CULTURE VULTURE
Bill Clinton and James Patterson’s dramatic new novel out this week
The book is officially fiction: the story of a president who disappears as he tries to prevent an apocalyptic cyber attack. The authors, Bill Clinton and James Patterson, pictured below, swear it could happen. “You’re asking the Secret Service, in effect, to walk away from their duty,” the former president said during a recent interview where he and Patterson discussed The President Is Missing, the thriller they worked on together that comes out this week. “[But] it could happen. If you were determined to do it, you could do it.” “A big piece of it [the novel] was getting him out of the White House,” Patterson said. “It would be irresponsible, but under the circumstances it was the responsible thing to do.” Prodded to collaborate by Washington attorney Robert Barnett, who handles book deals for both of them, Clinton and Patterson drew on their respective backgrounds to complete a 500page novel that topped Amazon’s bestseller list before publication. Patterson is among the world’s most popular and prolific fiction writers, and the novel is a characteristically fast-paced narrative, with brief chapters and dramatic plot turns. Clinton, a newcomer to novel writing whose previous books include million-selling autobiography My Life, didn’t need a lot of research to tell readers what it’s like to sit inside the White House Situation Room or to be briefed on a possible terrorist attack – or to imagine slipping away entirely. “Jim wanted it to be authentic,” Clinton said. “Which means the physical setting has to be authentic, the procedures had to be authentic and the interplay between the president and the staff and all the world leaders and everything had to have the feel of reality, and even how the Secret Service works.” The novel has received blurbs from writers Mary Higgins Clark, Walter Mosley and even Hamilton author Ron Chernow.
Latino movie producer opens cinemas in poor, isolated rural areas of California
For nearly 10 years, residents in a remote California farming community have had to drive nearly 64 kilometres to see the latest film, a rare trip for some in a place where a third of the population lives in poverty. That all changed in May when Moctesuma Esparza, a Latino movie producer, opened his latest Maya Cinemas outpost in Delano, in his ongoing effort to open cinemas in poor, rural areas in the US that lack entertainment options. The US$20 million (Dh73.5m) project gives Delano’s 53,000 residents access to recent film releases in a high-end experience with luxury seating. In the 1960s, Delano, which is about 230 kilometres north of Los Angeles, helped to spark Cesar Chavez’s farmworker union movement. Esparza, who produced 1997 movie Selena and has opened four identical cinemas in poor areas in California, said poverty should not sentence residents to “movie deserts” where inexpensive leisure is limited. He has vowed to do his part to change the landscape in rural America.
Paramount scraps airing ‘Heathers’ TV reboot, citing high-school violence
After delaying its airing in the aftermath of the Florida high-school shooting in February, Paramount Network is permanently scrapping Heathers. Representatives from parent company Viacom confirmed that the TV reboot of the 1988 black comedy about high-school murder and suicide will not broadcast on Paramount or any other Viacom platforms. Viacom says the subject matter is not suitable in the current environment for channels it is attempting to make youth oriented, but it is open to selling the anthology series to a more fitting outlet. The show, based on the film starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater, pictured below, had been set for its premiere in March, but was delayed after the Parkland shooting that left 17 dead.