Cobie Smulders explores working mom struggles in low-key indie ‘Unexpected’

TORONTO – Making the transition from ensemble TV player to big-screen leading lady was a subtle one for Cobie Smulders.

The “How I Met Your Mother” star says she didn’t even realize her new pregnancy drama “Unexpected” featured so much of her until shooting had wrapped.

The Vancouver-bred actress says she was surprised to see how much screen time she got when the low-key indie unspooled at the Sundance Film Festival in January.

“I was like, ‘Oh, I’m in like every scene,'” says Smulders in a recent phone interview from New York.

“Which is just a lot of pressure. (It’s) like, ‘Oh my gosh, if this movie sucks, then it’s because of me. I mean, it’s because of me I really let everyone down.’ So that was kind of scary.”

“Unexpected” follows the pregnancies of two very different women — one, a high school science teacher at a low-income school, the other a bright teenage student at the same school.

Smulders plays Samantha, who struggles with the idea of temporarily halting her teaching career to become a full-time mother.

She finds herself increasingly drawn to her student Jasmine, played by Gail Bean, and the two bond over their growing bellies and uncertain futures. But when Sam makes it her mission to get Jasmine into college, her well-meaning meddling ends up revealing more about her own floundering life.

“It was obviously something I very much related to, attempting to be a working mother, myself,” says Smulders, who was pregnant with her first child while working on “How I Met Your Mother.”

“I think for anybody who’s attempting to do both — to have a career and be a stay-at-home mom — it’s a challenge. I’m also extremely lucky to have a job that I can sort of attempt to make my own schedule and not work 9-to-5. And I have a very great supportive partner and a lot of people to help me out. Not a lot of women have that.”

Smulders, who is married to “Saturday Night Live” star Taran Killam, was actually pregnant during the film’s two-month shoot. She says some shots that feature a bulging bare belly are actually her own.

“It really depended on which scene it was…. A lot of times we had to pad me up because I (had) a small belly. I had to get padded a lot,” says Smulders, who had her second child just weeks before the Sundance premiere.

“And there were days that we had to get a little creative with our shots and not show it too much because I was showing too much.”

Smulders, whose big-screen forays include a recurring role in the Avengers franchise, says motherhood doesn’t stop her from pursuing career goals.

“I get a lot of questions like, ‘Do you have to take time off?’ ‘Are you more choosy now?'” she notes.

“I have such an active personal life now, when I do a project it’s because I really want to do it and I’m extremely passionate about it.”

“Unexpected” opens in Calgary, Toronto and Victoria on Friday before heading to other cities. The film will also be available on iTunes, Google Play and VOD on July 24th.