When we started our phone conversation with Jessica Alba last week—she from nearby her Beverly Hills home, Shop Around from our DC office—we felt like we were talking to a girlfriend. She was nice, down-to-earth, disarmingly real, and pretty damn funny, which was refreshing because that’s how we felt about her new book, The Honest Life: Living Naturally and True to You.

Unlike most celebrity lifestyle how-to tomes, Alba’s is surprisingly helpful, well-written, resourceful, and realistic. The 31-year-old mom of two offers tips and insight into creating an eco-friendly and healthy lifestyle for herself and her family—and does it in a way that doesn’t make us roll our eyes at the sheer impossibility of it all (ahem, Gwyneth Paltrow). We meant to talk clothes and trends with Alba, since she’ll be in Bethesda on Friday signing copies of her book at the Front Row fashion extravaganza, but she was so fun to talk to about her writing process and her future in acting that we didn’t get a chance. Plus we already know the girl can dress.

Your new book seems really well-researched and thoughtful—how did you become an expert in this sort of eco-friendly lifestyle realm?

Well, I wouldn’t call myself an expert, necessarily. I gathered the information over five years, and then it took about one year to format it and turn it into a book. And it was so difficult to gather [the information], which I did along the way as things affected me throughout my own life and personal experiences.

But you were able to dissect it and filter it into a book that is really easy to read, even for those of us who aren’t familiar with these sorts of toxic versus non-toxic issues.

The information is pretty dense, and unless you’re a scientist, you’re going to be like, “What the heck are you talking about?” But I knew there were things that weren’t good and that I wanted to avoid that touched parts of my life, from beauty to food to materials for my home. So it was such a daunting process to decipher it all, but I felt it was super-necessary. I mean, I wish I had this handbook and guidebook when I was learning and a new mom.

We also like that we could find what we needed quickly—moms often have limited time and patience for a book loaded with data.

It’s meant to be very useful and user-friendly—you can pick up a chapter that you care about and that’s relevant to you. I wanted all the charts to be color-coded, and all the chapters with an icon to identify them; it’s easier for me, so I figure it’s easier for everyone else. The enhanced e-book is even more user-friendly—all the charts pop up as you click on them, and I created little videos for each chapter; the still photos come to life, and that’s kind of fun. I asked the publisher if we could do more than the normal digital version of a book. I wanted a more robust experience.

You’ve been building this lifestyle brand, the Honest Company, for a few years now. Does that mean you’re transitioning away from being an actress?

It’s funny, because it wasn’t a conscious decision, it sort of just happened this way. I’m still so passionate about acting and having that as a creative outlet, and it’s a big part of who I am; I’ll never stop acting. But it’s my time, and where I was in my life, this business was a priority and a passion of mine over going to auditions and trying to get roles. I’m still doing movies; I’m about to start another at the end of this month, a period piece set in the ’60s. [Having my kids] was the best time of my life. I love it—I feel more fearless as an actress after becoming a mother, which is quite liberating. I’m ready to take on heavier roles, where before I was nitpicky and afraid of so many things. I don’t have that filter anymore. I think as you go into a new, different phase, things do change, and that’s influenced who I am and my choices. It happened organically.

So are you plotting to be the Martha Stewart of your generation? Any more books in the works?

I think if I was going to do any more in a series, naturally it would be something I can do easily, that I’m passionate about. A cookbook would be good, and probably not as time consuming. That would be a process where I just say, “I’m going to spend three months, rent a house somewhere, and just bang it out.” Something that would encompass baby to toddler to family, make a more robust book—that’s something I could totally do, about healthier food choices and recipes that aren’t so scary and daunting.

Jessica Alba will be signing copies of The Honest Life in front of Redwood restaurant on Bethesda Lane from 5 to 6:30 on Friday. For more information, visit the Front Row website.

Some good news! According to Deadline.com, Jessica Alba has signed up to star in ‘How To Make Love Like An Englishman’

Pierce Brosnan, Jessica Alba and Kristin Scott Thomas will star in the Tom Vaughan-helmed sexually charged romantic comedy How To Make Love Like An Englishman, the Matthew Newman-scripted film that is backed by Southpaw Entertainment’s Richard B. Lewis, Irish Dreamtime’s Beau St. Clair and Envision Entertainment’s Grant Cramer.

Solution Entertainment will sell the film in Cannes. Brosnan plays a Cambridge University professor who is forced to reexamine his hedonistic lifestyle after meeting a great gal (Thomas).

Things get complicated when he impregnates her grad student stepsister (Alba). Pic will shoot in September, financed by Envision and Merced Media Partners, and will be Executive Produced by Stepan Martirosyan and Remington Chase of Envision, Raj Brinder Singh and Kevin Scott Frakes of Merced Media Partners, Lisa Wilson and Myles Nestel of The Solution, and Jon Amiel. CAA represents the U.S. distribution rights.

Check out Alba’s recent appearance on the Ellen Show (March 11) were she discussed all things The Honest Life, family and more.

Collider.com sat down with Jessica Alba recently during the Escape from Planet Earth press junket to discuss the 3D flick, A.C.O.D., and more importantly Sin City 2!. CLICK HERE to read the full interview.

Sin City 2 is one of these projects that everyone talked about for years, that honestly I just lost faith that it was going to happen and then all of the sudden it did.

Alba: Out of nowhere right?

Out of nowhere and he has everybody in Hollywood in the movie, like everyone.  Talk a little bit about when you first heard that it was coming back and that you were going to be a part of it.

Alba: I think like you every six months to a year it was like “We’re going to do it, when’s the next one coming?  Oh yeah, we’re going to do it.  We’re going to do it.  We’re going to do it.” And then at a certain point it was just like OK, I just didn’t believe it.  It was like “We’re going to start in the summer, we’re going to start in the fall” but then when we actually got the start date and I was there on the set it was like a dream.  I was like, “Am I really here?  Are we really here?  OK, just making sure.” And Jamie [Chung] filmed the day before me and I was like “Are we really doing this?” So yeah, it was surreal and I ran into Rosario [Dawson] and for all of us it’s really cool.  I got to work with Bruce [Willis] and with Mickey [Rourke] and it’s probably one of the best times of my life working on the second.  The first was like open the doors and this has been, certainly as an artist, the best experience.

What’s interesting is that everyone I’ve spoken to that’s been working on it has been telling me that its literally all green screen, that everyone is filming their stuff and then he’s going to put it all together in post.

Alba: That’s how the first on was.

It seems even more extreme on this one, but maybe I’m not hearing it right.

Alba: It’s exactly the same as the first one.  I got to work with Mickey this time, which I didn’t work with him the first time, even though we were in scenes together, I did my scenes with Robert, so that was nice, to be able to work with Mickey because I’ve always been a huge fan of his.

Talk a little bit about what the process is like working for Robert when you’re on green screen like that.  How much is he showing you the pre-vis or the art work to show you what it’s going to look like or is it a lot of imagination going on?

Alba: Well this is- mine is an original story so there wasn’t a lot to base it off of, but Frank [Miller] has been drawing.  So it’s just crazy.  It was neat to see their process, Robert and Frank’s, and their collaboration and what they inspire from each other and get out of each other and what they’re creating.  It’s really like the 2.0 version of Sin City and it’s pretty amazing.

I’m going to run out of time with so I do want to ask you what you are thinking about for the rest of the year in terms of roles.  Obviously we could talk about Machete Kills, or Machete Kills Again in Space, but I am curious what you’re thinking about for the future is there a certain role that you’re looking after or going for?  What’s percolating?

Alba: A couple of things.  I’m about to go on a book tour, I just wrote a book and its coming out in march so that’s the next thing that I’m thinking about and I have a company that I started about a year ago, so my company, you know, every day I’m the president.  So that’s exciting and that’s something so completely different from what goes on in entertainment.  I’m looking to do some completely different things more as a producer and creator as some things that I have percolating.  We’ll see.  I’m really looking forward to Sin City 2: A Dame to Kill For to come out.  It’s going to be rad.

Myriad Pictures is preselling the movie, which is written by Milo Addica and will mark the Oscar-nominated scribe’s big-screen directorial debut.

BERLIN — Jessica Alba is in final negotiations to star in Weightless, an original screenplay from Oscar-nominated writer Milo Addica (Monster’s Ball) that will mark the scribe’s first outing in the director’s chair.

Myriad Pictures is shopping presales to buyers on the project, which will see Alba play the lead role.

Set in the near future, the movie details the story of a female astronaut (Alba) who winds up in a complicated love affair with the brother of a woman who died in a motorcycle accident she caused but didn’t tell anyone about for fear of jeopardizing her place on a space flight.

Myriad’s Kirk D’Amico will produce with Steve Norris, alongside the U.K.’s Apollo Productions and its partners, Pinewood Studios and VFX powerhouse Double Negative.

Addica is repped by Oren Segal of MPE (Management Production Entertainment), Joanne Wiles and Kevin Crotty of ICM Partners and attorney Karl Austen. – THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER

Hopefully everything will fall into place.

Jessica Alba is InStyle’s February cover girl! In this issue, the 31-year-old actress talks about the many new skills she’s added to her resume over the years: mother, wife, organic baby food expert, and author among them. A year ago, she launched Honest Company with environmental specialist Christopher Gavigan, in the hopes of educating people on the benefits of healthy, organic products for children. “Creating this company was something I had to do,” Alba tells InStyle of the venture, which has already attracted $27 million from investors. “We’re completely transparent. All the goods we make are high-performance—and safe—but they’re also beautifully designed, so people will be drawn to them, too.” In March, Alba puts pen to paper in her first book, The Honest Life, a how-to handbook she co-wrote with Gavigan on filling your home with eco-friendly and safe products. Her role as activist started as her family grew: She has two children—Honor, 4, and Haven, 1—with producer husband Cash Warren, the love of her life. “I just knew when I met him that I was going to know him forever,” says Alba. “It was weird; he instantly felt like family. It was so easy. I’d never felt like that with anyone. I was usually pretty self-conscious, minding my p’s and q’s, very aware of every time my fork hit the plate when I was having dinner on a date. With him, there was none of that. We got each other. We’re kindred spirits.” For more of our exclusive interview, flip to page 194 of the February issue—or download it on your iPad, Nook, or Droid tablet—on newsstands Friday, January 11.

Jessica Alba is featured in the new Windows Phone 8 advertisement, which focuses on its Kid’s Corner and is basically a shortened version of the video that was shown at the Windows Phone 8 launch keynote event.

Lets hope Alba keeps the superior Iphone, and continues the instagram updates.

Open Road Films has acquired all U.S. distribution rights to Machete Kills, directed by Robert Rodriguez and starring Danny Trejo, Michelle Rodriguez, Sofia Vergara, Amber Heard, Charlie Sheen, Lady Gaga, Antonio Banderas, Jessica Alba, Demian Bichir, Alexa Vega, Vanessa Hudgens, Cuba Gooding, Jr., William Sadler, Marko Zaror and Mel Gibson. The film is expected to have a wide release in 2013.

Machete Kills is the sequel to the 2010 hit film Machete – which has built a devoted legion of fans since its release – and is the second film in a trilogy. The film is produced by Robert Rodriguez, along with Aaron Kaufman and Iliana Nikolic through their QuickDraw Productions banner, as well as Sergei Bespalov of Aldamisa Films, Alexander Rodnyansky of AR Films, and Rick Schwartz of Overnight Films.

In Machete Kills, Danny Trejo returns as ex-Federale agent Machete, who is recruited by the President of the United States for a mission which would be impossible for any mortal man – he must take down a madman revolutionary and an eccentric billionaire arms dealer who has hatched a plan to spread war and anarchy across the planet.

— ComingSoon.net