Chris Rock testifies Friday at 8 AM. I hear Michael Ovitz, and former journalists Bernie Weinraub and Anita Busch, will probably testify next week.
Very little of this week's trial so far has focused on mainstream Hollywood business although some testimony has been titillating but also tawdry. I'll skip the latter involving divorces, etc. But New York hedge fund manager Adam Sender testified under immunity that P.I. Anthony Pellicano once offered to have quasi-movie producer Aaron Russo rubbed out. (Sender had invested $1.1 million in a movie production company with Russo and not a single pic ever got made. Welcome to Hollywood, Mr. Sender.) Later, one of the defense attorneys moved to strike Sender's murder-for-hire testimony about Pellicano, who's not charged with offing anyone. U.S. District Court Dale Fischer will decide.
Sender also said this about his meeting with attorney Bert Fields: "He suggested that I work with Mr. Pellicano. That he was very good at what he did. That he used unorthodox methods but he gets the job done." And Sender quoted Pellicano saying this about allegedly finding out that someone Sender trusted turned out to be in cahoots with Russo: "I am 100% loyal. That's why Bert uses me on every case."
Andrew Stevens, the one-time himbo actor turned producer, testified with immunity about listening to alleged wiretaps played for him by Pellicano. They stemmed from privileged attorney-client communications between entertainment attorney John LaViolette and his clients from the German company Intertainment. Stevens testified that, in March 2001 after Intertainment came after him, he hired Bert Fields who introduced him to Pellicano in order to take the P.I. "off the market" so the other firm couldn't use him if a lawsuit ensued.
Stevens testified he talked frequently to the private eye so had his own relationship with Pellicano outside of Fields' law firm. One day, the actor-producer told the court, he went onto the roof of his building to call Pellicano and listen to an allegedly wiretapped recording.
(My thanks to LA Weekly's Steven Mikulan who's covering the trial for DHD.)
Chris Rock is so gross. That taped phone call of him was just PATHETIC.
Comment by Gross Rock — April 3, 2008 @ 8:04 am
In this article on the Pellicano trial, Ms Finke describes the late Aaron Russo as a “quasi-movie producer.” She’s wrong. Among a half dozen or so major studio releases, Mr Russo produced “Wise Guys” directed by Brian De Palma, “Trading Places” directed by John Landis, and “The Rose” directed by Mark Rydell. He also produced the controversial documentary “America: Freedom to Fascism.”
Comment by Robert Schnitzer — April 3, 2008 @ 5:42 pm