Director loves kids -- by the dozen

Director Adam Shankman doesn’t lend much credence to the old adage that filmmakers should avoid working with children or animals at all costs.

Over the course of his last three films -- “Bringing Down the House,” “The Pacifier” and “Cheaper by the Dozen 2” (which opens Wednesday) -- Shankman has directed more than 50 children, plus ducks, an impish French bulldog and even a thieving rat.

“I don’t know what an unholy thing I did at some point in order to put myself in the middle of all this,” joked Shankman, who began as a music video choreographer. “But the truth is, I have nothing but the best time with the kids and animals.

“When I started directing, it coincided with when my sister started having kids, so my sense of family and family identity really strengthened. They are an unending wealth of comic possibilities, because everybody is crazy when it comes to family. It brings out the best and the worst in all of us.”

“Cheaper by the Dozen 2,” the sequel to the 2003 hit comedy, finds football coach Tom Baker (Steve Martin) and his wife, Kate (Bonnie Hunt), trying to bring their brood of 12 -- the couple’s first grandchild is also on the way -- together for a summer of fun at a rustic house in rural Wisconsin.

Also visiting the lake is Tom’s overachieving childhood rival (Eugene Levy) and his picture-perfect children.

Because their collaboration on “Bringing Down the House” was so successful -- it grossed $132.7 million in the U.S. -- Martin asked Shankman to helm “Cheaper by the Dozen 2.” (Shankman’s “The Pacifier” grossed $113 million last spring).

Although he wasn’t looking to do a sequel as his next project, Shankman liked the script. “I was excited about working with Steve again, and when Eugene came on board, it was a fait accompli.”

Shankman says he and Martin like “very, very physical [humor]. And he hasn’t been this physical since ‘All of Me.’ I am such a fan of that part of his repertoire. It’s all about making each other laugh.”

Having a solid relationship with Martin also made him welcome among the cast of “Cheaper by the Dozen 2.”

“Making ‘Pacifier,’ I also think the parents [of the child actors] were predisposed to trust me,” he says. “I love kids, and I think that they felt that, so they were all really game. I insisted it be like summer camp. I said we should go out there and have the best time possible.”

Shankman is in pre-production on a feature film version of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical “Hairspray,” which he hopes to start filming next summer. “It’s going to be a total reinvention,” he says. “I am not just shooting the play or the John Waters movie. I am upping my game and I am going for it.”

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