhood while filming Raising Helen. After filming ended, Hudson learned that she was pregnant with her first child.