Fans Scramble For Star Shades

A pair of sleek cat-eye sunglasses appears just briefly on the beautiful face of actress Julia Roberts in “My Best Friend’s Wedding.”

But that was enough.

The film’s production company was besieged by callers who just had to have the latest glamour accessory to appear on the big screen.

Product-placement planners dream about this kind of publicity. It’s why big companies vie to have their wares filmed with big stars.

Problem was no one was ready for this raging desire for those sunglasses. The prop department didn’t have them and didn’t know anything about them.

These were not Julia’s main frames in the movie, mind you. She wore them in only two scenes.

As it turns out, they were the personal property of the leading lady. And after being worn in the movie, the cat-eyes suffered the common fate of so many pairs of sunglasses: Roberts lost them. Worse yet, she didn’t remember the brand name.

So a still photo of Roberts wearing the sleek shades was pulled by Zucker Brothers productions. And the national quest for a perfect match was launched.

Meanwhile at Oliver Peoples, the trendsetting American optical company in Beverly Hills, the phones were ringing off the hook. Fans wanted to know if Julia’s cat-eye glasses were their design.

Bingo.

Roberts’ elusive eyeglasses were officially identified as Paul Smith-206s. They are of British design and distributed by - you guessed it - Oliver Peoples.

For $235, you, too, can have them. Good luck finding a pair, however. At most fine eyeglass shops across the country, they are on back order, partially because of the movie, partially because they have the right look at the right time.

Roberts’ sharp-looking shades are just the tip of this summer’s on-screen optical iceberg. An unprecedented number of expensive sunglasses are being paraded across the silver screen.

Not since Tom Cruise danced around in his BVDs and Ray-Ban Wayfarers in the 1983 movie “Risky Business” has there been this level of excitement over the eyewear of movie stars. Sales of Wayfarers tripled in response to that performance.

Today, sunglasses are a prominent prop in many high-dollar Hollywood flicks. They are used to solidify a character’s persona. They create a desired image. They may even play a part.

Consider the role of the Predator2 black wraparound sunglasses in the sci-fi comedy “Men in Black.” Not only do these big-attitude G-man glasses by Ray-Ban look great on dark-suited stars Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones, they protect the heroes’ eyes from memory-erasing neuralyzers.

While the in-store version of the Predator2 protects only against everyday UV rays, Sunglass Hut reports strong national sales. Not even the $99 price tag seems to deter die-hard fans.

Next on the list of captivating movie shades are the perky pewter Madison frames worn by Sandra Bullock in “Speed 2.” Finished with sky-blue lenses, the Oliver Peoples design complements both Bullock’s true-blue character and the movie’s ocean-blue setting. Like Julia Roberts’ glasses, these $245 spectacles were the actress’ personal shades.

Then there are the sunglass subtitles put forth in the movie “Face/Off.” The frames worn by the identity-swapping John Travolta and Nicolas Cage in this suspense film play a minor role in providing a way to tell their characters apart.

When Travolta is the good guy, he wears a pair of conservative Miraris. As the bad guy, he switches to a chic pair of Armanis ($208). Meanwhile, Nicolas Cage alternates between villainous blood-red antique octagonals and righteous Ray-Ban Aviators ($60).