Cinematical

According to The Da Vinci Code's Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, a meet and greet with French president Jacques Chirac last year turned into something quite different. About a year ago, the pair was in Paris trying to get permits to film in the Louvre. While there, they were invited to meet with Chirac, an encounter that they figured would be "a five-minute thing, like a trip to the Oval Office - a photo and a handshake." (Yeah, a lot of the things I do remind me of my trips to the Oval Office, too.) Instead, the photo and handshake turned into an hour over coffee, during which time Chirac reportedly lobbied to get his daughter's best friend ("an actress of some renown in France") cast in the film - as the female lead, no less. In addition, he suggested that Jean Reno needed to be paid more for his work as "relentless French detective Bezu Fache."

Though Howard described the whole thing as "hilarious," unless he and Grazer were giving Chirac governing tips at the same time, the conversation seems slightly ill-advised. Funny, yes, but ill-advised.