Stan Redding, Frank W. Abagnale: Catch Me If You Can: The True Story of a Real Fake

In 2002, the author, via his webpage, said this about his book and the consequent movie that was inspired by the title:

I feel it is necessary to make the following statement concerning the book and the film, Catch Me If You Can. The reasons for this statement is to provide clarification and accuracy. I wrote the book, Catch Me If You Can, more than 23 years ago. Obviously, this was written from my perspective as a 16-year old with the help of a co-writer (I'm now 54 and I sold the movie rights in 1980). I was interviewed by the co-writer only about four times. I believe he did a great job of telling the story, but he also over dramatized and exaggerated some of the story. That was his style and what the editor wanted. He always reminded me that he was just telling a story and not writing my biography. This is one of the reasons that from the very beginning, I insisted the publisher put a disclaimer in the book and tapes. It has been reported that I had written $10 million, $8 million and $5 million worth of bad checks. The actual amount was $2.5 million. I was never on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List as this is reserved for very violent criminals who pose a threat to society. All of the crimes I committed were when I was between the ages 16 and 21. I served time in prison in France, Sweden and the United States. In the U. S. Federal Court, I was sentenced as a youthful offender because of my age at the time the crimes were committed. Even so, I was given 12 years of which I served a total of five years. This was considered harsh punishment then and almost unheard of today.

Read the rest of that "disclaimer" here. Other books by the author: The Art of the Steal: How to Protect Yourself and Your Business from Fraud, America's #1 Crime, Stealing Your Life: The Ultimate Identity Theft Prevention Plan.

'Love And Other Drugs': A Worthy Prescription from NPR Podcast Fresh Air

Love and Other Drugs is brash and manic and sexy, then grim and weepy and self-consciously inspirational. It's madly uneven. But it's also one of the few romantic movies in the past few years with strong and insightful satirical undertones. It's set in 1996, which wasn't quite the dawn of our psychopharmacological era — though it was certainly the morning — and Big Pharma sales-dude Jamie Randall, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, is an early riser. He's a supple, smooth-faced, blue-eyed cutie whom women fall for even when they know that his ingenuousness is an act: It's more winning than other men's genuine ingenuousness.

Note that the movie is based on the nonfiction book, Hard Sell. Check the full NPR Fresh Air feature out here. Download the podcast here. See also: Hard Sell: Now a Major Motion Picture LOVE & OTHER DRUGS

An 'Emergency' for Robert Downey Jr. from Los Angeles Times - Entertainment News

He's been Sherlock Holmes, Charlie Chaplin and Iron Man. So it shouldn't be too much of a stretch for Robert Downey Jr. to play a gun-toting, lock-picking, plane-flying, government-defying survivor. Columbia Pictures announced Wednesday it had optioned the rights to Neil Strauss' non-fiction 2009 bestseller "Emergency! This Book Will Save Your Life." The book is to be developed into a feature produced by Team Downey — that's Downey Jr. and his wife, Susan Downey — and Michael DeLuca. The project is being considered as a vehicle for Downey. Allan Loeb ("Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps") is writing the screenplay.

Read the full LAT piece here.

Book Buzz: 'The Help' paperback is late, 'Angelina' release is early from Books: Book reviews, news and bestseller list - USATODAY.com ...

'Help' isn't on the way: For publishers, it's nirvana when a hardcover book sells so well you can keep postponing the paperback edition. Kathryn Stockett's debut novel, The Help, which is No. 15 on USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list, was published in February 2009, and it's still a hardcover hit. The book hit No. 35 on July 23, 2009, and hasn't left the top 50 since. (Nearly 2.6 million copies are in print.) There is no scheduled date for a regular paperback edition "because the hardcover is doing so well," says the book's editor and publisher, Amy Einhorn. There will be a movie tie-in paperback to coincide with the film version, tentatively set to hit screens in fall 2011. It stars Zombieland's Emma Stone as a white girl who befriends a black maid (Doubt's Viola Davis) in 1962 Mississippi.

Of course they've got a movie on the way. Read the full USA Today story here.