As Olivia Munn munches on cold fries in the Waldorf Astoria, doling out unsolicited dating advice and discussing work-life balance, it seems more like she’s at a neighborhood ladies book club meeting than at a junket to promote her latest project, “I Don’t Know How She Does It.” But then, that’s the nature of the material she’s discussing.
In the film, Munn plays uptight, career-centric Momo Hahn, who is perplexed by co-worker Kate Reddy’s (Sarah Jessica Parker) ability to raise two young children and still maintain top performance as a financial advisor. “Having it all” is most definitely the crux of the movie, which happens to be something that’s also weighing on Munn’s mind.
“It’s a movie about something that I’m going through in my life or that I’m about to journey on probably soon – I mean, not soon —“ Munn stammers with a laugh. “But I know I’m in a place where I’m starting to decide, you know, can I have it all?”
At 31 years old, as a frequent contributor to “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart” and star of the upcoming Aaron Sorkin project for HBO, the network news drama “More As This Story Develops,” Munn might be right to consider all this big picture stuff before the tidal wave of fame really comes crashing down. But even then, her impending notoriety isn’t going to get to her head.
“My life isn’t just work,” she says. “On my deathbed when I have like five minutes to live, I’m not going to be like ‘Oh, can you bring me my IMDB page please? And my reel! Don’t forget the reel!’”
Dating Advice, from Olivia Munn
– Don’t chase men
“My girlfriend was upset that a guy wasn’t calling her and she’s like, should I just call him? I said, call him once, because I’m not on that rule thing. But you put it into his court and he’s not reaching back out to you … it’s because he doesn’t want to enough.“
– Prioritize
“We think we want these things, but we don’t take time to think, what is it that I really want? What kind of person do I want to be? What kind of life do I want to lead?”
– Chillax and let it ride
“You know when you meet a guy and you’re not really quite sure if you like him and your friends say, if it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be? People say that all the time. Things like that become really trite after a while because you’re like okay, what does that even mean? But I understand it. Let the story tell itself.”
