Shirley she’ll visit NY soon

SHIRLEY MacLaine’s new movie is “The Last Word.”

She didn’t come for a recent screening. She’s not coming for Friday’s opening. When she called, her phone went dead. “Battery died,” she said on the second call. So when’s she coming in from out west? “I don’t know.” And she loves this film. Imagine if she didn’t like it?

“I read scripts. If your agent knows you’re looking, he’ll get you scripts. I’m not into tent-pole movies or shoot-’em-up indies. I read this a year and a half ago and loved the character. If it’s not on the page, it’s not for me.

“It’s about a woman born in the ’30s, like me. Creative. Like me. Wants what she wants. Like I do. So I knew her character.”

Told she looked well in the movie, Shirley said: “Oh, please. It’s a wig. My own personal wig that I bought myself for 99 cents.

“The shoot was six weeks in Pasadena. My problem was that then my dogs like to spend time with the dog lady. That’s not for me and my capacity for jealousy. Dogs get annoyed when the middle of the night I have to pee, but I can’t control my bladder. So if I put up with their poo, they can put up with my pee.

“Anyway, instead of a hotel I traveled there and back daily, two hours each way for this friggin’ role, to be with them. I’m possessive about my dogs. “Actually with them and my housekeeper, I require lots of people with me when I travel. I need an airplane.” Back to discussing humans. When’s she finally coming to push “The Last Word”? “I long to revisit New York. Here, it’s a long drive to get a bagel, see friends, go to a movie. New York you just walk to a grocery store, get your bagel home, and it’s still warm.” Yeah. So? So when’s she coming? “Oh, I really don’t know.” Shirley MacLaine: Commuted for her latest film so she could stay with her dogs.