A look inside Hollywood and the movies. : BOOK ‘EM : MGM Isn’t Likely to Make the Movie

Although the fate of Giancarlo Parretti and his on-again, off-again takeover of MGM is still very much in question, one thing is certain: The former waiter-turned-movie mogul has launched a cottage industry in publishing. At the moment, three people have books in progress about Parretti’s rapid rise and even faster fall.

Parretti’s troubles seemed to begin when, late in 1990, he acquired MGM/UA Communications Co. from majority owner Kirk Kerkorian for $1.36 billion. By last March, six creditors with more than $10 million in claims filed liquidation proceedings against MGM and Parretti. Several months later, Parretti surrendered control of MGM to Credit Lyonnais Bank in return for a $145-million loan he needed to pay off his creditors. Eventually, Parretti was kicked off the MGM board by Credit Lyonnais, and he is now fighting with the bank over control of the studio in a Delaware court.

But even with the dramatics and circus-like atmosphere that have surrounded Parretti in recent months, is there really a demand for so many books about the beleaguered owner of MGM-Pathe?

“I don’t think so,” says William Stadiem, who’s currently at work on his Parretti book, the tentatively titled “Errors and Omissions” for Simon & Schuster. “Outside of this town, Parretti is not the kind of character who’s interesting enough to sell books just about himself. There’s got to be something else to hang the story on.”

For Stadiem--whose last book profiled the late King Farouk--that “something else” is the way business is done today in Hollywood. “Mine is going to be the ‘Barbarians at the Gate’ of Hollywood,” he says, referring to the bestseller about the takeover and buyout of RJR Nabisco. “It’s going to be about the state of this town today, using the Parretti takeover as a microcosm of what really goes on with all the foreign money pouring in.”

Arlene Cattani, who worked under Parretti for 16 months as head of MGM’s public relations and who has her own book, “Being a Lion,” in the works, says: “Mine is focused entirely on Parretti, and believe me, there’s enough there. . . . It’s a hilarious story. There was a Keystone Kop kind of activity that took place behind the scenes that I got to watch firsthand.”

Ironically, Cattani’s book will also have an introduction written by Daniel Selznick, the son of producer David O. Selznick and the grandson of the legendary Louis B. Mayer, one of the MGM founders.

Some of the chapter titles in Cattani’s book: “Oy Vey, Maria,” “Brother, Can You Spare a Billion?” and “Guess Who’s Coming to Nuremberg,” the latter referring to Parretti’s first meeting with director Stanley Kramer, in which the MGM chief told Kramer that he loved his film “Guess Who’s Coming to Nuremberg.”

“You have to remember,” Cattani says, “this is a man who’s never seen ‘Gone With the Wind.’ ”

Another in the Parretti book race is Charlotte Chandler, who’s already written her book and is currently searching for a publisher. Chandler, who also wrote “The Ultimate Seduction,” a book of celebrity interviews, met Parretti in 1990 at the Cannes Film Festival. Shortly after, with Parretti’s permission, she began work on her book.

Though she originally planned to call it “How I Bought MGM,” Chandler, who’s been following Parretti’s current court case in Delaware, admits she considered changing it to “How I Lost MGM” before finally settling on “Laughingstock.” “This is really like ‘Citizen Kane,’ ” she says. “It’s a story that could be directed by Billy Wilder.”

Whether or not Parretti ends up staying in Hollywood, Stadiem admits that it’s getting harder to find people willing to open up about him. “A lot of people who were going to be good sources of information are now waffling and getting nervous,” he says. “They feel there’s nothing to gain by talking about him.”

Because of the reluctance of some of Stadiem’s sources, though, Cattani now feels she has the inside track to telling the real story. “I was there,” she says, “and I saw what really went on.”