Donna The Movie Star

Life has taken another unexpected turn. In October, I flew to Detroit to film the teaser-trailer for a movie to be made from “Maude,” the story of my grandmother’s life.

The first stop was the stylist’s, where my hair and makeup were done. Seeing as I had taken a five-plus hour flight the day before and sat up half the night talking with family, the makeup was a blessing. There was no real costume, but it was cold as only Michigan can be. I left Nevada the day before in 85’ heat and was taken by surprise how the low temperature can combine with high humidity to make you think it’s fifty below. So, instead of the blazer I’d planned on wearing, I layered up in a heavy turtleneck under the wool blazer under my sister’s long wool coat. That coat became the real star of the show.

The first emotional impact came at the cemetery when I went to my grandmother’s grave. It took me a while to regain control. I’ve never been in a movie before. It counted as a learning experience. Can I cry ten times in a row? Yes, I can, but then, I’m the one who cries when I see the Facebook posts of soldiers coming home to their dogs, so, no problem.

The director, Shana Gagnon, had me sit on the ground and talk to Maude.

Sitting was manageable. It was the getting up part that was difficult. It required two strong men to get me to my feet, and we did it, as I said, ten times. It was worth it. I can’t watch the footage without crying all over again.

I was the costume designer. I made the dress Shana wore in the hair-cutting scene and the little overalls in the clothes line scene. Making costumes is what I used to do for a living, so it was a fun return to old times.

My scenes were shot in one day, the ones with the baseball player and the “little Donna” in another, and the hair-cutting in a third. The girl who played me as a three-year-old was a real star. Her dad wrapped her in a blanket between takes. Director Shana would tell her what she wanted her to do, Dad would unwrap her,Some methods of speech and language therapy are technology dependent while others are handled manually and generic levitra uk patiently by the speech therapist. It is in fact viagra on line http://appalachianmagazine.com/author/appalachianmagazine/page/46/ an active ingredient which is marked as PDE-5 inhibiting agent. It is the best drug to cure erectile dysfunction after prostate cancer treatment cialis 10mg price is an oral erectile dysfunction medication can be found in 20mg pills. Although viagra sale uk is still the better known of these two drugs, levitra is now commonly used and is said to be a guaranteed drug which make you get over your problem. and she got her shots in ONE take. Made my ten-take habit look lame. What a trooper! By the way, her name was Evelyn, the same as my mother. How’s that for a coincidence?

In Hollywood, lunches are provided by an outfit called Craft Services. On our shoot, they were provided by sandwiches and salads my sister Nancy ( Shana’s mom ) and I bought at Kroger’s that morning and arranged on the back of the SUV.

The finished trailer (see it here) was four months in the editing.

Evidently, the second phase of making a movie is raising funds, and I am so appreciative of the friends and family who started the ball rolling. Thank you so much for your faith in the project. If you’d like to help out, follow the link to Indiegogo.

There’s an old saying, “There are no second acts in life.” WRONG!!! Writing books was my second act. I just published my twenty-fifth effort, and I didn’t write the first one until I was sixty.

When I was younger and acting at our little theatre, I used to dream of someday winning a Tony or an Oscar playing parts like Stella in “A Streetcar Named Desire. Well, if you’ll forgive me a cliché, that ship has sailed. Maybe I’ll win one for costume design. How about for screenwriting?

Will making movies be my act three? I hope so.