HOLLYWOOD -- There's a touch of irony in the casting of Bonnie Hunt and Steve Martin as the parents in the family comedy Cheaper by the Dozen.
In real life, neither actor has children, yet they are entrusted with the 12 Baxter siblings in Cheaper by the Dozen.
Martin was married to Victoria Tennant for eight years. They divorced in 1994 and he has remained single ever since.
Hunt has been married to John Murphy since 1988.
"I come from a family of seven children. I was number six which was my name for several years," jokes Hunt.
Martin, 58, says he's "amazed I still get asked to play fathers at my age. I've played so many fathers, I feel like one at times."
Martin says Cheaper by the Dozen "is a booster film for families. It makes kids and parents feel their lives are so blessed. Then ending of the filming is so moving. That's what I liked about the script the first time I read it and was one of the main reasons I wanted to do it."
Martin says he loves being a movie dad because "you get the kids at their best.
"They're excited about doing the whole movie thing and they're treated really well on a set.
"You don't have to deal with them on their down time like parents have to every day."
Cheaper by the Dozen is inspired by the semi-autobiographical book by Ernestine Gilbreth Casey and on the 1950 film which starred Clifton Webb and Jeanne Craine.
Hunt, 39, says she has "always felt Cheaper by the Dozen celebrates the joy of family, so I wrote an early draft based on the book. The studio wanted something a lot lighter and more contemporary than what I turned out."
"I'm just grateful they still let me be in it.
"In real life, I'd be too young for Steve and that family, but this is Hollywood and that's how the guys in charge conceive of relationships," says Hunt, who lives and films her TV show The Bonnie Hunt Show in Chicago.
"I went out to dinner the other day in Los Angeles and thought it was one of those bring-your-daughter-to-work days."
Hunt got another comic jab in at age difference when she talked about her Dozen co-star Ashton Kutcher.
"Ashton made (his squeeze) Demi Moore so proud of him the day he set up a little lemonade stand outside the studio gates. I was so inspired by Ashton and Demi that I considered dating Forrest Landis who plays my red-headed son in Cheaper by the Dozen."
Hunt belonged to an improv theatre troupe and encourages improvisation on her TV show.
"That's not the way we worked on Cheaper by the Dozen. That's not (director) Shawn Levy's style and that's not how Steve works. He's a real planner."
Hunt says Martin "is a great mind. That's what makes him so unique. He intellectualizes everything, but he is also a very kind person."
Martin returns the complement, insisting that Hunt "is sharp like cheddar cheese. It was delicious working with her. Her humour is so subtle. It sneaks up on you."
Martin says he can't speak from experience, but Hunt insists the pandemonium that ensues in Cheaper by the Dozen is not that exaggerated.
"I was brought up in an atmosphere of chaos. It was alternately stimulating and daunting. We wore whatever didn't have holes in them. It didn't matter if it had belonged to a brother or a sister."
Hunt says the only false note for her is that the family life in Cheaper by the Dozen collapses into utter mayhem when the kids are left with Martin.
"Not so, at the Hunt household. When our father walked into the house, we were instantly good.
"When he was left in charge, it was like boot camp. It was our poor mother who bore the brunt of our enthusiasm."
Hunt's father died when she was a teenager. "Our family pulled together around our mom. We all chipped in to help one another.
"That's a scenario you couldn't possibly touch on in our film though it is dealt with in the book. Ours is a feel-good holiday movie."
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