Families|May 09, 2014 10:09 EDT
'Moms' Night Out' with Sarah Drew: Message of Christianity is 'You Can't Give Back, It's All Given, It's Grace' (INTERVIEW)
Starting mothers day weekend, "Grey's Anatomy" actress Sarah Drew will be seen in theaters in her first lead role on the big screen for the hilariously heartwarming film "Moms' Night Out." Breathecast sat down with the actress for a one on one interview about her experience and how it relates to her life.
From the opening scene to the secret scene hidden at the end of the film, this movie will have the viewer laughing out of their seats at the real life scenarios portrayed in the film.
Drew's character Allyson plays an overwhelmed stay-at- home mother raising three small children and after planning a much needed moms night out her evening turns into havoc. The film really bridges the gap from Hollywood to reality, and once everything is played out the film serves as a tribute to moms everywhere.
Drew, a mother and wife, said she "absolutely" finds strength from her real life by-weekly nights out with other moms.
"I recommend doing it regularly. I actually have a group of mom's that I go out to dinner with every other Wednesday and those dads go out every other Thursday," Drew explained. "We both have agreed that it's vital to our sanity."
Drew also described her idea of a perfect moms night out. "Every time we get together, if we don't laugh and cry we failed in our time together," she revealed, "It happens every time."
Drew said during her moms' nights out with her friends they talk about marriage, kids, and how they are "making us crazy" or how women sometimes "feel like failures." She said, "Asking for advice" is an amazing opportunity to feel like "you're not so alone" and serves as a reminder that "you're not crazy in the midst of all of it."
The 33-year-old actress talked about her first leading role on the big screen and although the budget may have been smaller than what she is use to on "Grey's Anatomy" and the material and content is different, over all, she believes being on the set of both the movie and her television show have the same sense of community.
"I think they're some differences but what has been exciting about both 'Grey's Anatomy' and 'Moms' Night Out' is that I really have met real artists in both of those places," she explained. "In both places I have felt like apart of a family.
During the filming of 'Moms' Night Out' Drew said, "there's something really fun about working for something for just a small chunk of time." The actress said although the movie did not have a "huge budget" and a lot of it felt like "gorilla film style," when the team was faced with dilemmas "everyone just rallied." "There was no ego anywhere," she said.
The upcoming film has an unapologetic sense of faith, and does an amazing job at sharing Christianity with its viewer in a way that does not seem forceful or in-genuine. Arguably the most emotional moment of the film is when Drew's character realizes that she is enough and does not have to try and make things better all the time.
In reality Drew admitted she, like her character, has the tendency to want to make things better all the time.
"I feel the pressure to fix things all the time," Drew confessed. She goes on to tell an incident that took place at the movie premiere of 'Moms' Night Out.' Drew had a lot of guests for the event and she said "even though they were all there for me, to love on me, I felt like I had to take care of every body. I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off at the after party trying to find everybody and make sure they were having a good time."
The actress seemly unfazed by fame remained extremely down to earth and genuine during the interview. She shared, "I've done that a lot in my life, killed myself to try and make everyone else happy." She goes on to affirm, "Nobody's expecting that, nobody needs you to save the day. It's a pressure that I put on myself."
Drew says when she gets beside herself and needs a reminder that everything is ok she draws strength from her husband and her community.
"There's a narrative that you can teach yourself and if you keep thinking 'I must repay everybody for everything that they've done for me, I can't just receive grace, I can't just receive anything, I have to pay it back.'" She stated if people continually teach themselves that narrative "you're going to go crazy, because you'll never be able to truly enjoy anything," she said.
"The whole message of Christianity is about the fact that you can't pay it back, It's all given, it's grace. I give grace to people in my life but it's very hard to receive it," the Long Island native admitted. "My husband is amazing at receiving it and reminding me to receive it, so I have him in my life reminding me of that stuff and my girl friends reminding me if that stuff too."
At some point throughout a mother's job, moms have to advise their children about sex. The "Grey's Anatomy" star has been married for about 12 years and has not shied away from speaking about the fact that she saved herself for marriage.
"Honestly I don't know how I'm going to talk to my kids about it, because it's a really hard thing in our culture," Drew said, but she did mention how she makes sense of it all.
"I don't see it as a stringent rule. I don't think God gives us rules or asks' us to do things just because he wants to keep us in our place, and rule over us and dominate us for his own giggles," she detailed. "Everything that he's asks us to do is fundamentally for our own benefit."
She mentioned that she heard a talk that clicked in her head, in which the speaker described the phrase "two becoming one flesh." "It's a total fusing between body and mind so that you are no longer two people, you are one person," she expounded. "If you are continually fusing your flesh with somebody and then having to rip it apart and then fuse again and rip it apart, they're are wounds that are left."
She ended the interview by saying, "It's not about Him [God] trying to deny people pleasure. He actually loves sex...but He loves it so much that he wants to protect it, which is why he puts it in a context where you do use it in the flesh but then that flesh stays together."
"Moms' Night Out" hits theaters everywhere May 9. For more information visit MomsNightOutMovie.com