Nina George's "The Little Paris Bookshop"

Nina George works as a journalist, writer, and storytelling teacher. She is the award winning author of 26 books, and also writes feature articles, short stories, and columns. Her novel The Little Paris Bookshop spent over a year on bestseller lists in Germany, and was a bestseller in Italy, Poland, and the Netherlands.

Here George shares some ideas about adapting The Little Paris Bookshop for the big screen:

Me

Hi, dear, yes, come in …

He sits down and makes himself look like an homme du femme that wants to show off as a bookseller.

Me

Okay, Mr.…

Him

Call me George, please.

Me

Ehm, d’accord. George. Okay. What do you think makes you best for this job?

Him

I can look very serious and sexy at the same time.

Me

May I have a demonstration?

George looks serious and sexy at the same time.

Me

Yes. Okay. Nice work. And how much are you into books?

Him

Yes! Absolutely! I mean: I love them! All these different … ehm… colours, and … smells, yes, the perfume of a book is wonderful, it is a real aphrodisiac for the mind!

Me

Hm. Guess so.

Him

And you can do a lot of things with them. Really. A lot.

Me

For example?

Him

Arrange them on a table, with some flowers and French biscuits, tien? Or put one under a wobbly table. Or handicrafting, building some interesting chairs or…

Me

How about reading?

Him

Reading? Oh. Yes. Reading! Pause. I read a book. Once. Pause. When I was a child. I think it was … yellow.

Me

Good point! And what else?

Him

Someone was dying in there.

Silence. Then:

Me

Mr. Clooney, I think you will be wonderful as my literary apothecary Jean Perdu.

Scene end.

You see: I am not so much into casting. I am also not so much into movies or celebs, so I am not sure, which living or dead actor could go for M. Perdu or all the stuff and personage. I never saw Jean Perdu from outside, I saw him from inside. If his eyes are blue, green or warm, if his hair is brown or gone – this was never the point.

And: I still believe that making movies is an art of its own. A regisseur, an actress, a cutter – they are artists in their manner, and experts to develop a new piece of art out of any book! So when I now say: Ehm, maybe George Clooney would fit?, this may not be the perfect choice for the cinematique piece of art waiting inside the inner soul of The Little Paris Bookshop. I would prefer not to decide and be surprised by the way a Regisseur or producer feels my story and develops it into moving pictures.

But Clooney and books, that might be a sexy combination anyway…

Visit Nina George's website.

--Marshal Zeringue