Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe HOLLYWOOD, July 2 (UPI) -- Who better than a genuine third generation Hemingway to direct a movie of "A Moveable Feast," one of legendary novelist Ernest Hemingway's last books? The Hemingway take on a Hemingway classic will be accomplished by none other than the author's beautiful actress granddaughter, Mariel. Advertisement "Truthfully, I know 'A Moveable Feast' very well and I have an innate feeling for my grandfather's writing, a sense of who he was and what he was striving for," said Mariel, this week. "It's especially true of this novel about a man becoming the writer that we know him to be now, but was nobody at the time of the story in Paris. I feel very comfortable going after it. I have quite a few actors in mind for the cast, friends in the business who could play some of these wonderful characters: Ezra Pound, Gertrude Stein and Scott Fitzgerald. Advertisement "I was going to play my grandmother at one time, but I'm getting too old," she laughed. "Her name was Hadley, and that's my middle name. Grandfather died before I was born but I knew grandmother Hadley Hemingway." Her husband (Steven Crisman) will produce the picture Mariel has been preparing for five or six years. Mariel returns to television this month to star in "First Shot," a sequel to Fox-TV's highly regarded "First Daughter" in which she starred four years ago. A sequel was inevitable. "First Daughter" was the highest-rated cable movie ever. Mariel said, "It was fun and outdoorsy ... I playing a secret service operative protecting the president's daughter. This time I play the head of the secret service detail protecting the president. "It's about an assassination attempt; very good and exciting. Gregory Harrison plays the president and Doug Savant plays my husband." Hemingway makes a credible female bodyguard, an athletic, long-stemmed beauty with a trim body. Physical roles suit this Hemingway grandchild who starred in "Personal Best" (1982) as a track and field star when she was a 20-year-old. Now 40 and the mother of two daughters, Mariel stays in shape running to the top of the Sun Valley, Idaho, ski mountain and working out. Advertisement "My pet peeve is actors doing active things, running or shooting guns, looking as if they'd never done it before," she said. "They should cast physically fit performers to give films credulity. "I like playing those parts. I keep in shape because I come from Ketchum, Idaho, where sports is a way of life. "I'm an outdoors girl, always have been. I ski and snowboard and I own a yoga studio in Ketchum. "I've written a book looking at my life through a series of yoga experiences to be published next year. I run and hike every morning in Idaho. "Movies and television are youth-oriented businesses. It pays to stay healthy and look good. As it is, I'm going to be directing because you can't rely on this business supporting you when you're past 22 years old. "In my last movie I played Tipper Gore in 'Warning: Parental Advisory' and it's very funny. I'd met her before. "I studied all the news video tapes of her in the '80s when she was writing the warning labels for recorded music and got in trouble with people getting up in arms about it. It ran on VH-1 last February. "Also I did a complete improv movie, 'Perfume,' that came out at Sundance and everyone thought it would have a great debut but it disappeared when a new administration took over the studio. Advertisement "I did 'The Contender,' 'Londinium' and 'The Sex Monster' in 1999, which is the funniest movie you will ever see. Hilarious. It's on HBO all the time. "My daughters, Dree and Langley liked 'Little Men,' which I did five years ago; maybe because both of them made bit part appearances in the picture. I'm not encouraging them to become actresses, however. I think it's a tough way to go, to be honest. It's awful; there's so much rejection. "But you know what? There's no sense in telling your kids what to do. Dree is 14, the eldest and a terrific ballerina. Langley is 12 and likes painting and track and field. They have different agendas. "In a world where roles for women in their 40s are hard to come by, I've done some directing for my husband's company, so I have some experience. "I'm really prepared; I know what I want and how I want 'A Moveable Feast' to look. There's so few people left alive in my family, no one can get mad at me," she added laughing. Within the past few years Mariel lost her father, Jack Hemingway, who lived and worked in Idaho, and her actress sister Margaux. Advertisement "Yoga helped me through the difficult times," she concluded. "Now I want to be a director."
