Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Lori Loughlin Leaving Series with No Regrets/Art of Film Is Ageless at Swanky, Star-Studded AARP Event

Lori Loughlin says she has no regrets about departing "90210" and is leaving the CW show "on the very best of terms." Loughlin, who's been playing mom to Shenae Grimes and Tristan Wilds on the series since 2008, departs at season's end as the show's young cast of characters graduates from high school and heads off into college life.

"The CW has a demographic, and they need to write to that demographic, and I think the CW does that really well, you know?" she says. "I think, for me, it's time to creatively move on because there's not that much for me to do, and again, I understand, and I have no hard feelings."

Not that Loughlin's character has lacked for drama through the years, with her own hot romances and a rivalry with Jennie Garth that heated up in Season 2. Garth told us recently that she disliked the direction "90210" has been taking.

Loughlin says, "You know, I think it's fine. Jennie had a different attachment to the show. 'Beverly Hills, 90210' was her show for so many years, and she felt protective, almost motherly toward it. Along comes the new incarnation, and I don't think she was happy with what they were doing. But for me, I had no attachment to the old version, so I was completely fine with it. I also thought it was a whole different show. Also, I think she had some issues with what they wanted to do with her character, and I understand that because nobody knows that character better than Jennie. So at times, I think she felt like they were misrepresenting Kelly."

As for what Loughlin will do next, the mother of 11- and 12-year-old daughters and wife of designer Mossimo Giannulli, says, "I'm going to take a moment and breathe before I jump back into anything. I love television, but a series is a grind, and so I just want to take a moment before I make any decisions."

We caught up with Loughlin at this week's 10th Annual Movies for Grownups Awards, the elegant event honoring the best of 2010 films appealing to mature moviegoers, put on by AARP at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. Sally Field, Tony Bennett, Angela Lansbury, Larry Hagman, Jacqueline Bisset, Mickey Rooney and dozens of other names were there to celebrate honorees including Lifetime Achievement Award winner Robert Redford.

Winners on hand included a happy and relaxed-looking Redford; "The King's Speech" Best Actor Colin Firth; Best Actress Lesley Manville ("Another Year"); Best Supporting Actress Phylicia Rashad ("For Colored Girls"); Andy Garcia, picking up Best Comedy Film honors for his "City Island"; and Rob Reiner, receiving his theater seat statuette for the Best Intergenerational Film, his charming "Flipped." Reiner congratulated the AARP for making their award look less like an electric chair than it used to.

"The King's Speech" screenwriter David Seidler admitted to the crowd that initially, it was assumed that the film "would be seen by nobody under 40.

It was basically made for this audience. I didn't quite buy into that, and I was delighted when we realized that a youthful audience was able to see and enjoy this film. They understood the teasing. They understood the bullying. They understood being marginalized. They understood bravery. And they understood the power of a supportive friendship. What that means to me is that film is universal and it doesn't make any difference what age you are" — a view supported by the fact the drama has now surpassed the $150 million mark in box office grosses.

He added, "If you still have a brain, you can still be a pain and make a contribution to the art and commerce of film ... I would like to think we can view this and see 'Toy Story 3' and love it, and the audience that 'Toy Story 3' was made for can see this film and love it." Hear, hear!

Jane Seymour, ravishing in a form-hugging red cocktail dress, made it clear she is squarely in "The King's Speech" camp, telling us "I loved it in every possible way. Since I played Wallis Simpson years ago, I sort of had an inside feeling for that particular movie. I know what went on."

Seymour's own latest effort, the current "Waiting for Forever" — she's a producer on the film directed by husband James Keach — has met with mixed response.

"People are seeing it and loving it. Some of the critics don't get it. One of them talked about it being about stalkers and said it's irresponsible to make a movie like that with what happened in Arizona. I thought, 'What in the world has that got to do with this movie?'" admitted Seymour.

That certainly is a strange take on the offbeat comedy in which Tom Sturridge plays a street-performing juggler who wants to court the love of his life, "The O.C.'s" Rachel Bilson.

Seymour's feeling about that critic: "Clearly, he saw another movie. It's wild. But anyway, I'm very proud of it."

Martin Landau also told us he's a fan of "The King's Speech" and is impressed by "The Town" as well.

"Ben Affleck is a really good director," noted Landau, the 82-year-old Oscar winner who still heads the Actors Studio's West Coast branch — and keeps up a schedule demanding enough to daunt folks half his age.

Currently, "I'm doing Tim Burton's new 'Frankenweenie,' his new animated feature. And I'm doing 'The Simpsons,'" added Landau, whose tender "Lovely, Still" love story with Ellen Burstyn is newly out on DVD this month. "Then there's a script I'm reading now, a two-character road picture. I like it, so I may do it. A bunch of stuff is going on. That's better than not, right?" Right.

To find out more about Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith and read their past columns, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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