Hollywood Exclusive by Marilyn Beck & Stacy Jenel Smith

Emmy nominee Martha Plimpton lets us know that she and her "Raising Hope" cast mates are bracing themselves for season two of the popular Fox show. The title character on the comedy that focuses on a good-hearted yet very, very seedy family, is no longer an infant.

"She's growing up in real time," the actress reports. "We're not freeze-drying her. She's allowed to keep aging naturally. I imagine it's going to affect things profoundly. She'll be running around, talking. There'll be a lot of things she won't be willing to do — you know what I mean? Babies are a lot easier. Toddlers are a whole other thing."

As for her own character, Virginia, Plimpton says, "I guess one of the bigger surprises is that she's really convinced we're going to see the end of the world in 2012. I mean, she's really committed to that."

Shooting is just now getting underway for the new season, and Plimpton tells us she feels ready to face those 16-hour days that are a regular part of "Raising Hope." Over hiatus, the three-time Tony nominee performed in "Company" with the New York Philharmonic — a performance that was shown in movie theaters across the country.

"It was amazing," Plimpton says. "It will be on DVD too, which is also really great."

Additionally, she guested on an upcoming episode of "The Good Wife." And then, she says, "I took a break. I took a vacation. I rented a little house on the East Coast and just relaxed."

She has yet to figure out what she'll wear to the Emmy Awards on Sept. 18: "I don't have anything like that ready. We'll have someone help figure that out."

After all of her trips to the Tonys as a nominee, how do the Emmys feel this year?

"I don't know yet," she says, smiling. "We'll have to wait and see what happens when we get there. I do know I am completely and totally thrilled to be in the company I'm in." She's talking about her fellow nominees for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series: Tina Fey, Melissa McCarthy, Laura Linney, Edie Falco and Amy Poehler.

MEANWHILE: Speaking of Emmy dress plans, nominee Mary McDonnell ("The Closer") reports, "As a matter of fact, I'm in the thick of it right now.

I think we've found a stylist we'll be working with. As I'm sure you're well-aware, there's a whole series of events that go on in a 10-day period. There's a whole process of setting it up now. I'm really looking forward to it, because I love fashion, and I love getting dressed up. Or, I love it when people dress me up — put it that way."

McDonnell is especially savoring Emmy recognition now — after years of being overlooked by the Academy of Television for her (and her fellow actors') role on "Battlestar Galactica."

The thoughtful, culturally relevant sci-fi series did, however, win a 2006 Peabody Award.

"Whatever it was, at this point, it doesn't matter," says the actress, who played President Laura Roslyn for four seasons. She shrugs. "The legacy of the show just grows every day, the legacy of 'Battlestar.' It was such a great thing, and people are falling in love with it as it goes further and further out into the world. In the U.K., they already loved it because they had an equivalent of SyFy (Channel) there, and they could download the show. I've been to conventions there, and I knew it had a strong fan base. But now that it's airing on the BBC, it's kind of going through the roof."

FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH: Production is set to start next month on a Disney/ABC Family movie called "Elixir," in which a mother discovers a mysterious potion that shaves decades away, and, looking newly young, heads off to attend (and, she hopes, stop) her daughter's wedding. Sounds like a fun role for the right actress.

THE BIG-SCREEN SCENE: An October production-start with shooting planned for Alaska and California has been set for "Sins of The Midnight Sons." That's Kimberly R. Morgan's steamy novel of tough lives and lust set at Alaska's North Slope — where, as the casting notice put it, "heads butt and tempers clash between Eskimo locals and white men who come to work the land."

And that's not even mentioning Sarah Palin.

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

COPYRIGHT 2011 MARILYN BECK AND STACY JENEL SMITH

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