Edition: U.S. / Global


By James Barron
Published: July 9, 2002

Head Start on a Road Trip

BOB FELNER was enjoying a quiet Sunday in the Hamptons -- June 30, to be specific. ''I was sitting in my living room, reading a book,'' he recalled. The living room in question is inside the house known as Goosecreek, where his business partner, the fashion agent and producer BRYAN BANTRY, built a movie screening room that is popular with big-name types. Then the photographer BRUCE WEBER called and asked if he could bring JULIAN SCHNABEL to a screening of the SAM MENDES film ''Road to Perdition.'' Of course, Mr. Felner said.

A bit later, Mr. Schnabel and his son, OLMO, drove up. The thing was, they were a week early. (Things like this can happen when someone writes something in the wrong place on someone's calendar.)

Mr. Felner ad-libbed. ''I'm so pleased you've come so you can see the room where we're going to screen the movie next week,'' he said.

So on Sunday, Mr. Schnabel was back. This time, Mr. Weber showed up, as did a crowd that included BIANCA JAGGER; the director SIDNEY LUMET; the theatrical producer MARTIN RICHARDS; STAR JONES, a co-host of the morning talk show ''The View''; DON HEWITT, the executive producer of ''60 Minutes''; DUANE HAMPTON, widow of the designer Mark Hampton; and the novelist and screenwriter JAMES SALTER.

After the screening, Mr. Schnabel said he would not play critic -- no instant review, thank you very much. Soon he was deep in a conversation about violence in films, from samurai movies to 1960's films like ''Mafioso'' and ''The Battle of Algiers.'' And a mention of his own film ''Before Night Falls.'' Then he and his sons -- CY and VITO, who accompanied Olmo this time -- went swimming in Goosecreek's indoor pool.

A Quiet Test Drive

Yesterday, the day she was to do not one but two television shows, DEBORAH NORVILLE, left, woke up hoarse. So there she was, keeping quiet on ''The Early Show'' on CBS during what Daily Variety said was ''widely perceived as a test drive'' as a co-host. The chair next to JANE CLAYSON has been open since BRYANT GUMBEL left in May.

''In retrospect, I should have talked more,'' Ms. Norville said. ''I thought by keeping quiet, I would save my voice. I was very self-conscious about it.'' She went to a throat specialist at midday, and by afternoon, when it was time for her own show, the syndicated newsmagazine ''Inside Edition,'' her voice was ''better.''

''I think it's the smoke from Canada,'' she said. ''I was outside all weekend. The air is not only visibly filthy, but you can feel it.''

Is her week on ''The Early Show'' really a tryout? ''I don't know,'' she said. ''If you need to see me do TV, flip on 'Inside.' I'm flattered to think someone thinks I could do that job. It's the first time I've done morning TV since I left the 'Today' show. It's like riding the same old bike: Oh, yeah, I remember how to do this.''

High Costs for a Harvard Man

There is a reason LEONARDO DICAPRIO did not become a ''Harvard Man.'' The reason is money.

In 1994, the director JAMES TOBACK started work on what became ''Harvard Man,'' the film that opened last month about, as he described it, his ''experience with the fracturing of the self under LSD.'' In other words, it is a coming-of-age story with basketball, cheerleaders (including one played by SARAH MICHELLE GELLAR) and mobsters.

Mr. Toback heard about Mr. DiCaprio, left, who had appeared in ''This Boy's Life'' with ROBERT DE NIRO and ELLEN BARKIN in 1993 and ''Poison Ivy'' with DREW BARRYMORE in 1992.

''The perfect actor,'' Mr. Toback said. But there was a problem, he added: ''We couldn't get the movie financed.''

MICHAEL MAILER, who produced ''Harvard Man,'' added this about Mr. DiCaprio before ''Titanic'': ''He was considered not quite bankable enough, if you can believe that. It's funny how things change so rapidly in Hollywood.'' Eventually, using Ms. Gellar as the draw, they got the money and began filming. But by then, ''Titanic'' had made Mr. DiCaprio unaffordable. The DiCaprio part went to a real-life pal of Mr. DiCaprio's (as well as an on-screen hanger-on in WOODY ALLEN'S 1998 film ''Celebrity''), ADRIAN GRENIER.