Martha Coolidge (Intorducing Dorothy Dandridge,Valley Girl,Rambling Rose) is just putting the finishing touches on her latest project, Nora Roberts' Tribute, a movie for Lifetime Television, based on the Roberts' current blockbuster. Tribute starring Brittany Murphy ( 8 Mile) and Jason Lewis (Sex and th City) premieres Saturday, Aprill 11 at 9:00pm(ET/PT), as the climax of four films of Roberts' books which Lifetime Televison is airing during March and April.  The paper back edition of the book will be released March 31.
 
Coolidge who has many firsts to her credit (first and only woman to be President of the DGA, first director to have a mother and daughter receive Oscar nominations starring in the same film: Laura Dern and Diane Ladd in Rambling Rose) is the first woman director to helm any of the Nora Roberts Lifetime TV movies.
 
"With a heavy female readership for all the Nora Roberts books, it's an extra advantage being a woman " says Coolidge,"when directing one of her books.  I inherently understood the empowered, self-sufficient female character in Tribute, as welll as the men that Nora created.  They are different from men's views of themselves; they are not necessarily the hero, and they are sensitive, smart, funny and considerate, as well as good looking. I loved creating the world depicted in the script."
 
Coolidge has long been known as an "actor's director," and her greatest joy is working with the stars who have graced her projects including, the aforementioned Dern and Ladd, Robert Duvall, Angelica Huston, Jack Lemmon, Walter Matthau, Halle Berry, Geena Davis, Richard Dreyfus, Mercedes Ruehl, and Lucas Haas, while she also has an eye for showcasing new talent, such as Nicolas Cage, Val Kilmer, James Gandolfini.
 
She thrives on the diverse range of projects she's directed over the years from dramas like Rambling Rose or Angie, comedies like Out to Sea, Lost in Yonkers or Real Genius, hit tv series like Sex and the City, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, or Weeds, to films targeted to the young like Material Girls, American Girl: Chrissa Stands Strong, or the ultimate cult classic, Valley Girl.