It is amazing the importance of region to celebrity. I usually notice this when the Quebec press comes en masse to Vegas for anything involving Celine Dion or Cirque. And the appearance of singer Shakira last night for a charity event connected to the premier of "Love in the Time of Cholera" also attracted a large international press group that usually doesn't make it to Vegas.
But even packed on to the red carpet at the Palms, I was determined to have real talk about one of my favorite books with the people who had spent so much time thinking about Marquez and working on bringing "Love in the Time of Cholera" to the screen.
Of course, first I asked director Mike Newell if he was surprised that
Vegas money was behind the filming of a highly ambitious literary novel by a Nobel Prize winner who writes in Spanish. "You bet your ass I am. It makes me laugh a lot," the director replied. Asked to elaborate, Newell joked: "They might break my legs; don't ask me."
On a more serious note, I asked him about the complexities of turning a book that contains a universe of language into a movie experience. "I was loyal as I could be to the book," Newell said. "But there are things in the book that are purely literary. The way a sentence is constructed is very private to Marquez. I tried to find an equivalent in the way we used the frames and the way we lit the film and how the action ran. I was very aware of the literary style. But it is impossible to replicate. There has to be an equivalent rather than a direct replication."
Actor Benjamin Bratt is one of the stars of the movie, playing Dr. Juvenal Urbino, whose wife is loved by another man for half a century. I was curious what he made of the novel's view of love. "Marquez's understanding of love is probably superior to most of the
rest of us, and that is why the novel is so good," Bratt said. "But the story in it he constructed is actually pretty familiar to anyone who goes to movies: It is a love triangle. It also has the familiar boy-meets-girl, boy-gets-girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-gets-girl. But in between the last two phases there is a 50-year span. I think Marquez is really masterful at naming and describing all the variations of love: romantic, patriarchal, maternal, familial. It is all in the book, and I think they all share similar things. Love can drive you to madness and create a sickness that seems to have no recovery, but it is a sickness you really can't live without."
Finally, things went nutty as Shakira started down the red carpet. Press and fans screaming in two languages. This was my third interview with Shakira, and every time I am impressed by her poise and articulateness. In truth, whenever the pressures on young celebrities come up, I think of Shakira, who is not only a famous pop star but carries the burden of being something of a national icon to the people of Colombia. It is a role our local pop stars, celebrities and socialites never have to consider. If only Britney, Paris and Lindsay had half this woman's strength and sense. Anyway, Shakira, who performs on the soundtrack, also had a sharp and personal take on Marquez's masterpiece.
"The novel portrays, perhaps, one of the last great love stories of all time," she said. "Love is always full of patience. But the question is how long is a person willing to wait for love? In this century we live so fast and we live so quickly and we live in a world of immediate gratification that love sometimes gets put aside. So it is refreshing and appropriate for this moment of time to remember how love used to be when people had the time to wait and the will to transcend the obstacles of life itself. That is what I think is true love. I believe in that. I do have a Fermina Daza inside of me, somewhere."
(photos by Sarah Gerke)
It is amazing the importance of region to celebrity. I usually notice this when the Quebec press comes en masse to Vegas for anything involving Celine Dion or Cirque. And the appearance of singer Shakira last night for a charity event connected to the premier of "Love in the Time of Cholera" also attracted a large international press group that usually doesn't make it to Vegas. 
rest of us, and that is why the novel is so good," Bratt said. "But the story in it he constructed is actually pretty familiar to anyone who goes to movies: It is a love triangle. It also has the familiar boy-meets-girl, boy-gets-girl, boy-loses-girl, boy-gets-girl. But in between the last two phases there is a 50-year span. I think Marquez is really masterful at naming and describing all the variations of love: romantic, patriarchal, maternal, familial. It is all in the book, and I think they all share similar things. Love can drive you to madness and create a sickness that seems to have no recovery, but it is a sickness you really can't live without."
