Here’s part of an interview on Jackie Collins when she put out her book “Drop Dead Gorgeous” about her famous character Lucky Santangelo. The full interview is at Lifetime. The interviewer is Patty Lamberti.You could call Jackie Collins the godmother of all Lifetime movies: She was the first female authors to tell stories about women who triumph over seemingly impossible odds and usually get the hot guy in the end as well. So we could think of no better woman to interview.
Interviewer: Tell us about what you’re writing exclusively for LifetimeTV.com and how it relates to your new book.
Jackie Collins: I wanted to write a prequel to the novel. It includes a series of email exchanges between Lucky and her daughter, Max. It’s obvious that one day Max will take over Lucky’s throne, and I wanted to show her at the same age I showed Lucky in “Chances”---as a 16 year old wild child. Except this is 2007, and the world is different. Still, like Lucky, Max thinks she knows so much more than anyone else.
Interviewer: What do you and your sister, Joan, gossip about on the phone?
Jackie Collins: Like all sisters, we talk about the things that annoy us. People are always writing that we don’t like ach other, and that pisses us off. But we laugh about it because we know it’s not true. The truth is, we’ve always been the best of friends. When she got married, there was this whole to-do in the press that I didn’t attend her wedding in London. But I was producing a movie here in LA at the time. She visited me just before her wedding, and I threw her and her husband a wedding party with 80 people. But the media doesn’t mention that, of course.
Interviewer: If “Drop Dead Beautiful” were made into a movie, who would you want to cast in it and why?
Jackie Collins: Before she won an Oscar and was on the cover of every magazine, I wanted Angelina Jolie to play Lucky. She would have been perfect. Nicollette Sheridan ended up playing Lucky in the movie version of “Chances”. If Nicollette agreed to play Lucky now, 15 years later, she’d still be fantastic. In “Chances”, she wore a dark wig to hide her blonde hair. And many people don’t realize that a young Sandra Bullock played Lucky’s mom [in a flashback scene].
Interviewer: What’s one of the most memorable run-ins you’ve ever had with a fan?
Jackie Collins: There are these male twins who are very sweet, but they pop up everywhere I go. I’ll go to the makeup counter at Neiman Marcus, and the clerk will tell me, “The twins were just here looking for you.”
Interviewer: If someone were going to write a new book about you, what you want it to be called?
Jackie Collins: well, I’d prefer they wouldn’t write a book about me at all. I’ve had a few written about me, and they’re appalling. The author will write, “And then she thought…” I say to myself, I don’t think that way. It I want anyone to tell my story, I want it to be me.
Interviewer: So are you promising me you’ll write an auto biography?
Jackie Collins: Maybe in 10 years I’ll write my autobiography. I definitely know I’ve got at least another 25 novels in me.
06/03/08 12:18am
