The 13th Warrior is a 1999 historical fiction action film starring Antonio Banderas as Ahmad ibn Fadlan and Vladimir Kulich as Buliwyf; it is based on the novel Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton.^[2] It was directed by John McTiernan and an uncredited Crichton^{[citation needed]}.

The 13th Warrior was a financial failure. Production and marketing costs totalled $160 million, but it only grossed $61,698,899 at the box office.

Plot[link]

Ahmed ibn Fadlan is a court poet to the Caliph of Baghdad - until his amorous encounter with the wife of an influential noble gets him exiled as an "ambassador" to northern barbarians." Traveling with Melchisidek, his caravan is saved from Mongol Tatar raiders by the appearance of Norsemen (the characters are speaking Swedish and Norwegian) . Taking refuge at their settlement on the Volga, communications are established through Melchisidek and Herger, a Norseman who speaks Vulgar Latin. Ahmed and Melchisidek are in time to witness the fight which establishes Buliwyf as heir apparent, followed by the Viking funeral of their dead king, cremated together with a young woman who agreed to 'accompany' him to Valhalla.

A youth enters the camp requesting Buliwyf's aid: his father's kingdom in the far north is under attack from an ancient evil so frightening, the bravest warriors dare not name it. The "angel of death," an oracle, determines the mission will be successful if thirteen warriors go to face this danger - but the thirteenth must not be a Norseman. Ahmed is recruited against his will.

Ahmed learns Norse during their journey by listening intently to their conversations. He is looked down upon by the huge Norsemen, who mock his physical weakness and his small Arabian horse, but earns a measure of respect by his fast learning of their language, his horsemanship, ingenuity, and ability to write.

Reaching King Hrothgar's king, they confirm their foe is indeed the ancient 'Wendol', fiends who come with the mist to kill and eat human flesh. In a string of clashes Buliwyf's band establishes that the Wendol are humanoid cannibals who appear as, live like and identify with bears.

Their numbers dwindling and their position all but indefensible, an ancient wisewoman of the village tells them to track the Wendol to their lair and destroy their leaders, the "Mother of the Vendol" and the war leader who wears "the horns of power". Buliwyf and the remaining warriors infiltrate the Wendol cave-complex and kill the Mother, but Buliwyf is poisoned by her.

As the last remaining warriors return to the village and prepare for a final battle they do not expect to survive the Wendol attack. Buliwyf succeeds in killing the Wendol war leader, causing their defeat, before succumbing to the poison. Ahmad ibn Fadlan witnesses Buliwyf's royal funeral before returning to his homeland, grateful to the Norsemen for helping him to "become a man, and a useful servant of God".

Cast[link]

• Antonio Banderas as Ahmed ibn Fadlan
• Vladimir Kulich as Buliwyf
• Dennis Storhoi as Herger
• Clive Russell as Helfdane
• Richard Bremmer as Skeld
• Tony Curran as Weath
• Omar Sharif as Melchisidek
• Eric Avari as Caravan leader
• Sven Wollter as King Hrothgar
• Diane Venora as Queen Weilew
• Asbjorn Riis as Halga

Production and revenue[link]

Originally titled Eaters of the Dead, production began in August 1997, but the film went through several re-edits after test audiences did not react well to the initial cut. Crichton took over as director himself due to the poor test audience reception, causing the release date to be pushed back over a year. The title was changed to The 13th Warrior.

The budget, which was originally around $85 million, reportedly soared to $100 million before principal photography wrapped. With all of the re-shoots and promotional expenses, the total cost of the film was rumored to be $160 million, which given its lackluster box office take (earning only US $61,698,899 worldwide), made for a loss of nearly $100 million.^[3]

The outcome of the film's production disappointed Omar Sharif so much that he retired from film acting. He did not take a role in a major film until 2003's Monsieur Ibrahim.:

"After my small role in The 13th Warrior, I said to myself, 'Let us stop this nonsense, these meal tickets that we do because it pays well.' I thought, 'Unless I find a stupendous film that I love and that makes me want to leave home to do, I will stop.' Bad pictures are very humiliating, I was really sick. It is terrifying to have to do the dialogue from bad scripts, to face a director who does not know what he is doing, in a film so bad that it is not even worth exploring."^[4]

During production two horses were injured. One horse was put down after a wire sliced his leg tendon.^[5]

Soundtrack[link]

The original soundtrack was composed by Graeme Revell and featured the Dead Can Dance singer Lisa Gerrard. The score was rejected by Michael Crichton and was replaced by one composed by Crichton's usual collaborator, Jerry Goldsmith.^[6] The cue heard just before the final battle scene, called "Valhalla", was later used in the film Kingdom of Heaven by Ridley Scott at the final siege scene.^{[citation needed]}

Reception[link]

The 13th Warrior currently holds a 33% rating on Rotten Tomatoes which sums it up as "Atmospheric, great sets and costumes, but thin plot."^[7] Roger Ebert gave the film one and a half stars out of four, remarking that it "lumber[s] from one expensive set-piece to the next without taking the time to tell a story that might make us care."^[8] Conversely, James Berardinelli gave The 13th Warrior three stars out of four, calling it "a solid offering" that "delivers an exhilarating 100 minutes."^[9]

In his book Reel Bad Arabs, media studies professor Jack Shaheen listed The 13th Warrior on his "Best" list of films with balanced and sometimes heroic portrayals of Arabs.^{[citation needed]}

See also[link]

• List of historical drama films

References[link]

"Michael Crichton’s 13th Warrior and Beowulf". http://www.windofkeltia.com/crichton/13thwar.html. Retrieved 20 August 2010. 

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: 13th Warrior

• The 13th Warrior at the Internet Movie Database
• The 13th Warrior at AllRovi
• The 13th Warrior at Box Office Mojo
• The 13th Warrior at Rotten Tomatoes

v t e Beowulf Characters Beowulf Grendel Grendel's mother Hroðgar Ecgþeow Hygelac Heardred Æschere Onela Wealhþeow Wiglaf Unferð The Dragon Scholars & translators M. H. Abrams Michael J. Alexander Nora Kershaw Chadwick Kevin Crossley-Holland Michael D. C. Drout Seamus Heaney William Morris Frederick Klaeber Burton Raffel J. R. R. Tolkien Charles Leslie Wrenn Depictions Books Grendel Eaters of the Dead Beyond Beowulf Film Grendel Grendel Grendel Beowulf (1999) The 13th Warrior Beowulf & Grendel Wrath of Gods Grendel Beowulf (2007) See also Anglo-Saxon paganism Battle of Finnsburg "Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics" Heorot Hrunting Nægling Nowell Codex

José Antonio Domínguez Banderas (born 10 August 1960), better known as Antonio Banderas, is a Spanish film actor, film director, film producer and singer. He began his acting career at age 19 with a series of films by director Pedro Almodóvar and then appeared in high-profile Hollywood films, especially in the 1990s, including Assassins, Evita, Interview with the Vampire, Philadelphia, Desperado, The Mask of Zorro, Spy Kids, the Shrek sequels and Puss in Boots.

Early life[link]

Banderas was born in Málaga, Andalucía, Spain, in 1960, to Ana Banderas, a school teacher, and José Domínguez, a police officer in the Guardia Civil.^[1][2] He has a younger brother, Javier. Although the family name is Domínguez, he took his mother's surname as his stage name.^[3] As a child, he wanted to become a professional football player until a broken foot sidelined his dreams at the age of fifteen. He went on to enroll in some drama classes, eventually joining a theater troupe that toured all over Spain. His work in the theater, and his performances on the streets, eventually landed him a spot with the National Theatre of Spain.^[4]

Career[link]

Early work, 1982–90[link]

His acting career began at the age of 19,^{[citation needed]} when he worked in small theatres during Spain’s post-dictatorial cultural movement known as the 'Movida'.^[5] While performing with the theatre, Banderas caught the attention of Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar, who cast the young actor in his 1982 film debut, Labyrinth of Passion. Five years later he went on to appear in the director's Law of Desire, making headlines with his performance as a gay man, which required him to engage in his first male-to-male onscreen kiss. After Banderas appeared in Almodóvar's 1986 Matador, the director cast him in his internationally acclaimed 1988 film, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. The recognition Banderas gained for his role increased two years later when he starred in Almodóvar's controversial Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! as a mental patient who kidnaps a porn star (Victoria Abril) and keeps her tied up until she returns his love.^[4] It was his breakthrough role in Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!, that helped spur him on to Hollywood.^[6] Banderas' having become a regular feature of Almodóvar's movies all throughout the 1980s, Almodóvar is credited for helping launch Banderas's international career.^[7]

Breakthrough, 1991–94[link]

In 1991 Madonna introduced Banderas to Hollywood in the documentary film Madonna: Truth or Dare. In the film, Madonna says she wants to seduce Banderas even though she knows he was married.

The following year, still speaking minimal English, he began acting in U.S. films. Despite having to learn all his lines phonetically, Banderas still managed to turn in a critically praised performance as a struggling musician in his first American drama film, The Mambo Kings (1992).

Banderas then broke through to mainstream American audiences in the film, Philadelphia (1993), as the gay lover of AIDS-afflicted lawyer Andrew Beckett (Tom Hanks). The film's success earned Banderas wide recognition, and the following year was given a role in Neil Jordan's high-profile adaptation of Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire, which allowed him to share the screen with Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt.^[4]

Worldwide recognition, 1995–present[link]

He appeared in several major Hollywood releases in 1995, including a starring role in the Robert Rodriguez-directed film Desperado and the antagonist on the action film Assassins, co-starred with Sylvester Stallone. In 1996, he starred alongside Madonna in Evita, an adaptation of the musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber and in Tim Rice in which he played the narrator, Che, a role played by David Essex in the original 1978 West End production. He also made success with his role as the legendary masked swordsman Zorro in the 1998 film The Mask of Zorro.

In 2001, he collaborated with Robert Rodriguez who cast him in the Spy Kids film trilogy. He also starred in Michael Cristofer's Original Sin alongside Angelina Jolie the same year. In 2002, he starred in Brian De Palma's Femme Fatale opposite Rebecca Romijn-Stamos and in Julie Taymor's Frida with Salma Hayek. In 2003, he starred in the last installment of the trilogy Once Upon A Time In Mexico (in which he appeared with Johnny Depp and Salma Hayek). Banderas' debut as a director was the poorly-received Crazy in Alabama (1999), starring his wife Melanie Griffith.^[8]

In 2003, he returned to the musical genre, appearing to great acclaim in the Broadway revival of Maury Yeston's musical Nine, based on the film 8½, playing the prime role originated by the late Raúl Juliá. Banderas won both the Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk awards, and was nominated for the Tony Award for best actor in a musical.^[9] His performance is preserved on the Broadway cast recording released by PS Classics. The following year (2004), he received the Rita Moreno HOLA Award for Excellence from the Hispanic Organization of Latin Actors (HOLA).

Banderas in June 2007

His voice role as Puss in Boots in Shrek 2, Shrek the Third and the last film in the Shrek franchise, Shrek Forever After, helped make the character popular on the family film circuit. In 2005, he reprised his role as Zorro in The Legend of Zorro, though this was not as successful as The Mask of Zorro. In 2006, he starred in Take the Lead, a high-set movie in which he played a ballroom dancing teacher. That year, he directed his second film El camino de los ingleses (English title: Summer Rain), and also received the L.A. Latino International Film Festival's "Gabi" Lifetime Achievement Award on 14 October.^[10] He hosted the 600th episode of Saturday Night Live (during season 31).

He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on 6801 Hollywood Blvd. in 2005.

In 2011, the horror thriller The Skin I Live In marked the return of Banderas to Pedro Almodóvar, the Spanish director who launched his international career. The two had not worked together since 1990 (Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down!). In The Skin I Live In he breaks out of the "Latin Lover" mold from his Hollywood work and stars as a calculating revenge-seeking plastic surgeon following the rape of his daughter. According to the Associated Press Banderas' performance is among his strongest in recent memory.^[7] He again lent his voice to Puss in Boots, this time as the protagonist of the Shrek spin-off family film, Puss in Boots. This film reunited Banderas with Salma Hayek for the sixth time.^[11]

Business activities[link]

He has invested some of his film earnings in Andalusian products, which he promotes in Spain and the US.^[12] He owns 50% of a winery in Villalba de Duero, Burgos, Spain, called Anta Banderas, which produces red and rosé wines.^[13]

He performed a voice-over for a computer-animated bee which can be seen in the United States in television commercials for Nasonex,^[14] an allergy medication, and was seen in the 2007 Christmas advertising campaign for Marks & Spencer, a British retailer.^[15]

He is a veteran of the perfume industry. The actor has been working with fragrance and beauty multinational company Puig for over ten years becoming one of the brand's most successful representatives. Banderas and Puig have successfully promoted a number of fragrances so far – Diavolo, Diavolo for Women, Mediterraneo, Spirit, and Spirit for Women. After the success of Antonio for Men and Blue Seduction for Men in 2007, launched his latest Blue Seduction for Women the following year.^[16]

Personal life[link]

Banderas with Melanie Griffith at the Shrek Forever After premiere.

Banderas divorced his first wife, Ana Leza, and on 14 May 1996, married American actress Melanie Griffith in a private, low-key ceremony in London.^[5][17] They had met a year earlier while shooting Two Much.^[18] Both Griffith and Banderas were married to other people when they first met.^[5] They have a daughter, Stella Banderas, who appeared with her parents in the 1999 film Crazy in Alabama, in which Griffith starred and which Banderas directed.^[12] In 2002, the couple's dedication to philanthropy was recognized when they received the 'Stella Adler Angel Award' for their extensive charity work.^[5]

In 1996, Banderas appeared among other figures of Spanish culture in a video supporting the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party lists in the general election.^[19]

He is a long time supporter of the Málaga CF.^[20]

He is an officer (mayordomo de trono) of a Roman Catholic religious brotherhood in Málaga and travels, with his wife and daughter, during Holy Week to take part in the processions,^[21] although in an interview with People magazine Banderas had once described himself as an agnostic.^[22] In May 2010, Banderas received his honorary doctorate from the University of Málaga in the city where he was born.^[6]

Filmography[link]

Actor[link]

Director and producer[link]

Theater[link]

See also[link]

• List of celebrities who own wineries and vineyards

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Antonio Banderas

• Antonio Banderas appointed Goodwill Ambassador at Bay Ledger
• Antonio Banderas at the Internet Movie Database
• Antonio Banderas at the TCM Movie Database
• Antonio Banderas at the Internet Broadway Database
• Antonio Banderas at Emmys.com

This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (May 2012)

Ahmad ibn Fadlān ibn al-Abbās ibn Rāšid ibn Hammād (Arabic: أحمد بن فضلان بن العباس بن راشد بن حماد‎) was a 10th century Kurdish traveler, famous for his account of his travels as a member of an embassy of the Abbasid Caliph of Baghdad to the king of the Volga Bulgars. His account is most known for providing a description of the Volga Vikings, including an eye-witness account of a ship burial.

Manuscript tradition[link]

For a long time, only an incomplete version of the account was known, as transmitted in the geographical dictionary of Yāqūt (under the headings Atil, Bashgird, Bulghār, Khazar, Khwārizm, Rūs), published in 1823 by Fraehn. Only in 1923 was a manuscript discovered by the Turkic scholar of Bashkir origin Zeki Validi Togan in the Astane Quds Museum, Mashhad, Iran/Persia. The manuscript MS 5229 dates from the 13th century (7th cent. Hijra) and consists of 420 pages (210 folia). Besides other geographical treatises, it contains a fuller version of Ibn Fadlan's text (pp. 390–420). Additional passages not preserved in MS 5229 are quoted in the work of the 16th century Persian geographer Amīn Rāzī called Haft Iqlīm ("Seven Climes").

The Embassy[link]

Ibn Fadlan was sent from Baghdad in 921 to serve as the secretary to an ambassador from the Abbasid Caliph al-Muqtadir to the iltäbär (vassal-king under the Khazars) of the Volga Bulgaria, Almış.

The embassy's objective was to have the king of the Bolğars pay homage to Caliph al-Muqtadir and, in return, to give the king money to pay for the construction of a fortress. Although they reached Bolğar, the mission failed because they were unable to collect the money intended for the king. Annoyed at not receiving the promised sum, the king refused to switch from the Maliki rite to the Hanafi rite of Baghdad.

The embassy left Baghdad on June 21, 921 (Islamic Calendar: 11 Safar 309). It reached the Bulghars after much hardship on May 12, 922 (Islamic Calendar: 12 Muharram 310). (This day is an official religious holiday in modern Tatarstan.) The journey took Ibn Fadlan from Baghdad to Bukhara and Khwarizm (south of the Aral Sea). Although promised safe passage by the Oghuz warlord, or Kudarkin, they were waylaid by Oghuz bandits but luckily were able to bribe their attackers. They spent the winter in Gorgan, Iran before travelling north across the Ural River until they reached the towns of the Bulghars at the three lakes of the Volga north of the Samara bend.

After arriving in Bolğar, Ahmad ibn Fadlan made a trip to Wisu and recorded his observations of trade between the Volga Bolğars and local Finnic tribes.

Rus[link]

A substantial cut of Ibn Fadlan's account is dedicated to the description of a people he called the Rūs روس or Rūsiyyah. Most scholars identify them with the Rus' or Varangians, which would make Ibn Fadlan's account one of the earliest portrayals of Vikings.

The Rūs appear as traders who set up shop on the river banks nearby the Bolğar camp. They are described as having bodies tall as (date) palm-trees, with blond hair and ruddy skin. They are tattooed from "fingernails to neck" with dark blue or dark green "tree patterns" and other "figures" and that all men are armed with an axe and a long knife.

Ibn Fadlan describes the Rus as "perfect physical specimens" and the hygiene of the Rūsiyyah as disgusting (while also noting with some astonishment that they comb their hair every day) and considers them vulgar and unsophisticated. In that, his impressions contrast those of the Persian traveler Ibn Rustah. He also describes in great detail the funeral of one of their chieftains (a ship burial involving human sacrifice). Some scholars believe that it took place in the modern Balymer complex.^[1]

Fiction[link]

Elements of Ibn Fadlan's account are used in the novel Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton (adapted to film in The 13th Warrior with Antonio Banderas as Ibn Fadlan), in which the Arab ambassador is taken even further north and is involved in adventures inspired by the Old English epic Beowulf.

A major Arabic TV series, The Roof of the World or Saqf al-Alam, (Arabic: سقف العالم‎), was produced in 2007 charting Ibn Fadlan's journey from a contemporary perspective. The 30 one-hour episodes tackle the relations between Islam and Europe at two moments: the time of Ibn Fadlan and the present. The motivation for the series was the 2005 Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy in Denmark.

See also[link]

• List of Arab scientists and scholars
• List of Islamic scholars
• Nabidh
• Elteber
• Volga Bulgaria

Further reading[link]

• Flowers, Stephen E. (1998). Ibn Fadlan's Travel-Report: As It Concerns the Scandinavian Rüs. Smithville, Texas: Rûna-Raven. OCLC 496024366. 
• Gordon, Stewart (2009). When Asia Was the World. [Cambridge, Mass.]: Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-306-81739-7. OCLC 191926190. 

http://www.sammustafa.com/Resources/Fadlan.pdf^[2]

References[link]

• Ibn Faḍlān, Aḥmad; Frähn, Christian Martin (1823) (in German). Ibn Foszląn's und anderer Araber Berichte über die Russen älterer Zeit. Text und Übersetzung mit kritisch-philologischen Ammerkungen. Nebst drei Breilagen über sogenannte Russen-Stämme und Kiew, die Warenger und das Warenger-Meer, und das Land Wisu, ebenfalls nach arabischen Schriftstellern. Von C. M. Frähn. Saint-Petersburg: aus der Buchdruckerei der Akademie. OCLC 457333793. 
• Ibn-Faḍlān, Ahmad (1988) (in French). Voyage chez les Bulgares de la Volga. trad. Canard, Marius; Miquel, Andre. Paris: Sindbad. OCLC 255663160. 
• al-Faqih, Ibn; Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad, Aḥmad Ibn Faḍlān, Misʻar Ibn Muhalhil Abū Dulaf al-Khazrajī, Fuat Sezgin, M. Amawi, A. Jokhosha, and E. Neubauer (1987). Collection of Geographical Works: Reproduced from MS 5229 Riḍawīya Library, Mashhad. Frankfurt am Main: I. H. A. I. S. at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University. OCLC 469349123. 

External links[link]

Arabic Wikisource has original text related to this article: Ibn Fadlan

• Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies 3 (2000), containing "Ibn Fadlan and the Rūsiyyah", by James E. Montgomery, with an annotated translation of the part of the account pertaining to the Rus.
• Judith Gabriel, Among the Norse tribes, 1990, Saudi Aramco World
• Encyclopedia of Ukraine
• Muslim heritage
• Kroraina (in Bulgarian)

John Campbell McTiernan, Jr. (born January 8, 1951) is an American film director and producer, best known for his action films and most identifiable with the three films he directed back-to-back: Predator, Die Hard, and The Hunt for Red October, along with later movies such as Last Action Hero, Die Hard with a Vengeance, and The Thomas Crown Affair.

Life and career[link]

McTiernan was born in Albany, New York and attended the Juilliard School before graduating with an M.F.A. from the AFI Conservatory.

In 1986, he wrote and directed his first feature, Nomads, starring Pierce Brosnan. While not successful, it did land him the job of directing the smash science fiction action film Predator starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. In the wake of that films' success, he followed it up with a string of hits, including Die Hard starring Bruce Willis; The Hunt for Red October with Alec Baldwin and Sean Connery, and Medicine Man, also starring Connery.

In 1993, he helmed Last Action Hero, an action-comedy vehicle for Arnold Schwarzenegger. The film was rushed into production, and became a victim of its own overblown hype when it opened to mixed reviews and lackluster box office, however it gained a cult following. In 1995, he rebounded with Die Hard with a Vengeance, the second sequel to Die Hard.

In 1999, he took on the remake of The Thomas Crown Affair starring Pierce Brosnan and Rene Russo, which opened to solid reviews and strong box office; he also directed the troubled production of The 13th Warrior, adapted from the novel Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton. In 2002, he directed Rollerball, a remake of the 1975 movie starring James Caan, but the film came and went without much fanfare. In 2003, his thriller Basic with John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson had a much more successful run.

Personal life[link]

Criminal charge[link]

On April 3, 2006, McTiernan was charged in federal court with lying to the FBI during an evening phone call to McTiernan's home in the wiretapping investigation involving Anthony Pellicano. He was arraigned and pleaded guilty on April 17, 2006, and is the 14th person charged in this case.

McTiernan was charged with an information, rather than in grand jury indictment, which means he waived his right to an indictment and suggests he may have reached either a prior plea agreement with prosecutors or some sort of cooperating agreement.^[1]

Some time later, upon retaining new counsel, McTiernan attempted to withdraw his guilty plea because his prior counsel had not offered an available defense.^[2] On September 24, 2007 this bid was denied by Federal District Judge Dale S. Fischer. She then proceeded to sentence McTiernan to four months in prison and $100,000 in fines for lying about his relationship with Pellicano. McTiernan's lawyers had asked for no jail time, arguing that even the Department of Justice policy manual stated that no single False Statement charges would be filed against an individual. The prosecution argued that the manual is a guide and the government cannot be held to the statements contained in it. The judge sided with the prosecution and characterized McTiernan as someone who "lived a privileged life and simply wants to continue that." He was ordered to surrender for incarceration by January 15, 2008. His lawyers stated thereafter he planned to appeal this conviction.^[3] Fischer allowed McTiernan to remain out of prison on bail pending his appeal of her decision to the 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.^[4]

In October 2008, a federal appeals court vacated McTiernan's four-month sentence and ruled that Judge Fischer had erred and he was entitled to a hearing as to whether his plea could be withdrawn given that prior counsel did not state with sufficient clarity that he had offered McTiernan a defense. The prosecution agreed for McTiernan to withdraw his plea rather than proceed with a hearing and Judge Fischer allowed McTiernan to do so on February 24, 2009. The case remained open, with prosecutors intending to proceed a second time against McTiernan on the same charge.^[5]

According to McTiernan's attorney, former Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Oliver Diaz, the overzealous prosecutors filed two charges against McTiernan for the same sentence to the unverified FBI Agent, and a third charge for perjury since he had asked to withdraw his guilty plea. Due to court rulings, McTiernan entered a conditional guilty plea in order to get back to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Judge Fischer sentenced McTiernan to one year in prison though no additional criminal activity was indicated since his plea was allowed to be withdrawn. Diaz states "his client was forced to plead guilty to what most people do not even know is a crime" and is a "victim of prosecutorial vindictiveness." McTiernan is free on bail pending appeal. Diaz is confident his client will prevail.^[6]

Invasion of privacy civil suit[link]

On July 3, 2006, McTiernan's former wife, film producer Donna Dubrow, filed suit against him for invasion of privacy and other claims arising from her belief that he hired Pellicano to wiretap her telephone. Judge Dale S. Fischer refused to give any credence to the claim when it was mentioned by the prosecution during McTiernan's hearing.^[7]

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• John McTiernan at the Internet Movie Database
• "Filmmaker Says He Lied in FBI Probe" The Los Angeles Times, April 18, 2006.
• "Links Between Pellicano, Director Come Into Focus" The Los Angeles Times, April 5, 2006.
• "Pellicano Inquiry Expands to Snare Director of 'Predator'" The Los Angeles Times, April 4, 2006.
• "Film Director Accused of Lying to FBI in Pellicano Scandal" The LA Weekly, April 3, 2006.