The Tribune awarded its Heartland Prize for Fiction to Charles Frazier for “Cold Mountain” in 1997. Bookworms in these quarters delighted in the success of this first novel, a captivating saga of a Confederate soldier who quits the battlefield to claim the woman he loves, as it jumped onto the best-seller list and garnered a host of other literary awards. We figured the story eventually would make it to the big screen, but the film version of “Cold Mountain” might have sneaked up us, in a barrage of holiday releases, if not for the younger sister of one of its Chicago-born producers, Albert Berger.
“Notwithstanding the fact that I adore my older brother, I think this is such a good ‘Chicago story,’ ” Elizabeth Berger wrote in a note to me. She went on to point out that another of the film’s producers is Albert’s childhood pal, Bill Horberg. Magazine writer Rick Kogan–a “Chicago story” himself–had known Albert and Bill, the subjects of this week’s cover story, since the late ’70s, when the two Latin School of Chicago grads opened the old Sandburg Theater on Dearborn Street. In fact, Kogan–a Latin alum from an earlier day–knew some of the teachers who inspired the young men to get into the movie business.
Along with a look at the people behind one of the hottest films of the season, we also review what has become hot, and what has gone stone cold, in fashion, design and food over the course of the last year. Rest assured, though, that if you can’t keep up with how designers like Maarten Baas or Marc Jacobs are doing, a good book never goes out of style.