Actress Pondering Role of Motherhood

Ordinarily, you don’t meet young women who look like Belinda Bauer and who are not actresses.

The reason is beauty, a singularly marketable commodity for the screen.

An Australian-born brunette, Bauer’s gifts were evident to filmgoers in her small role in “Flashdance” several years ago and her co-starring role in this year’s “Robocop II.”

She has completed a starring role in “Servants of Twilight,” a thriller.

So far, true stardom has eluded Bauer.

In an industry where beauty may be only skin deep, it also is suspect.

Still, unlike some women similarly endowed, Bauer is not impressed with her appearance. She is striving to develop acting skills, wise enough to know beauty fades; talent endures.

During an interview, she was preoccupied with discussing her role as a single mother whose life is jeopardized in “Servants of Twilight,” the film version of Dean R. Koontz’s novel.

Many of Bauer’s scenes are with 8-year-old Jarrett Lennon Kaufman, who plays a 6-year-old.

“Working with a child opened up a whole new world to me,” Belinda said. “I’d never played a mother.

“There were days when I told myself I would never have a child. But I did tap into a maternal experience I didn’t know I had.

“I got in touch with my desire to nurture and protect a little creature, a little person. It would be an incredible thing to feel that love.

“Jarrett and I became friends. His mother was at the studio every day, and I found myself feeling a bit competitive for his affection and attention.

“I had very different ideas on how I would raise the child if he were mine. I didn’t agree with his mother’s choices. I was quite opinionated and told her I would do things differently.

“She told me, quite rightly, that she was Jarrett’s mother and that my comments were unappreciated. I learned a lesson, and we got along all right. I would have been less strict with him than his mother.

“No offspring of mine would ever be a child actor. That’s tricky because children do appear in movies, and someone has to play them. But I think it’s hard on a kid.

“Jarrett is a good actor and an intelligent kid. He didn’t run wild too much and when he got tired he could be stubborn. It takes a little more time to work with a child, but he was very professional.

“My experience makes me think it would be fascinating to have a son and a daughter, for totally different reasons. I would understand a little girl, and with a boy I would perhaps learn more about the male of the species.

“At the moment I haven’t a thought about who the father might be.”