FINOLA HUGHES

There have been many times in my career which just stand out as complete highs, (and I am sure to have forgotten some). The opening night of Cat’s (as lame as that may seem nearly 30 yrs later); meeting the Queen (curtsey, natch); meeting Gene Kelly; John Travolta laughing during dance rehearsal; Anna & Scorpio, Duke, & David; my lovely Kimberly McCollough and Ian for always; working with Dennis Hopper; Bill Bixby; John Dye; Sir John Gielgud; Trevor Nunn; Andrew Lloyd Webber; Gillian Lyne; Samantha Egger; Kelly Ripa; the week with Tracey Ullman (ridiculous); and now, at this point, the couple of days I spent on a movie called ‘Like Crazy’.

I had a frantic call early one morning from my manager last year sometime to hurry down to meet a young director who was looking for English actresses. Now, hurrying anywhere with a) 3 children and b) an 85 mile journey to LA, is at best undoable without a citation. However, then followed a statement that made me throw on a pair of black skinnies and break the mph’s. “The audition is improvised”. My kind of invite. I slammed downtown LA in record speed. (Won’t say how quick, don’t want to incriminate). I had the good fortune to meet Drake Doremus and his producer Jonathan Schwartz. I immediately was so taken with Drake, so full of energy, clever, witty and sensitive. We improvised. It was everything improvisation consists of, it’s exciting, dangerous and ridiculous. I then drove all the way home.

Cut to: A brilliant day spent on set with the sublime Felicity Jones and Drake Doremus et al. where I got to tell a simple story about my own life, as it happens.

And then Sundance film festival. And the winner is… This movie so captures the imagination of all who see it. From the very first shot (cinematographer John Guleserian) to the amazing editing (Jonathan Alberts), and the heartfelt performances from Felicity Jones and Anton Yelchin. You feel as if you are a fly on the wall of your own first love! Drake has crafted such a special piece, a moment we all can relate to; that first, sick flutter of recognition as you fall and merge with another. It’s great and amazing.

Go see it.

Thank you Drake, like crazy, for having me in your movie. To Ben for his general cleverness! Thanks too to Jonathan and Andrea.

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Hi, everyone, yes I am still alive….

I have been dealing with lots of family stuff over the last few months, nothing particularly interesting, (though I am aware it is the fodder of most blogs, and mine too, mostly!), so let me rephrase that and say, nothing has occurred that I care to share in the event I may kill you with tedious personal detail!

However, I have hooked up with an amazing company called Viviscal. A very inspirational thing happened a couple of months ago when I was researching hair loss etc. During my pregnancy with Dylan I experienced a tremendous amount of hair shedding which was extremely alarming, and put it down to no sleep, new ‘Mommy’ anxiety and stress. Which of course, it was, (also hormonal). Within 6 months the hair loss subsided and after about a year it was back to normal. Well, I realized I was probably susceptible to this kind of thing, and began researching what would happen should I undergo stress etc again. Anyway, I came across Viviscal, which has been present in Europe for about the last 10 yrs. It is geeeeeenius!!!

It is a 100% natural dietary supplement that you take twice a day, and the marine complex contained within the supplement provides essential nutrients that nourish thinning hair, and eventually promotes existing hair growth. It is FANTASTIC!!!! I love it, especially because it is natural. Some of the things I have discovered since I partnered with Viviscal, (headed up by a wonderful CEO who is extremely particular and hands on with the quality of ingredients etc) I have discovered that there are a slue of things that contribute towards hair loss; Genetics, it can run in la famille; Health, if you diet, or get rundown, or recovering from an illness, watch out; Stress, ’nuff said, we are all experiencing some form of stress; Diet, yep, crash dieting, ladies, leads to hair thinning; and Hair processing, using all those harsh chemicals and products takes a toll on your hair, like you didn’t know that!

OK, so grab yourself a box of Viviscal, it is available at  Rite Aid or online at  Viviscal.com It is so brilliant, and, once you try it, like me, you will wonder why you went so long without it!!!

love Finola

Oh, yeah, and btw, Viviscal just conducted a pilot study in Dallas on 20 women, (the supplement works for men and women the same) The group included all ages and ethnicities, and all different aspects of thinning hair. Anyway, At the end of the 10 week study everyone taking Viviscal showed an average reduction of hair loss of 50%!!!! Cool, right?

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Decided to make a nut roast for Thanksgiving, having not eaten any kind of meat in 2 yrs, (well, apart from fish, I am too scared to give that up too in case I lose what is left of my brain power, it could happen). So I went on line to find the one that appealed to me most. Eventually settled on the PeTA recipe, which is SOOOO delicious. Didn’t know the first thing about making a nut loaf, and this seemed quite an undertaking as it has stuffing and a kind of outside bit also. But it all came together incredibly well, and even the carnivores at my table raved about it!! Attempted to make the gravy that went with it, but I screwed it up and it was disgusting, I asked Sophie what she thought, and she diplomatically said: “I have tasted better” so, it ended up in the compost. Blech.

We had a great feast, beets, butternut squash, Duncan’s fine British roast potatoes, Sophie’s crazy good Eve’s pudding, and various other lovely bits and pieces.

Here is the link for the PeTA nut roast. I added some ground up chestnuts to the stuffing, which was great, if you like them.

http://www.boutell.com/vegetarian/nut-roast.html

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Yes, nearly a month since my last blog. I was swallowed up by what passes as family life. A fast paced blur of hugs, washing, driving, wiping and cleaning. There were moments when I thought, oooh, I should blog about this, but then I would sit down until the feeling wore off! And you will thank me for it. As much as twittering can be benign, I really don’t want to submit you to ‘Dylan had soccer practice today…’ on my blog. Trust me, I won’t let this become a weekly Holiday letter about my ‘so called life’. I will find some interesting things to talk about. Or I will give it my best college (even if I majored in dance) try!

And here is something: My friend Helga has set up a lovely family business of her own. She used to make and design clothes, and thought she wanted to drag out her sewing machine once more, but realized the world of apparel is grossly over populated. So, she began scouring flea markets for genius old materials, and has put together gorgeous cushions and elephants and nursery items. Naturally, this appealed to me 100% because a) it is homemade, and b)recycled, (or upcycled). Helga finds dead stock of older fabrics, or thrifts old dresses and cuts them up. She is not fussy about whether it is actually vintage or not, going more with her instincts for design and color. Plus she has adapted her animal figures from old vintage teddy bears etc (that she cruelly ripped apart) and has re-worked the pattern! The result is a heady mix of 70′s psychedelic crazy, with a touch of darling nursery book vibe. Totally cool. Naturally I came out of her house with two adorable pink cushions for Sadie, and an elephant as a gift for Christmas.

Go to Helga’s website to find out where she is going to be selling her wares. Mostly eco markets and flea markets. Check her out for cool Holiday prezzies. Perfection!

REVIVAL, by Helga Shepard

revivalvintagedesign.com

Cushions: $30-$40. Elephants: $25. Lavender sachets: $12

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So, if an actress has her birthday in a forest and nobody hears about it, does it really happen?
Conversely, if an actress has her birthday in a forest and nobody is there to photograph it, does it really happen?

Just curious…..

Stealth birthday last week. Thanks for all the well wishes….

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I love that my friends son won’t dress up for Halloween. When asked what he wanted to be, he said, “Me”. Were we all so secure! My children, however, ‘nother story. Yards of tule and acres of muslin pile into this house as I try my best to render a ‘Leaf Thief’ (yep, no idea either) and a Fairy (pretty straight forward). The fairy was fun to do, all gossamer and pink/salmon/creamy, but the leaf thing…..ugh. I don’t know if any of you have tried dying muslin, but I had a terrible time (that’s a sentence I never thought I would write, ah, parenthood). Thought muslin would take to it like a duck to vegetable dye, but nope, nothing (wrong mordant?). Ended up with a very sad looking limp beige curtain affair, that in desperation I spent the best part of Saturday painting with water colors to resemble, well, some kind of maple leaf. And an acorn hat. Yes, I know, purists, bite me. Threw a Zorro style mask under the acorn hat, (a nod to the ‘thief’ part of the deal) and Dylan was good to go. Sadie, adorable fairy, not scared of trick or treating in the slightest, flew from house to house nabbing her KitKat’s and Reeses….. and Cash, well he was a cop.

All he wanted was for a girl to let him put his handcuffs on her….no joke…

Sadie

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“I’m wearing vintage” my ‘Gorgeously Green‘ friend Sophie Ulliano announced. Sounds perfect for the Environmental Media Awards. I too planned on wearing a black 60′s number, intent on being a Mad Men extra, but once dressed, I felt a bit matronly, so opted for an Alberta Ferretti which was a couple of seasons old, so still fit the ‘recycled’ bill, for the eco awards!

Once there, plenty of excitement with environmental gadgets and healthy food. Sophie and I were sitting at the National Geographic table, they won the legacy award for bringing attention to the care of the planet for over a century. Sobering news about the decline in population of large cats came in the form of an amazing husband and wife team Dereck and Beverly Joubert. Find out more on bigcatinitiative.com.

In one acceptance speech, a well meaning woman said something about some technology being developed to help us connect with the earth. I turned to Sophie and mentioned the fact that we were always in touch with the earth, weren’t we? Didn’t we start off connected, hundreds of years ago? Didn’t we grow our own food, live off the land, take care of our neighbor and our community? Or am I imagining that? Katie, the lady to my left from National Geographic, concurred, and said all anyone needs to do is trek into the Redwoods and camp out for a weekend to get back in touch. Hmm, well, let’s not push it. I have camped out once for Oprah, and believe me, I’m done. How much of a mystery is it, though, to help us get back to nature, because somehow, we have to reconnect. Which leads me to the most chilling moment of the night for me.

Sir Richard Branson was honored with an EMA Responsibility Award, and when he got up to accept, went on to talk about all the big ideas to help the planet. Launching 100 ships into the ocean with the technology to create clouds to form coverage to cool the sea. Burying all our carbon, to help make fossil fuel for the future, or something like that. It led me to wonder how much carbon we would emit in creating the machines to make all this possible. And then he let it fly, he said there are those people creating the Big Ideas and moving forward, and then there is another group of people who believe it is already too late, amongst them independent scientist James Lovelock. You could have heard an organic hazelnut drop. Sir Branson made it clear that he didn’t mean to be a sensationalist, but perhaps it was something we should all be hearing. I heard it loud and clear. We cannot sit on our laurels. We have to take action on all fronts, whatever it takes. Start small, do our part, be informed, get involved. Every single one of us.

A Native American quote from the evening rang in my ears as I waited for Sophie’s Prius, ‘We don’t inherit this planet from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children’. The Earth is on loan, we are the tenants for now, we have to treat it with respect, because when it wants to reclaim itself, it will, one way or another.

Me and Sophie at the EMA’s

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Ubald, that was the name Jason Patrick decided to call my son, Dylan, because he had stuck his name tag on upside down, and it pretty much read like that; ubhlD. Well, I guess in their minds! And that is how the day began! Our first time joining Kimberly and her GH Scrubs Team.

It was an early drive for us to get from our fairyland up the coast down to LA in time for the walk. Once at the kick off area, we got to sit on the stage and listen to Mayor Villaraigosa and others. Then, right as the walk was starting, John Lloyd Young (Jersey Boys) sang ‘you’ll never walk alone’. Yep, I was a gonner. Tried to hold it together, but that is what sunglasses are for, right? Plenty of creative people there, Mary Louise Parker, Ricki Lake, Felicity Huffman, Jeffrey Katzenberg, La Toya, George Takai, et al. There were 30,000 people walking in LA on Sunday. Dylan was itching to get out there, and Cash kept saying, ‘I want to walk’… So, we joined the throngs, and I am very proud to say, my boys totally stayed the course, never complained once and were complete gents! Jason had to carry Cash for a few miles, Kimberly tried to, but he weighs about the same as her!!

The entire GH Scrubs gang went for lunch afterwards, and Cash flirted mercilessly with Minae and Kent. He sat right in the middle of the ladies, away from me and his brother, and held court for about an hour! Ridic! I caught up with Sonya, plus I also got to meet another friend of Kimberly’s, Sprague, who played the Presidents daughter on ’24′ a season ago, and basically tried to bring the country down. Genius performance. Love!!

LA raised over 3 million dollars, and if anyone wishes, they can still donate at my fundraising HQ up until November 13th:

http://aidswalklosangeles2009.kintera.org/finolahughes

And many many thanks to everyone who has supported us in this endeavor.

The gang

The boys step out

Dylan finds a Banksy en route

I walked to honor my dear friend Axel. We miss him very much.

Axel, painting his steps in Greece

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Tuesday last week found me in a very lucky position. I had the good fortune of being asked to be part of a Warner Brothers animated film. It was the BEST!!! I love doing animation, and I have been involved with a couple before, so I was very excited to be asked. And, imagine my surprise when I meet one of my most favorite actresses, also involved in this particular session. Behaved stupidly, and told her she was my hero(!) Um, exactly what does one do with that piece of information?

Also, on arrival, asked nervously, “You want this British, right?” Luckily the answer was yes, or I would have had to subject everyone to my trans Atlantic Joan Collins impersonation. Not pretty.

Anyway,  I had a fab afternoon creating a little character with my voice, sharing the booth with some cool peeps, and laughing at myself. As you can tell, I have been sworn to secrecy, so I am unable to share ANY details, suffice to say, you will like it when it hits the screen, 2011!

Me attempting to look captivating….

Took Sadie for a hike yesterday. Well, a ride I suppose. She walked about a dozen steps and then wanted ‘up’. It was a beautiful walk, ending in a creek. Pretty day, got the walk in just before the rain today. Haven’t sorted out my hiking wardrobe yet! Sadie looked totes ‘fly girl’!

Sadie contemplating jumping in

The cab home

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