LOS ANGELES -- Nothing against "Pootie Tang," but Missy Elliott wants to add a more respectable credit to her movie résumé.

In between her various music ventures, the highest-selling female rapper of all time is actually writing a biopic on the person she knows best.

"I'm working on my own movie on my life, which probably a lot of people don't know," Elliott said backstage at last week's American Music Awards, where she won Favorite Female Artist: Rap/Hip-Hop for the second year in a row (see [article id="1514422"]"Will Smith Beats 50 Cent, Kelly Rowland Flies Solo At American Music Awards"[/article]).

"It's a detailed [look at] Missy Elliott's life, 'cause I've been kinda like a character in the TV world as far as videos and stuff, so they really don't know my life story about my father being abusive, the rape [at age 8, by a 16-year-old cousin]. So y'all will see that soon."

Elliott's not sure if she will appear in the movie or who will play her, as she's concentrating on getting the script finished first.

Fortunately (or maybe not for her), she's had more free time than usual as of late thanks to the six-month recovery time required for the surgery she had earlier this fall to repair a torn Achilles tendon.

"It's the worst pain ever and I'll probably be like this till January," said Elliott, who alternated between a pimped-out wheelchair and crutches at the AMAs. "I always heard like it's a sports [injury], but most definitely I wasn't playing no football or basketball. I was in there dancing, doing wrong moves. So I'll be sitting down for a minute now."

Sitting down is probably not the best choice of words. Later this week Elliott's shoving off for the Kora African Music Awards in South Africa, and in mid-December she'll return to Los Angeles to shoot her next video.

Following "Lose Control" and "Teary Eyed" (see [article id="1507912"]"Missy Elliott Has Lost Her Mind (In Her New Video, Anyway)"[/article]), Elliott has picked the party track "We Run This" as the third single from The Cookbook. She already performed the tune at the Spike TV Video Game Awards, which airs December 10.

Missy also just remixed Ashlee Simpson's new single, "L.O.V.E." (the "Missy Underground Mix" is available on the CD single); continues to work with Adidas on a line of clothing, shoes and accessories called Respect ME; and is included in the 2006 edition of prominent biography directory Who's Who in America. All of this prompted a journalist at the AMAs to describe the rapper as an icon.

"I ain't no icon," Elliott responded. "It's people like Patti LaBelle, somebody like that's an icon. I'm just Missy, I'm just crazy, that's all."