Miranda Otto on Motherhood, Misperceptions and the Magic of Laughter

Can you describe what motherhood is to you?

Motherhood is just so many different roles. You are always multitasking and there are so many times when you're thinking, ‘Am I doing enough? Am I doing all the right things?’. And then a lot of the time, you're having to remind yourself to just enjoy it, whatever it is. Because the years that you have your kids at home are limited, so enjoy them as much as you can.

Motherhood is a lot of laughs. That's what my dad said to me when I had [my daughter] Darcey. Most people talk about all the sentimentality and the love, and while all of those things are very true, Dad said to me, ‘You'll have a lot of laughs’. And we have, we have had a lot of laughs over the years.

What are some words you might use to describe yourself as a mother?

The first one that comes to mind is ‘driver’, but now my daughter drives herself, she actually took my car and now I don't get to drive [laughs].

The next one would be FaceTimer. My gosh, I've done so much Face Timing over the years, having to go away for work and trying to stay in touch. I don't know where we'd be without FaceTime.

Then ‘multitasker’, ‘cheerleader’, and ‘confidante’ at times. ‘Person who picks up the clothes and wet towels off the floor’ would be another one.

The Country Road campaign aims to highlight the duality of motherhood—it can be difficult, yet amusing and inspiring all at once. In your opinion, what are the not-so-glamorous parts of motherhood?

There have been so many moments in my life where I'm juggling some glamorous part of my career with the less glamorous sides of home life and mothering as well.

There was one occasion when I was heading off to the Emmys, and I was super dressed up in a beautiful dress, with hair and makeup. [My husband] Pete suggested we take a photo with Darcey, and she’s dancing around in her sports clothes, sticking her tongue out. She’s a good leveller in that way.

That's what life is like. Running around, picking up kids from school and cooking and doing all those things, and then next minute having your makeup done and putting on fancy dresses.

What are some of the biggest misperceptions about motherhood?

A lot of the time, people really focus on the sentimentality of motherhood and obviously this huge love and bond that you have. But I think that motherhood is fierce and funny. It really toughens you up in a lot of ways.

It surprises you how fierce you can be about things when it comes to your kid—how fierce you can be about protecting them and how many funny things just happen. And in some ways, it makes you see things in a different way. You definitely see yourself in a different way.

Your daughter, Darcey, will turn 18 this year. What are some of the lessons you’ve learned in that time?

One of the biggest lessons I've learned is to listen. Sometimes we come in with our own perceptions of what will help, what the problem might be, or what we think our kids should do. But often if you listen, you discover that what they're actually struggling with is something quite different, or they actually really do know what they want or they have a really interesting perspective on something. So that's been a big thing for me.

When I was a teenager, the things that I faced at that time were very different. Some of those things are a lot easier for my daughter, and some of the things that she faces are a lot harder than I ever faced. There are similarities, but her experience is so different to mine.

You’ve worked with Darcey on set before. You've also worked with your husband, Peter, as well as your dad, mum and sister. What is that like?

I love working with every member of my family. When I started out, I worked with my dad on a few projects, which was hilarious actually, because I got to see how incredibly playful a person he is to work with, and what sort of joy he brings to things.

Vogue has described your family as a ‘dynasty in Australian stage and screen’. What does that feel like?

It's so funny being described in that way, because I hear that and it sounds like something from another world. But then I start to think about it and I think, well, there's my dad, there's me, there's my sister, there's my husband. And then who knows, Darcey may end up in the industry in some way, and then my mum was an actress.

And then I look around and I see there are all these other families whose children and children’s children have ended up in the business. I guess it really does run in the family. And when you're exposed to this crazy, fabulous, insane, madcap world of acting and filmmaking, it is pretty seductive.

What are you working on at the moment?

I’ve been working on an animation called ‘Being Betty Flood’, which is a co-production between Australia and Ireland that’s been a lot of fun.

In terms of recent releases, there’s ‘The Portable Door’, an Australian film on Stan, and Celeste Barber’s show, ‘Wellmania’, which is out now on Netflix.