NO SCRUBS REQUIRED
John Stamos back in town to host Make- A- Wish gala
When John Stamos thinks about Chicago, “I always carefully like to check the weather that’s happening there,” the actor said, calling from his California home. He used to shoot scenes for NBC’s “ER” here, and only once did he visit during the winter. “Mostly, I was there in the spring,” he said, “and it was great! Chicago is one of my favorite cities — when the weather is nice!”
Reflecting on other times spent in the area, Stamos recalled performing at Ravinia — safely in the summertime! — with the Beach Boys. That’s something he’s scheduled to repeat this coming August. “Ravinia is such a special, beautiful place.”
Before that, Stamos will be in town as the celebrity host of the annual Illinois “Wish Ball” gala, benefiting the Make- A- Wish Foundation and its legacy of making dreams come true for children with life- threatening illnesses. This year’s benefit will be held at Navy Pier on Saturday evening ( 312- 602- 9474; illinois.wish.org/wishball).
As for his role at the “Wish Ball,” Stamos pointed out that unlike some of the previous hosts — Ellen DeGeneres or Jay Leno — “I’m not a stand- up comic and can’t really do my stand- up act. … So, I’ve put a lot of thought and energy into this. We’re going to have fun and entertaining things happening all through the evening. There will be video packages, music and I’ll have a very special co- host — an actual Make- A- Wish child. It should make for a funny, engaging and also heart- warming evening.”
‘ Paris Can Wait’ waited a long time
Eleanor Coppola was amused to be sitting in an Asian- influenced Chicago restaurant — NoMi — to talk about a film that showcases delicious French cuisine. “And I’m married to an Italian- American who knows an awful lot about Italian food and wines,” she quipped, referring to Francis Ford Coppola.
Her Oscar- winning husband, she said, was jealous her promotional tour was taking her to Chicago. “After all, Chicago is such a great gourmet mecca today.”
“Paris Can Wait” ( opening Friday) is her first fictional feature film, and Coppola explained the screenplay she wrote was somewhat autobiographical — “but I added a lot of things that never happened to me.”
In the movie, Diane Lane’s Anne character takes a car trip from the South of France to Paris — accompanied by Arnaud Viard’s character, a longtime partner of Anne’s often inattentive Hollywood producer husband Michael ( Alec Baldwin). It becomes very clear that Viard’s Jacques is hopeful a fling will develop.
As for any input from her husband, famous for such famous films as “The Godfather” movies and “Apocalypse Now,” Cop- pola “originally wasn’t very encouraging, but mainly because it’s so hard to get funding and he didn’t want me to be disappointed if it never happened.”
As it was, it took six years for the well- respected documentarian to secure the money to make “Paris Can Wait,” since the storyline “has no sex, no violence, no robots, no real romance, no car chases, no cancer, no guns, no knives and nobody dies! But we did get it done,” she said with a satisfied smile.