On top of their world

By Mark Shanahan and Paysha Rhone  |  September 22, 2008

Steve and Paula Mae Schwartz are jumping into the film business with both feet. The Gloucester couple, who're already bringing Cormac McCarthy's critically acclaimed book "The Road" to the big screen, have two new movie projects. Working with producer Nick Wechsler, the Schwartzes bought the rights to Pete Takeda's book "An Eye at the Top of the World," about a '60s-era CIA mission that sent elite American and Indian climbers to the top of the Himalayas to monitor nuclear-missile testing in China. Ryne Douglas Pearson has been hired to write a screenplay based on the nonfiction book. The Schwartzes, who own Waltham-based PR firm Schwartz Communications, also have optioned a script by Paul Schrader, the celebrated screenwriter whose credits include "Raging Bull" and "Affliction." Called "The Dying of the Light," the story centers on a CIA agent who's suffering the effects of Alzheimer's as he takes on a final mission. "This is Paul Schrader at the top of his game," Steve Schwartz told us yesterday. "We read it and we jumped on it. I think this project's going to move quickly." The movie version of "The Road" is in post-production, though the Weinstein brothers haven't yet announced the release date. The apocalyptic tale, which stars Viggo Mortensen and Charlize Theron, was filmed in Pennsylvania and Oregon. Schwartz, who was present for much of the filming, said he watched a cut of the film over the weekend and was deeply moved. "It's hyper-realistic. There are no zombies," Schwartz said. "This is the way it could actually happen." Hopefully, not before the film shows up in theaters.

John Mellencamp surprised guests at a cocktail reception before this weekend's sold-out Farm Aid show. The singer and his wife, model Elaine Irwin-Mellencamp, joined Farm Aid executive director Carolyn Mugar at the reception at the Charles Hotel.

Tom and Dick Smothers were the deserving recipients of a lifetime achievement award at this weekend's Boston Comedy Festival. The silly siblings, who are celebrating 50 years in the business, were feted Saturday at the Cutler Majestic Theatre. (Local loon Steve Sweeney was the recipient of the fest's first Boston comedian of the year award.) Earlier in the day, the Smothers, Sweeney, and "America's Funniest Home Videos" producer Vin Di Bona talked to a crowd of comics at the newly opened Mottley's Comedy Club. Owner Jon Lincoln was giddy about the star power gathered on the stage, but he wasn't getting ahead of himself. "I'm taking the Bill Belichick approach," he said. "We won this game, but there's next week now."

Wyc Grousbeck has made a roster move. The Celts CEO has added another vocalist to his rock 'n' roll band, and it's none other than Ray Allen's, wife Shannon . Called French Lick, the band played a benefit Saturday for Lovelane, and we're told the cover band wowed the crowd there to support the Lincoln-based therapeutic horse-riding program for special-needs kids. The basketball star's stunning new bride sang Tracy Chapman's "Give Me One Reason" and Joan Jett's "I Love Rock 'n' Roll," while drummer Grousbeck kept the beat. We're told former J. Geils frontman Peter Wolf was in the audience and enjoyed the show.

Sox legend Johnny Pesky shared a few Fenway fables at the Perkins School for the Blind the other day. Wearing a yellow sweater a few shades lighter than the right-field foul pole, Pesky captivated staff and students alike, including Jean DiLorenzo, who's worked at the Perkins Braille & Talking Book Library for 52 years.

Louis Gossett Jr. and local PR exec Colette Phillips are an item. Phillips met the Oscar-winning actor at a race-and-reconciliation event in July hosted by onetime Boston TV personality Janet Langhart and her husband, former Defense Secretary Bill Cohen. "This is a very new relationship," Phillips told us. Still, the couple are already out and about. Tomorrow, Gossett will drop by Get Konnected!, the multicultural social networking event founded by Phillips, and the following day he'll throw out the first pitch at Fenway. Gossett, 72, has also signed on to host a concert for the Boston Children's Chorus and will give the commencement speech at Wheelock College next spring.

Jessica Biel and her boyfriend Justin Timberlake were spied at Logan Friday, arriving from LA on an American Airlines flight. . . . Congrats to Mark Wahlberg and fiancee Rhea Durham, who welcomed their third child over the weekend. The couple have not released the name, but reports are it's a boy. Wahlberg, whose next film is "Max Payne," has a daughter Ella, 4, and a son, Michael, 2, with Durham.

Names can be reached at names@globe.com or at 617-929-8253.