Dear Marcia,

I am a fan of Rob Stewart too! He played my cunning ex-boyfriend in Demons from her Past, and he is really good at playing bad guys, but in real life he is an extremely nice man. So he is a good actor! He would have been excellent as the Sheriff too, but Michael Woods did a great job in that role. In any event, I would love to work with Rob again, and I even suggested him for a role in my next television movie, which I am shooting in April in Canada.

Thank you for visiting my site and for taking the time to write,

Alexandra

Dear Philip,

Isnt American Flyers a wonderful movie! I am glad to hear that you and your wife enjoy watching it, especially as cyclists. It is a testament to what a good job the writer, director, the cast and the crew did in the cycling scenes (I am not bragging here, as I was not in any of the cycling scenes!) when athletes like yourself find the film authentic. Steve Tesich, the writer (he also wrote another terrific cycling film which I re-watched a couple months ago, Breaking Away) was an experienced cyclist, and he was on the set to make sure, along with the technical consultants and a lot of great riders who came on as background actors, that the race scenes were realistic. The lead actors had a lot of training before filming started, because none of them were cyclists. David Marshall Grant, who played the younger brother, lost 20 pounds and quit smoking for the role! Rae Dawn Chong and I were taught how to do wheel changes, and she was so much faster than I that her character got to do the wheel change in the movie, but that was all the bike training we got, unfortunately. But now I am married to a cycling aficionado (who will wake up at 5am to watch the Tour de France on the internet), who also loves American Flyers, and we have bikes, bikes, bikes all over the garage!

The movie was filmed 24 years ago this summer (I remember clearly, because the Olympics were in LA and we were on location shooting in Colorado, Missouri and Kansas; Kevin Costner played the new Huey Lewis and the News album a lot when we were shooting in the van; I also turned 21 at the end of the shoot). It is a special film for me because I met 3 people who are still my very dear to me: Daniel Sladek, who did extras casting (all those race scenes!) and with whom I started a non-profit organization and who eventually became my manager for 9 years; Jim Dunlap, who was the assistant accountant on the movie, and who is one of the kindest people you could ever meet; Kate Sullivan who was a caterer on the movie and is now a very successful set decorator and a very close friend

I actually ran into John Badham, the director, 2 weeks ago. I was registering voters on my usual Wednesday night and he was on his way to teach a class at UCLA. It was wonderful to briefly catch up, as it has been a very long time since we have seen each other although we exchange holiday cards each year.

So glad you wrote in about American Flyers! And thank you for your kind words about my activism. As I always say, acting makes me happy, but activism feeds my soul.

Sincerely,

Alexandra

I am so happy that there are young people out there interested in the progressive politics – how great that you watch Kucinich’s Weekly Update, a YouTube feature that ran during his campaign for the presidency. He has, unfortunately, dropped out of the Presidential race (I still havent taken the Kucinich for President bumper sticker off my car), but last month he successfully won another term as congressman of Ohio, so he will continue to spread his message of peace, justice for all (including animals) and international responsibility.

I am not taking part in any documentaries on peace. The only documentary I have been in (besides the educational videos I hosted on overpopulation and materialism) is Who Killed the Electric Car?, which I think you will really appreciate. I recommend it highly and I am not alone: it is #8 on the Netflix documentary list (and #5 on Amazon, so I guess people want to own it) even 2 years after it was released!

I am however, still vigiling once a week in Los Angeles, as I have been doing for over 5 years. I was just thinking the other day how I havent gone to the Nevada Test Site for many years. I used to protest there at least once a year (and have at least a dozen arrests for civil disobedience there to prove it). Perhaps this summer I will return for the commemoration there of the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Always a very moving event, and the desert is so beautiful even though I also know it is toxic with all those nuclear bombs, detonated and undetonated, so close by.

I am glad you found me, Eva, especially because you are in your 20s, and it is nice to know that my values and my works can sync with another generation. I do have a film coming out this spring (already at festivals around the country) called Tru Loved, which you might enjoy.

Peace and love always,

Alexandra