Happy New Year!

I tried to shake it up a bit this/last Christmas Day and spend the day with friends but Julia was quite devastated that Colin and I could even consider not spending the day with her, Marley Rose, Arthur and his parents - Russian Armenians who are quite the nicest couple in the world but insist on calling me Clara and Colin Kevin.

We did have a lovely day. I cooked, with Julia as my lovely young assistant. Then it was our traditional Brits Boxing Day bash for 30 ex pats who like a bit of cold meat and a baked potato.

I was very happy to see the last of the holiday ham on Friday. I think I did well to keep it interesting for five nights in a row. 

Mia had flown back to freezing cold, wet London to spend Christmas Day with friends. She bitterly regretted her decision and has been wearing three pairs of socks since her return. Max is still thriving in Fiji. No socks required there.

It was great to have Mia in LA for three weeks in December, not least because she paid for her own ticket this time. She was sunbathing here. In December. Sorry to rub it in.

The year has started off brilliantly for me. Some friends have offered us their fabulous house in Santa Monica while they enjoy a last-minute skiing trip to Utah. I so need some creative space to myself. It's hard for me to write now that Colin works from home as well. 

I spoke to my literary agent this morning and he really likes my new book proposal. He said he knows a couple of editors he thinks will find it wonderful. I’m calling it “The One.” It's a sort of sequel to Plus One about Colin and I getting back together after 25 years. We both kept our love letters from that time and they will be interspersed throughout the book. It hasn’t been an easy journey so there’s plenty of drama and conflict to keep the publisher happy and lots of funny stuff too.

I’ve seen the first assembly (or rough edit) of The Making Of Plus One... movie and it’s terrific. Really. Very funny and a wonderful insight as to how hard it is to get a movie made. The plan is for the film to be premiered at the next Cannes Film Festival in May. And it’s Dad’s 80th birthday at the end of April, so everything is falling into place for a trip to Europe. Julia is planning some gigs in England too. Well, her manager is.

Here’s to a happy, healthy and wealthy 2009. 

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...