mctiernanjohn1MONDAY UPDATE: The film director pleaded guilty in Los Angeles federal court to lying during the Pellicano investigation. John McTiernan entered the plea to two counts of making false statements to the FBI and one count of perjury for lying to a federal judge while trying to withdraw a guilty plea. He faces up to a year in prison when he’s sentenced October 4th before the same judge he lied to.

SUNDAY PM: The Predator reboot debuted this weekend. But at 9 AM Monday, the director of the original goes on trial. John McTiernan is charged with lying to the FBI and to a federal judge in connection with the Anthony Pellicano wiretapping and racketeering case. But McTiernan, who also helmed Die Hard, The Hunt for Red October, and The Thomas Crown Affair remake, But here’s the problem: McTiernan is appearing for trial tomorrow before the same judge he allegedly lied to. In June, McTiernan lost a bid to suppress evidence in the case. U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer denied McTiernan’s request to exclude a telephone conversation Pellicano recorded in which he and McTiernan discussed wiretapping Charles Roven, a producer of the 2002 movie Rollerball that was also directed by McTiernan.

pellicanoThis case has quite a history. The 59-year-old director pleaded guilty in 2006 to lying to FBI agents about paying Pellicano $50,000 to wiretap Roven’s phone. Fischer sentenced McTiernan in 2007 to 4 months in prison after denying his motion to withdraw his guilty plea. But the U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco in 2008 said McTiernan should get a new hearing on whether he could withdraw his plea. So last year he was allowed to withdraw his guilty plea because his previous lawyer hadn’t told him he could have tried to suppress the incriminating recording as evidence. Pellicano, the one-time Hollywood private eye, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for running a criminal enterprise.

Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.