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USA today - May 24, 2002
There's a big 'Catch' By Susan Wloszczyna As a teen runaway in the '60s, Frank Abagnale gave
Oscar-worthy performances as a Pan Am co-pilot, a pediatrician, a lawyer and a
college professor. Instead of a gold trophy, the flimflam artist made off with
$2.5 million in bad checks, lived the high life and spent five years in jail.
Many have thought Abagnale's misspent youth would make a fascinating film.
Director Steven Spielberg is doing just that with Catch Me If You Can, based on
the best-selling 1980 autobiography and starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Abagnale
and Tom Hanks as the FBI agent who pursues him.
Says the reformed imposter, who now lectures on fraud prevention and advises
companies and banks: "I sold the rights when the book came out, and it's amazing
to me that 20-some years later it's such a huge movie."
Abagnale, 54, who lives in Tulsa, isn't eager for the Hollywood limelight but
couldn't resist Spielberg's offer of lunch two weeks before shooting began. Nor
did he turn down the chance to spend three days at DiCaprio's Los Angeles home,
coaching the actor in the art of the scam.
"I found him an intelligent young man and a very down-to-earth guy," Abagnale
says. "He followed me around the kitchen with a notebook and a recorder, asking
me, 'Why did you do it?' and 'How did you feel when you did it?' "
Hanks is a big fan of another Abagnale book, The Art of the Steal: How to
Protect Yourself and Your Business From Fraud, America's #1 Crime. "He told me,
'That's my bible now. I've changed the whole way I do business and take care of
personal matters.' " Thanks to Pax ! *** |