Hard time ahead for 'Die Hard' director?

MANY of us thought that John McTiernan should have been jailed for crimes against cinema following his horrible 2002 remake of Rollerball. He got off scot-free on that occasion but, if US District Judge Dale Fischer decides to get nasty, McTiernan may yet find himself banged up.

Last week, the director of Die Hard and Predator admitted that he lied to the FBI when he denied employing Anthony Pellicano, private investigator to the stars, to wiretap Charles Roven, producer of Rollerball. Pellicano and six co-defendents are facing 112 racketeering and conspiracy charges for bugging and otherwise illegally invading the privacy of such Hollywood notables as Sylvester Stallone and Keith Carradine.

McTiernan could, in theory, be sent to jail for five years, but, having struck a deal with the prosecutor, he will probably receive a considerably more lenient sentence.

Euro honour for Cork's man

Mick Hannigan, director of the Cork Film Festival, has been invited to join the prestigious European Film Academy. Hannigan, whose previous achievements include managing the cinemas at the Irish Film Centre and running the Irish Federation of Film Societies, professed himself delighted with the news. "In recent years significant advancements have been made in the calibre of European cinema. I look forward to actively promoting the wealth of talent which exists in the European film industry."

Further good tidings for Hannigan come with the announcement that the Cork Film Festival has been chosen as a participating body in the European Film Academy Prix UIP initiative. The prize, awarded to short films in four categories, comes with a €2,000 cheque and an automatic nomination for the European Film Awards.

Young writers wanted

Heads up, screenwriting tyros. The Film Academy at Ardmore Studios, an initiative aimed at assisting teenagers keen to work in the movie business, has announced the foundation of a short story competition. Students 12 to 18 are invited to submit a story, suitable for adaptation, of less than eight pages. The winning entry will be transformed into a short film at one of the two-week courses to be hosted by the Academy this summer. A detailed outline and QuickTime promo for the Academy can be found at: www.thefilmacademy.ie.

Debut film is Tribeca bound

Any readers finding themselves in lower Manhattan next week may wish to check out Irish director Síofra Campbell's first feature at the Tribeca Film Festival. Conscious, perhaps, of editors' penchant for including bits of a film's title above reviews, Síofra has named her intriguing-sounding picture Marvellous (no exclamation point, thank goodness). The drama, which is set on Long Island and stars Ewen Bremner and Martha Plimpton, screens at the Regal, Battery Park on April 30th.

Oscar blinks

Last week, when announcing the launch of Dublin's PintSize Film Festival, we facetiously suggested that the organisers' decision to schedule the event on the same night as the Oscars might spook the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Who's laughing now? Clearly alarmed by the drawing power of the new event, which will take place in the minute Dawson Lounge on March 4th, the Oscar supremos have elected to move their ceremony back to the last Sunday in February. They claim that, with no Winter Olympics to worry about next year, they are simply returning to the procedure followed in 2004 and 2005. We'll believe what we want to believe.

Scary Weinsteins in top spot

The Weinstein Co, the entity formed by Harvey and Bob Weinstein after disentangling themselves from Miramax, the middle-brow's friend, has seen one of its films debut at the top of the US box office for the first time.

Is it some delicate Sundance-friendly drama featuring a dying Native American travelling across the continent in a caravan? Is it an EM Forster adaptation? No. Weinstein Co's first massive hit is the relentlessly dumb Scary Movie 4. The boys may secretly have enjoyed the fact that The Wild, the latest animated feature from their old bosses at Disney, limped weakly into fourth place.

Tom only eats his words

Should we allow the happy news of the birth of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes's baby to stop us from making fun of the ridiculous dad? I don't think so. "I'm gonna eat the placenta. I thought that would be good. Very nutritious. I'm gonna eat the cord and the placenta right there," the diminutive sofa-tester told GQ magazine recently. When it was pointed out that this might be rather a big meal (for a wee fellow?) he changed his mind. "OK maybe I won't."

With enormous reluctance, keeping in mind The Irish Times's reputation for accuracy, we grudgingly acknowledge that the comments were made in jest.