I got the call on Monday night. Would I be willing to direct a spoof on Dancing With the Stars for Marie Osmond? Would I?! Heckyeah! But it had to be done within a couple of days. I got the script from my friend Marcia Wilkie, who has a long association as a writer with Marie, and hurriedly went to work.

Marie and Jonathan Roberts (her dance partner) arrived already exhausted from their Wednesday night rehearsal for DWTS. At most, I knew we probably had an hour before their attention spans would just evaporate. But they were both troopers! Marie was full of life, laughter and ideas, and Jonathan did whatever we asked without complaining…. much. Even press agent Lisa Hatch got into the act. (And she utters one of what I think is the funniest lines in the video. You weigh in when you see it).

Of course nothing is ever as pristine as one would wish. When we got to the studio where we were to tape, I realized there were two full walls of mirrors! Bad for filming. If you look closely, you’ll see me in a few of the background shots. Oops.

We had a blast taping this and then Tracy Hof edited it down to the two minute final version. (Tracy also edited my short film “Getting To Know You” and my pilot presentation of the TV series “My Insignificant Other” - she’s amazing! )

I have to admit: I kinda got attached to the Marie doll. It just seems like there are so many more mis-adventures she could go on. Like meeting my cat. Or river rafting…or…well you get the picture.

Enjoy!

Liz

Dancing With The Starved

Dancing With The Starved #2
Marie loved the first video so much that she wanted to do it all over again. And this time the rest of the gang wanted in on the fun. (getting coverage on Entertainment Tonight didn’t hurt matters either) By the way, did you know that Jenny Garth, from “90210,” has a doll fashioned after her? Neither did I. Once we got all the dolls and started taping, of course Marcia Wilkie (Marie’s writer) and I lost control and it turned into a doll free-for-all!

We loved all our dolls equally though, in some sadistic sort of way...

© 2007 Very Bad Dog