Old… but still interesting to read…
"For countless British enthusiasts, Captain Corelli's Mandolin is an enchanting literary tour de force, an epic wartime love story with the authentic flavour of Greek island life, still the ideal beach accessory for the discerning holidaymaker. Compared by AS Byatt to the work of Charles Dickens and hailed as "absolutely brilliant" by the television presenter Jeremy Paxman, the book became a publishing phenomenon of the late 90s, the New Labour politician's novel of the moment. Hugh Grant was even shown engrossed in the paperback in the final scene of Notting Hill, Britain's most successful film. To date, the book has sold 1.5 million copies, clocking up 240 weeks on the bestseller list – making its author, Louis de Bernières, a rich man and sending an electric current through the tourist industry on the island of Cephalonia, where it is set.
Now Captain Corelli is about to become a £45.00 GBP million Hollywood-backed movie in its own right, starring Nicolas Cage, Penelope Cruz and John Hurt, and currently being shot in Cephalonia by the same British company that made Notting Hill. When the film goes on release some time next year, the existing de Bernières tourist boom on the island seems likely to turn into full-scale Corellimania. Already, bars and restaurants are being re-named after the novel's eponymous hero, racks of glossy guides to "Captain Corelli's Island" have gone on sale, legends proliferate about the prices the film-makers will pay for imported donkeys, and business around the port of Sami – where the main filming is taking place – has never been brisker.
Meanwhile, the Greek government has provided minesweepers, landing craft and hundreds of soldiers; half the waterfront at Sami has been requisitioned for a reconstruction of the capital, Argostoli, as it was in the 40s, and Cephalonians have been signing up in their scores to be extras in the film. De Bernières recently made a triumphal tour of the set, joshing with the actors and feasting on the fruits of his achievement. "This is a big thing for Cephalonia," declares Kevin Loader, one of the film's producers, as he suns himself outside a quayside Sami cafe, surveying a mocked-up blackened bell tower used in the previous day's shoot. "It's a big thing to happen to Greece," adds fellow producer Tim Bevan. "This is going to be Britain's biggest film next year, and it's a lot of people's favourite book in the UK. The last film on this scale to be made in Greece was the Guns Of Navarone, and I'm convinced most of that was shot in Italy, anyway."…"
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