The writing has been on the wall for John McTiernan for some time, but now it looks like his luck has well and truly run out. After having a Supreme Court appeal denied yesterday, McTiernan now has no option but to pay his $100,000 fine and spend a year inside federal prison. The 62-year old director hasn’t helmed a feature since 2003, but he’s best known for a slew of action classics including “Predator,” “Die Hard” and “The Hunt For Red October.”
McTiernan was first sentenced back in 2010 after pleading guilty to making false statements to the FBI as part of their investigation into the Anthony Pellicano wiretapping scandal. His incarceration has been delayed until now while his appeal to reverse his guilty plea was being considered, but after that was quashed yesterday it appears that McTiernan will soon be heading to jail.
The allegations relate back to 2002 when McTiernan was working on the remake of “Rollerball.” The director hired Anthony Pellicano to investigate one of the movie’s producers, Chuck Roven, and a digital recording later revealed McTiernan acknowledging he was aware of Pellicano’s use of an illegal wiretap. This led to the current charge becaue McTiernan had initially tole the FBI that his involvement with Pellicano was very limited. The Hollywood Reporter though warn that there could now be further delays as lawyers attempt to reduce the sentence due to the fact that there has never been any proof that Pellicano wiretapped Roven specifically.
We imagine that a lot of legal stuff here that’s above our pay grade, but THR also expect that the judge will now order McTiernan to report to him for incarceration. Even if the judge then rejects all of his remaining motions it could then take a few more weeks or even months before he serves his sentence. Whichever way you look at it though it doesn’t look good for the former action director, and it all looks to point towards a stay inside in the very near future.
