John McTiernan

In a criminal-wiretapping case filed by the U.S. District Attorney for Los Angeles, John McTiernan plead guilty to lying to F.B.I. agents about requesting to have Anthony Pellicano investigate producer Charles Roven during production of Rollerball: Gladiadores Del Futuro (2002). Sentenced to four months in federal prison on 09/24/07, plea was withdrawn and restated as innocent since statement had been given to FBI when McTiernan was admittedly suffering jet-lag and drunk after arriving in US from UK trip. Case was tried and US conviction was handed down on 10/4/2010 by US District Judge Dale Fischer with one-year sentence and $100,000 USD fine against McTiernan. McTiernan's attorneys announced intent to appeal and he is currently free on appeal.

You take it one step at a time and the basic rule is to work on movies you would like to go see because it takes too long and it's too hard to work on a project for somebody else just because it's a job. When it's four in the morning and you've been working 18 hours a day for 10 months straight you had better care about the film, otherwise you couldn't put out the way you have to. To do it well, you don't have any other life, so it better be something you enjoy.