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IF ONLY SHE COULD WIN A GOLD MEDAL: That's a lovely picture of Reese Witherspoon on the cover of Vanity Fair. Given the magazine's reputation for never having met a celebrity it didn't want to suck up to, you'd never guess she had to threaten to sue to get it there.
Witherspoon had a longstanding reservation for the September cover because she stars in the upcoming movie version of the novel Vanity Fair, for which the mag is named, the weekly New York Observer newspaper says. But when editor Graydon Carter saw pictures of U.S. Olympians taken by famed photographer Bruce Weber, he wanted one of swimmer Michael Phelps out front instead.
When Witherspoon's people heard about this, they started threatening legal action, the newspaper said. So the mag decided to go with her.
Vanity Fair publicist Beth Kseniak told the Observer that Carter thought about putting Phelps on the cover of copies going to subscribers and Witherspoon on newsstand editions but in the end decided to go with Witherspoon on all copies.
Witherspoon's publicist, Nancy Ryder, declined to comment.
Doing split covers is common in the magazine industry. But the last time Vanity Fair did it was March 1993, when it put President Bill Clinton on some and actor Andie MacDowell on others.
GOOD TIMES FOR "GOODFELLAS': The Godfather saga - well, the first two movies - is the sweepingly dramatic, romantic Mafia story. Goodfellas is the down and dirty Mafia story.
Based on a book about mobster-turned-informer Henry Hill, Goodfellas was destined for Godfather-like immortality the day it hit theaters, if only for Joe Pesci's immortal "But, I'm funny how?" scene. Lines from it still get quoted, characters are still recalled with twisted fondness, and for many of the actors, it has become the best shorthand way to ID them and note the progress - or regression - of their careers.
It has been 15 years since the movie was shot, and to mark the occasion - and to mark a marketing opportunity for Tuesday's release of a new special-edition DVD of the film - many of those involved gathered for a traditional sit-down Italian dinner Monday night in Los Angeles.
Among those attending were Hill and stars Ray Liotta, who played Hill, and Paul Sorvino, who played gang boss Paulie Cicero. Not there: Pesci, who won an Oscar for his role; Robert De Niro, who played an aspiring mob boss not reminiscent of his Godfather II Vito Corleone; and director Martin Scorsese.
Sorvino said he was so desperate for the role, he showed up at his audition in a pinky ring and black overcoat, "I swear to God."
"I never wore a pinkie ring in my life before or since," he said in an Associated Press report. "But I wanted the role so bad!"
Sharon Fink can be reached at 727 893-8525 or fink@sptimes.com