McTiernan to be a Last Action Jailbird?
McTiernan charged with lying to the FBI!
Reported By: ABking
Saturday, April 8, 2006

Legendary action film director John McTiernan has been charged with lying to the FBI, becoming the first entertainment industry figure accused in the unfolding investigation of wiretapping and other alleged wrongdoing by Hollywood private eye Anthony Pellicano.

Prosecutors alleged on Monday that McTiernan, 55, whose directing credits include Predator, the first and third Die Hard movies and The Hunt for Red October, lied about having hired Pellicano to wiretap the veteran film producer, Charles Roven.

McTiernan denied any knowledge of wiretapping by Pellicano in a February 13 interview with FBI agents, prosecutors claim, even though he hired and paid the infamous private eye to wiretap Mr Roven.

The charges do not say when the wiretapping happened, why it happened or how much Pellicano was paid. McTiernan and Mr Roven were producers of the 2002 movie flop Rollerball, which McTiernan also directed.

McTiernan is the 14th person charged in the burgeoning investigation of Pellicano, who is accused of directing a racketeering enterprise that unlawfully wiretapped and conducted illegal background checks on dozens of celebrities and executives, including actor Sylvester Stallone, comedians Garry Shandling and Kevin Nealon, and real estate developer Robert Maguire.

McTiernan is scheduled for an arraignment April 17 on a charge that carries a maximum five-year jail sentence.

With the investigation roiling legal and entertainment circles, the charge against McTiernan seemed to come from nowhere, and indicates that the inquiry is rapidly developing new investigative avenues as prosecutors continue sorting through mounds of documents and hours of tape recordings seized from Pellicano's office.

McTiernan's name was not among a shortlist of Hollywood lawyers and entertainment figures thought to be among those facing possible indictment.

That Mr Roven also was not among a list of 81 individuals named as Pellicano's victims in the latest 110-count indictment shows that the breadth of Pellicano's alleged activities has not been fully revealed.

Last month, prosecutors disclosed in court that they expected at least one more indictment by mid-April in connection with the Pellicano case. But sources said on Monday that the charge against McTiernan was not the one they had referred to, meaning there are more indictments to come.

The question now is, if McT has to serve time in jail, will he be able to get work once he comes back to Hollywood? After this case is over and all is said and done, McT's reputation might be up in the air in Hollywood. Maybe studio's or producers will turn their back on John. In that case, Arnold can give McT some work on his post-governator action films. If Arnie looses the race in January to serve a 2nd term in office, the Oak must come up with a quick game plan to keep his film career alive for the next couple of decades.

John McTiernan and Arnold were a box-office action/adventure force with PREDATOR, grossing 59 million domestic and a powerful 98 million worldwide in 1987. Then in 1993, LAST ACTION HERO became one of the most hype films in history. Arnie and McT seemed like they would dominate the summer box-office with this tent pole event movie. In the end, the action spoof didn't live up to the 204 million domestic gross that TERMINATOR 2 made two years before, but LAST ACTION HERO still was the number 12th biggest box-office hit of 1993, grossing 50 million domestic and a huge 137 million worldwide.

The best possible movie for the action team of Schwarzenegger and McTiernan to make next is TRUE LIES 2. Arnold should still make this film once out of office, even if James Cameron doesn't return. Cameron can produce it through Lightstorm Entertainment and John McTiernan can direct. McT has worked with 20th Century Fox numerous times on the DIE HARD films and PREDATOR, so making TRUE LIES 2 would work in his favor. Plus John is a filmmaker who helped shape the action genre with 1988's DIE HARD. It would be great to see what this master can bring to the table with the spy sequel. Cameron doesn't have to be a hands on producer on TRUE LIES 2, all he has to do is produce through Lightstorm Entertainment and let Arnold run the show with McT.

Action fans would line up around the block to see the names Schwarzenegger, Cameron and McTiernan on the poster for TRUE LIES 2. The next best project Arnie and McT can do together is TERMINATOR 4. Producer Andrew Vajna is now looking for a new director for T4 and he has worked with McTiernan before on MEDICINE MAN back in the 90's. Vajna also considered McT to direct TERMINATOR 3 and the hungarian prodcuer's current flop BASIC INSTINCT 2. The best bet for a sure fire hit for McT would be to direct T4 for his pals Schwarzenegger and Vajna.

Another film McT can take a stab at for Arnie is CRUSADE. Acclaimed screenwriter William Goldman has apparently dusted off the old Crusade screenplay (originally written by Walon Green) with plans to get the film up again. The long-in-development epic may even still star Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has been linked to the project since its conception a decade or two back. No word if Jennifer Connelly, who was attached to the film in it's early years, is still involved.

Goldman worked on the original draft of the film at some point when director Paul Verhoeven (Total Recall) was slated to direct. They got so far as Having promotional material in the trades and release dates on theatre exhibitors calendars ­ but then boom, the film went belly-up.

So did I think it will get made this time? Well, not without a fight. A Couple of years back, Verhoeven mentioned in an interview that he'd gone cold on the idea because of the controversial repercussions it's theme may have and ­ nothing has changed. "The studios are already being asked by the government to be as patriotic as possible, and participate in the 'fight against terrorism'. The story of the Crusades is the murderous attack of the Christians on the Arabs and the Jews. The Pope instigates this complete slaughterhouse, which ultimately had only one goal: to destroy as many Arabs as possible.

Schwarzenegger himself owns the rights to the film. Mario Kassar and Andrew Vajna are attached as producers. If Verhoeven isn't able to be brought back to the project, McTiernan is a very good choice. John directed the Viking epic THE 13TH WARRIOR starring Antonio Banderas during the 90's so he should be no stranger to epic films. With Arnie owning the rights to CRUSADE and McT in control behind the camera, maybe the PREDATOR team can finally reach the box-office heights LAST ACTION HERO promised!!!

Special thanks to www.smh.com.au for the McTiernan court news!