Photo Gallery A Paradise for Paranoia
A scene from "Rollerball," a film directed by McTiernan in 2000. While he was directing the remake of the 1970s classic, he became embroiled in a row with producer Charles Rovan ("12 Monkeys" and "City of Angels"). Shortly after shooting began, part of the set was destroyed by fire, and the movie went completely off the rails. "There is no place where the paranoia is greater than on the set of a film that has spun out of control," says a film agent.
The film's main producer was the MGM studio, but McTiernan was worried Roven (pictured here) wanted to take control by buying up the studios with the help of Japanese and German investors. He also suspected the fire had been started deliberately to lower the price. He probably also feared that Roven wanted to get rid of him.
He hired famous Hollywood private investigator Anthony Pellicano (pictured here in 1971 in Chicago), who had developed a special hardward- and software-based system that secretly records telephone conversations. The bugging system spared the PI from the trouble and risk of breaking into apartments, since all he had to do was to tap into a local exchange.
For days on end, it was claimed in the trial against Pelicano (pictured here in a Los Angeles courtroom in June 2009), he listened to Roven's calls. It remains unclear today whether he actually tapped Roven's calls or merely claimed to have done so. In 2008, a court handed down a 15-year prison sentence to Pellicano for 76 counts of illegal wiretapping. Last October, director McTiernan was handed down a one-year prison sentence for first hiring a private investigator to tap the phone of a producer, and then lying to the FBI about it. McTiernan is appealing.
