James Gandolfini is going from playing a mob boss to playing a cult leader. Not a big stretch. He has a deal with HBO and he's agreed to star in a miniseries about Jim Jones the charismatic leader of the Peoples Temple who led the group in mass suicide in 1978. Jones had moved 1000 church members to Guyana to set up a utopian society called Jonestown, but the group was struggling and Jones was secretly addicted to drugs. In the end over 900 men women and children were dead - mostly from cyanide poisoning.

Many celebrities are a little grouchy at 7:45 in the morning - especially when they're at the airport and fans want photographs. James Gandolfini, clad in a black silk embroidered Chinese shirt, khaki pants, and sandals with socks, was at the San Francisco airport this week, quietly browsing in the magazine shop. When two fans asked him to pose for a picture, he winced, knowing what was to follow, but obliged. What followed was that suddenly everyone NOTICED the Sopranos star (despite his decidedly non-Tony Soprano garb) and made a huge fuss, pulling out cellphones, gaping and calling out to him. Because of that first photo, James remained the reluctant but affable center of attention in the waiting area until his plane took off.