THE TROUBLE WITH LOVE IN THE MOVIES

Hollywood publicist Harris, the author of Unexposed Film (2012), offers more memories from iconic movie sets of the 2000s—this time as the backdrop to his own real-life love story.

After being widowed in his 30s, the Los Angeles–based author threw himself into the nomadic life of on-location film shoots, “the further from home, the better.” The wanderlust didn’t fade with the grief, however, and it pushed his second marriage to Margaret,a musician and the mother of his two sons, to the breaking point. In colorful but earnest prose, Harris examines his complicated history with love, his film career, and the intersection of the two in 2003 when he was in London; Fort Ricasoli, Malta; and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, working on the film Troy (2004), starring Brad Pitt. It was a difficult shoot, and Harris dealt with everything from mutinying extras to publicity mishaps to dysentery. He also missed his sons, Casey and Sam, at home with their mom in Ithaca, New York; he worried especially about Casey, a teen craving independence despite his struggles with visual impairment and kidney disease. During the shoot, Harris met Nicola, a journalist with whom he had an instant connection. The two began an affair that led to the author’s divorce, culminating in an unconventional wedding ceremony in South Africa during the filming of Blood Diamond (2006). Alongside his personal life, Harris chronicles the ups and downs of other productions, including Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004) and Syriana (2005). Harris is most likable when he’s in work mode, shining a light on the lives of the unknown people who make movies happen, including makeup artists, caterers, and frazzled assistants. The celebrity cameos by Pitt, Peter O’Toole, George Clooney, and others are dazzling, but Harris wisely focuses on his own story. The romance aspect is entertaining but sometimes irksome, as the author gushes about Nicola one minute and admits to texting an old fling the next (after Nicola gave her number to another man). Still, it all works out in the end, and the epilogue gives an update on the family that’s genuinely touching.

A glitzy but never sugary tale of love, work, and family.