Bottle Shocking!

In researching my review of the wonderful new movie, Bottle Shock, I found out quite a few interesting facts about the story of the '76 'Judgment of Paris.'

Bottle Shock is the first of two movies about the 1976 Paris Wine Tasting. The second, an upcoming movie entitled 'Judgment of Paris,' is the 'officially endorsed' version, based on journalist George Taber's account of the competition, which he wrote in 1978.

Steven Spurrier (left), whose connection to the 'Judgment of Paris' film might be more than just nostalgic, threatened to sue the producers of Bottle Shock, claiming: 'There is hardly a word that is true in the script and many, many pure inventions as far as I am concerned.'

Alan Rickman, who plays Spurrier in Bottle Shock, actually knows him. Both fans of Italian wine, they met while staying at Castello di Argiano in Montalcino.

Upon getting the role, Alan Rickman wrote to Steven Spurrier to let him know that he'd be representing him on screen.

"Knowing that the script described me as “an impossibly effete young Englishman”," Spurrier admitted to the press, "I simply wished him the best of luck."