It Was a Book-to-Movie Gap Nicely Bridged

The Scene: Tuesday’s premiere of Warner Bros.’ “The Bridges of Madison County” on the studio lot. It also marked the dedication of the Steven J. Ross Theater (named for the late Time Warner chairman) surely the world’s most lavish, popcorn-free theater.

The Locale: If the Sultan of Brunei screens movies at the palace, it would be in a setting like this: limestone floors, walnut and cherry wood trim, immaculate sound system, hand-rubbed plaster walls in the lobby, fabric wall covering in the theater and seats--given the right film--invitingly possible to sleep in. The after-party was held just outside the doors on the New York brownstone set. The mixture of live music, street setting and enough buffets to feed Brooklyn gave the evening the feel of a Corleone family wedding.

Who Was There: The kind of heavy-hitter turnout that makes the crowd as watchable as the movie. Among the 516 (what the new theater holds) were the film’s stars, Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood, who also produced and directed; novelist Robert James Waller, Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw, Warren Beatty and Annette Bening, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver, Jodie Foster, Kevin Costner, Courtney Ross, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Marvin and Barbara Davis, Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell, Tracey Ullman, Rita Wilson, Don Johnson, Amy Irving, Cindy Crawford, Chevy Chase, Candice Bergen and studio execs Terry Semel, Rob Friedman, Marisa O’Neil, Gary Credle and Bob Daly with Carole Bayer Sager.

The Buzz: The movie is that rarest of all creatures: far better than the book it sprang from. Many good things were said about the film, especially Streep’s performance. Many bad things were said about the novel. “My wife made me read it for laughs,” said one local artist.

Quoted: When it was mentioned to Eastwood that much of the book’s more florid, Kahlil Gibran-gone-wild dialogue had been deleted (an example: “I am the highway and a peregrine and all the sails that ever went to sea”), he said: “It would be very hard for an actor to play that. You look ridiculous. You can say it in a book and get away with it. But for an actor to say that you might have to do it during a saloon scene when he looks like he’s had about 10 beers.”

Noted: One woman guest said she was impressed that Streep would sacrifice the aerobicized, muscular body she built up to do “The River Wild” for the plump look of a well-fed Italian-born farm wife. “I felt it was important that she be rounded,” said the actress. “What can I say? I had seconds whenever I wanted. I took that dessert.”

Moment of Irony: Eastwood, who plays the heroically idealized photographer, having his picture taken by the local paparazzi. This is a group that on a good day looks like drowned rats.