Die Hard director serving hard time :: Film & TV News :: Articles

John McTiernan isn't a name most people would recognize, even within film buff circles, but he is the director of one of the classics of contemporary cinema. And if you did correctly name him as the director of Predator and Die Hard without simply reading the title of this article, then hats off to you. So it's with regret that Paste must report on the incarceration of the director due to lying to the FBI.

McTiernan told the FBI that the only time he'd hired Anthony Pellicano, a disgraced Los Angeles private detective, was during his divorce, though it was discovered that he later hired Pellicano to wiretap Charles Roven, a producer on McTiernan's highly underrated feature Rollerball. The director pleaded guilty to the charges and then later attempted to rescind this, claiming inadequate representation, not to mention jet lag and a possible sinus infection. Judge Dale S. Fisher said, "I find these arguments completely lacking in credibility," sentencing the director to four months in prison.

Mctiernan's attorney, Milton Grimes, expressed disappointment in the ruling and promised to appeal, as well as disagreeing with the judge's comment that McTeirnan "lived a privileged life and simply [wanted] to continue that."

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