BRE, ID B B ASKET DELI TRAYS Arts;“1111-- Movies Following Her Dreams Actress/screenwriter Isabel Rose mirrors her own life in the new indie film 'Anything But Love." NAOMI PFEFFERMAN Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles 248.855.9463 32418 Northwestern LI' Farmington Hills. MI 48334 (fletzceen Mithllebelt & 14 Mile Rd.) Hours: Mon.-Fri. 8-8 Sat. 9-6, Sun. 10-4 WAV W. vineyarddeli.com 784210 r Mill - MI =II / f 0-CC,C11/0- Restaurant Italian, Greek & American Cuisine Pasta • Steak • Seafood PATIO NOW OPEN $ 6 0 I I I 0 11 I I I Buy any entree and get the second for S6 off/S3 off for lunch. pizia, 0;,,, tilt.1 ribs „„,;. for 2 excludcd: 1 .— I L I I I 1 248.476.0044 Farmington Hills Corner of Grand River Haggerty Road ism ism I 1•• ■ GET YOUR ADVERTISING INTO 12/ 5 2003 82 GEAR call us to advertise 248.334.6060 ne week after her 1998 wed- ding, New York actress Isabel Rose packed up her belongings and moved with her husband to London. Although the Yale graduate had achieved some success in the theater, she said her parents had different expectations. "I was raised to be a nice Jewish wife and hostess," Rose, 35, said. So she scrapped performing to follow her banker hubby, figuring she'd write novels while he was at work. "But I was wretchedly lonely and traumatized," she said. "I cried every day. Finally I found a way to write myself out of that dilemma by writ- ing a movie." Her charming debut film, Anything But Love, tells of Billie Golden (Rose), a Jewish aspiring singer facing a simi- lar dilemma. She's a Judy Garland wannabe addicted to Technicolor movie musicals, but her attorney fiance wants her to give up perform- ing to become a socialite-hausfrau. "The story reflected the emotional truth of my life," said the now- divorced Rose, who is also addicted to 1950s musicals. "I felt I was being forced to give up my voice as an artist to have the stability of this great guy who just wasn't my soul mate. 'And the movie is about a woman who stays true to her dreams while being urged to be practical and realistic." Just as Billie persists at her sleazy lounge gig, Rose persevered as her movie was rejected from 17 film festi- vals and deemed too upbeat for an independent film. Then came the success of other cheerful indies such as My Big Fat Greek Wedding, and the multitalented Rose was suddenly hot. Samuel Goldwyn Films agreed to distribute Anything, Rose appeared in a Vogue profile titled "A Star is Born," and she signed a Doubleday deal for two Jewish-themed books, The J.A.P. Chronicles, a collection of fictional short stories, and Member of the Tribe. "It's been like a fairytale," the spir- ited actress said during an interview at her publicist's Los Angeles office. "My life has paralleled my art in this crazy kind of way." Like her silver screen alter ego, Rose, the daughter of a military his- tory professor, has been infatuated with musicals since growing up Reform in New York. Every Friday in her Upper East Side apartment, there was a lavish, formal Shabbat dinner followed by retro entertainment. "We were like the von Trapp- steins," she said, punning on the fam- ily in The Sound of Music. "I had a guitar and we would sing, and after we were exhausted with our "Isabel was always accused of being old-fashioned and mainstream while everyone else was doing experimental work," said Robert Cary, 35, her classmate and Anything director/co- writer. "Like Billie, she marched to her own drummer, despite people saying critical things." After graduation, Rose starred in productions such as the national tour of Six Degrees of Separation, but life on the road eventually wore her down. She reinvented herself by earning a master's degree in fiction from Bennington College. "I imagined I'd write this starring role for myself and 51.MItleattr p oOrfi ffO w . Isabel Rose in 'Anything But Love": "I was raised to be a nice Jewish wife and hostess," says the actress/screenwriter. singing, we would retreat into the liv- ing room and my father would pull out the movie projector, and we'd see An American in Paris or Singin' in the Rain. "Always, attached to this religious meal, were these MGM movie musi- cals. And always, during the reel changes, I was the one imitating Gigi or Anne Miller in Kiss Me Kate." Although Rose starred in all the plays at school and Jewish sleep-away camp, she said her parents hoped she would make acting a hobby, not a career. Her struggle continued as she por- trayed musical theater leads at Yale. announce myself to the world," she recalled. Instead, she said, she bought into the "30 and no ring on the finger, oy vey," stigma and got engaged. It was just before moving to London, while en route to meet Cary at an Eartha Kitt cabaret show at the Carlyle Hotel, that Rose envisioned Anything. "Isabel ran out of the taxi and said she'd had this flash of inspiration," Cary said. "She was anxious to tell a story about a woman who wants to sing but has a problem with her [fiance]." The two friends worked on the