Reminder: Doodle Day Auction Ends on Monday, May 28
Posted at 9:39 AM (PDT) on Saturday, May 26, 2007

As part of Neurofibromatosis (NF) Awareness month, celebrity doodles are being auctioned on eBay. Bid on doodles from Gillian and Piper Anderson, Ed Asner (TXF: How the Ghosts Stole Christmas, 1998), Ellen Burnstyn (Playing by Heart, 1998), Kyd Miller Duchovny (son of David and Tea), Kathy Griffin (TXF: Fight Club, 2000), Dean Haglund (The Lone Gunmen), Darren Waterston, Barack Obama, Jay Leno, Donald Trump, Henry Winkler and...



Alan Ruck (Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Spin City, Star Trek: Of Gods and Men)

Chris Shelton (Detroit Tigers)

Debbie MacDonald (Animal Planet's "Animal Cops Detroit")

Jenn Shifflet: "Looking at a painting by Jenn Shifflet is like being submerged in water or floating in outer space. There is a sense of expansiveness devoid of solid objects and a horizon line, but full of luminous atmosphere." -- Contemporary Quarterly 6

Lea Thompson (Some Kind of Wonderful, Back to the Future, Caroline in the City, Jane Doe)

Lorenzo Lamas (Hector Ramirez: The Bold and the Beautiful, Renegade, Falcon Crest)

Marcia Muller: Renowned mystery writer

Mikey Teutel (TLC's American Chopper)

Osvaldo Golijov: Grammy award-winning composer. Recently completed projects include Azul, a cello concerto for Yo-Yo Ma and the Boston Symphony, and the composition of the soundtrack for Francis Ford Coppola's upcoming film Youth Without Youth.

Rebecca Budig (ex-Greenlee: All My Children)

Rick Springfield (Dr. Noah Drake: General Hospital)

Sean Casey (Detroit Tigers)

Steven Weber (Wings, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip)

Tom Bergeron (America's Funniest Home Videos & Hollywood Squares)

And LOTS more...

NOTE: This auction is open to bidders around the world. US shipping: $6.00 flat rate. International shipping: To be determined according to buyer location and shipping service.

These doodles have a very important aim: the funds they raise will benefit NF, Inc., an organization dedicated to providing support to individuals and families affected by neurofibromatosis (NF).

NF is a genetic disorder that affects one in every 2,500 births. NF is more common than Cystic Fibrosis, Muscular Dystrophy and Huntington�s Disease combined. Funds raised from the Doodle Day auction will go to support education, advocacy, coalitions, and research for treatments and a cure.

Thank you for your support!

First USA National Doodle Day Auction
Posted at 12:08 PM (PDT) on Tuesday, May 22, 2007

The first US National Doodle Day auction to benefit NF has begun!

Click here to bid on doodles now on eBay.

We need everyone's help to make this first National Doodle Day auction a success for NF.

Please spread the word to your friends and family.

Thank you for your support!

Two more film roles for Gillian
Posted at 1:58 PM (PDT) on Sunday, May 20, 2007

Target Entertainment aims at big screen

By Stuart Kemp
Hollywood Reporter
May 20, 2007

CANNES -- U.K.-based television sales house and production giant Target Entertainment is launching into movie production and financing and has struck a six-picture, �6 million ($12 million) deal with U.K. production banner Pink Sands...

Pink Sands investors include former WMA chief Charles Finch, who now wears two hats as chief executive of talent and endorsement agency Finch and Partners and as an indie producer.

The Target and Pink Sands partnership includes writer/director Kfir Yefet's "The Smell of Apples," based on the novel by Mark Behr and starring Gillian Anderson ("The Last King of Scotland") and Jordi Molla ("The Golden Age").

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Jeff Bridges joins 'Lose' cast
Danny Huston, Gillian Anderson also sign on

By Adam Dawtrey
Daily Variety
May 17, 2007

Jeff Bridges has joined the cast of Bob Weide's comedy "How to Lose Friends and Alienate People" in the key role of Clayton Harding, a Gotham magazine editor closely modeled on Vanity Fair's Graydon Carter.

Danny Huston and Gillian Anderson have also been signed up for the movie, which stars Simon Pegg and Kirsten Dunst.

"How to Lose Friends," which starts shooting June 4, is based on Brit journalist Toby Young's memoir of his misadventures in New York as a contributing editor for Vanity Fair.

Charity, celebrity blend well: new interview
Posted at 9:51 AM (PDT) on Friday, May 18, 2007



Charity, celebrity blend well, actress says
May 18, 2007
By Sue Merrell
The Grand Rapids Press

GRAND RAPIDS -- The long-rumored return of "The X-Files" to the silver screen seems as elusive as some of Special Agent Fox Mulder's alien theories.

The truth is out there, but star Gillian Anderson -- like her facts-first character, Special Agent Dana Scully -- wants to see it in writing.

"I'm waiting for a script to be delivered," Anderson said during a recent visit to Grand Rapids. "It's apparently in the works, but I'm not sure until such time as there is a script. We all want it to happen."

Anderson, a 1986 graduate of City High School, starred with David Duchovny in the Fox television series from 1993 to 2002, as well as the 1998 film, "The X-Files: Fight the Future."

Now living in London, she visited Grand Rapids last weekend to celebrate the 90th birthday of her grandmother, Louise Lane of Rockford, and show off her 6-month-old son, Oscar.

"He's been a bit cranky because he's teething," Anderson said, "but right now he's fairly smiley and content."

During her visit last weekend, Anderson, 38, spoke at a fundraiser for neurofibromatosis, a genetic disorder that causes tumors to form on nerves. Anderson's brother, Aaron, who is working on his Ph.D. at Stanford, has been diagnosed with NF1, a moderate form of the disease.

Her mother, Rosemary Anderson, is vice president of Neurofibromatosis, Inc., a national support group that kicked off a new fundraising effort, Run for NF, at Saturday's Fifth Third Riverbank Run. Anderson's daughter Piper, 12, participated in the 5K walk with Rosemary and Gillian's sister, Zoe.

Doodle drawings by Gillian and Piper, as well as contributions from Donald Trump, Barack Obama and others, are being auctioned off on eBay next week as part of the first U.S. National Doodle Day to raise money for NF. "In England, we raised $150,000 last year for NF," Anderson said, adding she bid on doodles by Judy Dench and Helen Mirren.

Neurofibromatosis is one of many charities Anderson supports, including a variety of causes in Africa, from AIDS to artists to elephants.

"It's an unexpected benefit of celebrity," she said. "I discovered the benefits of someone who is in the public eye pointing attention to something that needs attention."

Anderson and her following of "The X-Files" fans have raised money for a school in Uganda. She speaks excitedly about developments most of us take for granted, such as getting the school on the electric grid or raising enough money for a borehole so the community can have fresh water.

"It's been an extraordinary experience," she said. "Over the years, 'X-Files' fans have donated money and gotten involved in raising money and started to volunteer because they see me volunteer."

Although Grand Rapids has added a new convention center, arena and medical research center since Anderson visited 11 years ago, she said she didn't have much time to look around.

"I remember so little," she said. "Every now and then something comes into the corner of my mind."

Although she didn't get a chance to visit the remodeled Grand Rapids Civic Theatre, where she served as an intern in the mid-1980s, she has fond memories of her first theater production at Actors' Theatre, "And a Nightingale Sang."

"I remember the feeling of being on stage when you feel like the audience is with you. It was the first time I felt that, and there was the 'Aha moment.' 'This is what I want to do.'"

Although Anderson moved to London five years ago, she has remained visible to American audiences, earning an Emmy nomination for her portrayal of Lady Dedlock in Masterpiece Theatre's "Bleak House," which aired on PBS in 2006 and repeated in recent weeks.

"That was a great experience, a great project."

She also had a supporting role in last year's Academy Award-winning movie, "The Last King of Scotland."

But several of her British films, such as "The Mighty Celt" and "Tristram Shandy: A Cock and Bull Story," never made it to Grand Rapids. She suspects that will be the fate of "Straightheads," a horror thriller in which Anderson has a nude scene. It opened April 27 in the UK.

"The director (Dan Reed) was a documentary filmmaker and has done films in war zones," Anderson said. "The film explores what would happen to people if that kind of violence came to your neighborhood."

In recent months Anderson has been enjoying motherhood. She didn't work during her pregnancy and has been able to stay home with Oscar, her son with businessman Mark Griffiths. It has been much calmer than the high stress she felt when Piper was born in the midst of filming episodes of "The X-Files," she said.

"Being home with him has been very different, and I recommend it."

She plans to go back to work soon on a movie version of British journalist Toby Young's memoir, "How to Lose Friends and Alienate People," directed by "Curb Your Enthusiasm's" Robert B. Weide.