LOS ANGELES, California??It was a huge surprise,? Felicity Huffman said in our recent interview on learning about Nicollette Sheridan?s departure from ?Desperate Housewives.? Nicollette plays Edie in the hit TV series.

Felicity, who stars in a new film, ?Phoebe in Wonderland,? recounted: ?Marc (Cherry, writer and producer) took about four or five of us on the set and said, ?I have something to tell you,? which always makes your blood run cold. Marc said, ?Edie is going to die in the next two episodes.? It was shocking. She?s a main character.?

No tension

On rumors that there was tension between Marc and Nicollette, Felicity said: ?Marc is one of the most flexible, open-minded producer-writers I?ve ever worked with. He won?t lie down for you but he?ll listen and it will be a collaborative thing. Nicollette was always there and happy to be there. I didn?t see any of that tension. From what I understand, it was an artistic decision. I think we?ve had something like 95 deaths in the show (laughter). They needed to juice up the show and it?s a big juice to kill a Housewife.?

Felicity confirmed talks about another Housewife, Eva Longoria?that she and her husband, NBA player Tony Parker, plan to spend more time in France once they have kids.

Laughing, Felicity said, ?God, I hope I?m not talking out of school. Eva will be texting me, going, ?Why did you say that (laughter)?? They bought a chateau or something in France. Tony wants to spend a couple of years there when they have kids so they will speak French. She?s really excited about it.?

As for herself, the wife of actor William H. Macy (whom she calls Bill) and mother of two, Sofia, 8, and Georgia, 6, joked, ?I?m the drunk, wild one all the time?dancing on the table with my panties off.? Then she said, ?The real Felicity? How does one describe oneself? What you see is what you get. I don?t think I?m more discreet or more serious. I?m a little boring. Eva always comes to the set with these fantastic stories. She?s like, ?I was having dinner with Tom Ford.? While I go, ?Okay, listen to this, I got my kids to bed by 7:45 (laughter).??

In the indie drama ?Phoebe in Wonderland,? she plays mom to Elle Fanning, the equally talented younger sister of Dakota Fanning.

Of Elle, Felicity commented: ?It?s always with a little trepidation when you work with children because you don?t know what you?re going to get?what kind of child and parent. That?s a slippery slope because sometimes these kids are cool and sometimes they?re crazy. When Elle came on the set, she was with her fantastic grandma whom we all love. Elle radiates light from the inside.

?Great attitude?

?She had such great attitude about work. We did these dark scenes and I was in a dark place. They yelled ?Cut!? and Elle would jump up and go, ?That was fun. Let?s do it again? (laughter). I thought that was the attitude we lose as we get older?the part of playing and fun and it shows in her work. She?s brilliant in the film.?

On the challenges of a household with two actors and the unpredictable career fates in Hollywood, Felicity, noted for her candor and self-deprecating wit, said: ?It?s always hard to be an actor, whether you?re working or not. As an actor, every time you finish a job, that could be the last job you?re ever going to have.

?You combine two actors with that. At some point in a year, someone?s career is always ending (laughter). Bill keeps saying, ?Am I in retirement now? Is that what?s going on (laughter)?? Bill and I understand that and it feels real. God willing, it?s not real. You cut the other person a lot of slack and a lot of understanding. And there is the danger?you?re hot this week, you?re not next week. When you?re a doctor and you?re at the top of your field, you know you?re going to have a job next year. You may be an actor who?s up there but you might not work next year.?

Give and flow

Felicity explained, ?When it was the other way, when I wasn?t working and he was working, it wasn?t a problem because that?s how the relationship started. I was younger and he was much more established and so on. I?ve always looked up to Bill. He?s the real artist in the relationship. When I got ?Desperate Housewives? and things started happening, he really understands that it?s a give and flow. He?s been very generous and does not feel threatened.?

Asked if she relates to a line that she says in ?Phoebe?,? about one day when you?re older, you wake up and finally love yourself for who you are, Felicity said, ?Isn?t that funny? I was reading this article in the New York Times about Jane Fonda. She?s now 71. She said, ?Oh Dad, I wish you were here and alive, so I could say to you: ?I get it! I?m finally able to experience what you were talking about.? Knowing myself is going to be a long process and I seem to be slow at it. But in terms of loving myself, I like myself a lot better than I have before. There are parts of me I love and parts of me I?m so pleased that I?m not kicked off the planet for.?

On how she manages to keep fit, Felicity, who looks glam and attractive at 46, chuckled and answered, ?For my whole life, I would lug this thing (her body) underneath me, try and figure out how to disguise it. Oh my God and now I?m getting a question like that. Maybe I always had a 40-year-old body and when you?re 20, that?s not so good (laughter). But then when you turn 40, they?re like, ?You have a pretty good body.? I run a lot and it?s also due to genetics.?

E-mail the columnist at rvnepales_5585@yahoo.com and read his blog, ?The Nepales Report,? on http://blogs.inquirer.net/nepalesreport.