Play Mitzi for me

I don’t know about you, but 2010 has got off to a cracking start. This may be because I am a Pisces and this, allegedly, is going to be our year. http://www.susanmiller.com/forecasts/monthly/pisces_full.php

This is excellent news because, frankly, 2009 sucked. The Making Of Plus One… screening at the Cannes Film Festival and my dad’s 80th birthday party were the highlights of a year drowning in lows.

As one door closed, another was slammed in my face. And then another. Until finally Colin and I had to sub-let our apartment and move in with friends to re-group financially. Despite being a normally robust and positive soul, the year’s rejections and disappointments almost brought me to my knees with stress-related illnesses and chronic insomnia. So much so that I looked like I had been hit by the ugly stick and felt like shit.

My misery was compounded when a friend of the same age suddenly looked 10 years younger than me, thanks to a $10,500 facelift.

Arthur, the acupuncturist and Chinese herbalist, came to my rescue (he’s also my sister Julia’s other half). He brought me back to the land of the living and the remotely attractive.

So, before you submit to the knife, might I suggest you try Arthur’s acupuncture facelift? He can cure other ills at the same time. That’s me above with Colin on New Year’s Eve. Not bad for almost 55, though I say it myself. Thanks to good genes, I only needed eight sessions; most would need 12 at $85 a pop. Arthur’s offices are in Woodland Hills: 818 999 0300 or naturalmeddoc@gmail.com. I am proud to be his poster girl.

Back to 2010. My children were here and it was the best Christmas and New Year ever. In the first week of January, I was offered some research work on a network TV show. My work was so well received that I have been offered a producer job on the show (a one-off) for real money.

Julia and I are going to Palm Springs this weekend for the film festival with two of our bestest friends ever, Lori Leve and Joan Scheibel, where The Making Of Plus One… is being screened. Two extra screenings have been arranged because the one at The Regal on Saturday at 6.30pm is sold out. And there are parties, parties, parties.

A producer has offered $1.5 million partial funding to make the movie Plus One actually based on my book using my script. The fabulous Academy Award nominee Jennifer Tilly has read my script, loves it, and agreed to play the Mitzi character.

Another 11 months like this please, Cosmos.

It's official...

Actress Jennifer Tilly has announced the start of filming of ‘The Making Of Plus One’ at the Cannes Film Festival. Jennifer and her real-life sister, Meg Tilly, play sisters who have optioned the rights to my book, ‘Plus One’, who intend to make a small independent movie based on it, with them playing Julia and me.

Their characters are two American TV soap stars who hope that, by playing English women, they have a chance at an Oscar nod (incidentally, both Meg and Jennifer have had Academy Award nominations). Geraldine Chaplin plays their voice coach. John Sessions and Amanda Plummer also star, plus a bunch of other people you’ll recognize even if you don’t know their names.

Michael Eklund plays the movie’s producer, working behind the scenes at the festival to get Cate Blanchett and Kate Winslet attached to play the sisters, even though the TV soap stars bought the rights so they could take those roles. The plot thickens.

People will be on the edge of their seats by the end of the movie, gagging to know if the film gets made or not and wondering who will play Julia and me. That’s the plan, anyway.

As I get more and more excited about our trip to the south of France to play ourselves in a proper movie inspired by my book, you might be forgiven for thinking that Julia would have checked with me first before volunteering me to run the ‘What’s Beneath The Duck?’ stall with her this Sunday between the hours of 1 and 3pm at the Topanga Country Fair. Hang on a minute while I answer the phone.

That was Julia. Because we have “personality” and are “flexible”, Julia and I have been promoted to the Hoops stall. Plus ça change...