For your consideration: Debra Messing.

You may find that some Web sites and blogs like to take potshots at Hollywood actresses, casting them as silly, perhaps self-centered, sometimes “insane” and perhaps not terribly deep people whose primary concerns each morning are 1) how they look, 2) what the tabloids have recently said about them 3) what to wear, 4) how they’ll look in what they wear and - distantly - 5) how to find new ways to legitimize their craft in the eyes of the media.

But today we have nothing but congratulations for actress Debra Messing on her recent sit-down with the folks at Sci Fi Wire in which she holds forth on her new role as an animated park ranger in the upcoming Sony Pictures movie Open Season. Messing, who gave birth to her first child while recording her part for the movie, has some very significant opinions on motherhood, her character, the job of an actor to “imagine”, the depth with which the filmmakers approached her character, the subtle nuances that she - as a new mother - was able to bring to her character, the differences between the “male” parts and the “maternal” parts of the movie, the societal implications of wanting to protect one’s child, the female point of view, and the appropriateness of encouraging growth and change in one’s adopted offspring when said offspring is of a different and potentially life-threatening species with big pointy teeth:

“Theysaidinthebeginningthatthischaracterwasn’treallywelldefined,but thattheywantedmetomakeitaspersonalaspossibleandwantedmetoreally representthefemalepointofviewasmuchaspossible.Obviously,withthe guysandtheanimals,it’ssocomic,andit’ssoplayful,andthenyouhavethis otherelementofthematernalchildrelationship,nurturing,thestruggleof knowingwhentoletgo,whentoencouragechangeandhowtodothat.Ididn’t knowifitwouldbeinterestingenoughfortheaudiencememberstoactually investin,buttheywerereallyencouragingmethewholetimeto,astheysaid, giveitasmuchheartaspossibleandtogroundthefilmasmuchaspossible.SoI’m surethathadIdonethisbeforehavingachild.Imean,I’manactor,andit’smyjob toimagine,andsoIwould’veattemptedtodothesamething.Ithinkthatbecause Iamanewmother,itwasjustaccessibletomeandveryunderstandabletome.It’s veryeasytounderstandwantingtoprotectyourchildandnotwantingtosend themsomewherewhereyoudon’thavecontrolofthemandyou’renotsurethat they’regoingtobeOKorhappyorsafeorwhateverandwhatthatwouldfeellike.”

Thanks, Debra. We learned a lot and it’s clear you take your job - on a fourth-tier animated movie with a plot contrived from at least two other recent film properties and costarring Martin Lawrence - very, very seriously.