Page Turners
Though many in Hollywood think books are merely
bedside coasters, booksellers have become the cinematic
protagonists of the moment. In You've Got Mail, Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan play competing bookstore owners — he the president of a
mega-chain, she the perky keeper of a children's book boutique.
By contrast, Roberto Benigni, in Life Is Beautiful, runs what
might more accurately be termed a book closet in Italy during
World War II. In the summer's Notting Hill, Hugh Grant portrays
the proprietor of a travel bookshop in London whose life is
changed when an American film star (Julia Roberts) waltzes in.
And another summer film, The Love Letter, starring Kate Capshaw,
features a bookstore owner who receives the titular piece of
mail and searches for its author. Besides their tweedy, slightly
flummoxed auras, what has made booksellers suddenly so chic?
''Reading is a more sophisticated form of entertainment,'' reasons Joe Siegel, general manager of Pages for All Ages, an
independent bookstore in Savoy, Ill. ''And with the explosion of
reading groups and [the addition] of cafes, bookstores are
becoming more a part of the culture. I think studios want to tap
into that.'' Next up: librarians. — Will Lee
Etc.
Is James Cameron seeing red? At the Feb. 3 premiere of a
four-day-long American Cinematheque retrospective of his films
in L.A., the director announced a possible new project. ''I am
writing something on Mars,'' Cameron told the crowd of fans,
which included his Titanic star Gloria Stuart. ''I see that
planet as our next big push for exploration. It blows me away
that the moon is the only planet we've visited.'' Guess now he
wants to be King of the Universe. — Carrie Bell
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