Outrageous actress Sophie: MY PREGNANCY WAS TURNED INTO A MOVIE!

THE BUMP IN HER LIFE BECAME A FULL-ON FAMILY PROJECT

- Cloe Willetts

While most first-time pregnant women are buying cots, cooing over newborn clothing and compiling a list of top baby names, former Outrageous Fortune actress Sophie Henderson was penning a movie. When the Auckland playwright first learnt she and director husband Curtis Vowell were unexpectedly pregnant, they were living and working in Melbourne.

“I freaked out,” admits the adoring mum of Matilda, four, and Sylvie, two. “I was so scared I’d lose my old life and no longer be able to do any of my dreams.” But, as it turned out, Sophie wrote one of her biggest projects while navigating pregnancy – the new hit comedy film Baby Done.

Starring award-winning Kiwi comedienne Rose Matafeo and UK actor Matthew Lewis, known for playing Neville Longbottom on Harry Potter, the film tells the story of tree climber Zoe and her long-time boyfriend Tim, who handle their pregnancy news rather differently.

“It’s heavily biographical,” admits Sophie, 35, whose hubby directed the movie. “I didn’t feel like a pregnant woman or know how a pregnant person should be, and I didn’t want to wear the stretchy pants! The film was my way of coping and I wanted to write about a badly behaved pregnant woman who’s a mess, because I was a mess.”

Curtis, 40, a Shortland Street director, took a different route – telling Sophie they should return to Auckland to live, where he’d give up his freelance work for a steady income.