Hollywood Mega ‘Force’

Bruce Wagner’s new novel, “Force Majeure,” hasn’t hit the bookstores yet but it’s already No. 1 on the gossip circuit now that no one cares where Julia Phillips eats lunch. Production rights to this scabrous little story of studios, agents and hangers-on have already been sold to Oliver Stone; the film will star Jim Belushi, Debbie Reynolds and Faye Dunaway. Wagner will write the screenplay and direct.

Wagner is a screenwriter and former limo driver who self-published “Force Majeure” a few years ago before Random House picked it up, making it an underground classic. He claims the book isn’t a roman a clef , but busy Hollywood minds (at least the ones that still read books) are already trying to find the real-life versions of the novel’s characters, including the protagonist, a former limo driver turned screenwriter who self-publishes a book of short stories. There’s also Joey Funt, a moody young actor prone to throwing punches in public; Wylie Guthrie, a cultish screenwriting guru, and the Talent Agency, a “spinoff formed by a trio of perspicacious renegades.”

A footnote: superagency CAA is throwing a party for client Wagner next month at its offices, which makes one wonder if those agents have read it. In this case it’s tantamount to feeding the hand that bit you.

Unplug and Lug

Lifestyles of the Big Orange vs. the Big Apple: When Buzz travels to New York we’re always struck by the number of guests who arrive at cocktail parties clutching briefcases. This seemed too much like wearing your Type-A work ethic on your sleeve, until we realized that it’s merely a result of having no car trunk to store them in.

So what must New Yorkers think when they come here and observe locals hauling parts of their cars everywhere? At a recent performance of “Sarafina!” at the Doolittle Theater, at least two patrons brought their removable car stereos into the theater. This, added to the ubiquitous cellular phones and pagers, definitely leaves the West Coast ahead on electronics, if not culture.