Jurors hear tales of studio maneuvering

Stories of back-lot feuding, deceitful negotiations and high-strung egos are all part of a drama unfolding in the wood-paneled Los Angeles County Superior Court room of Judge John P. Shook. Names such as Breck Eisner, Tom Cruise, Matthew McConaughey, Christian Bale, Penelope Cruz, Heath Ledger and Jack Black spill from the witness stand.

Testimony resumes today in the trial pitting media mogul Philip Anschutz against bestselling author Clive Cussler. Both sides have spent millions of dollars waging a bitter legal battle.

At issue: Who is responsible for the failure of "Sahara," the 2005 action-adventure film that lost about $105 million? It starred McConaughey and Cruz.

The breach-of-contract case, which began with jury selection in late January, is expected to last at least a month more. Currently on the stand is Karen Baldwin, an executive producer of "Sahara" who has testified for several days.

It was she who recounted that, several years ago, Breck Eisner desperately wanted to direct "Sahara," even though the USC film school graduate had little experience.

Executives at Paramount Pictures, the movie's distributor, balked at putting an untested director in charge of a production budget that grew to $160 million.

But when director Rob Bowman unexpectedly left "Sahara" before filming began, Eisner again raised his hand after directing "Taken," a 2002 television miniseries created by Steven Spielberg.

"I believe Spielberg actually placed a call to Paramount to say, 'You know, Breck Eisner would be great, blah, blah, blah," Baldwin recalled.

Breck Eisner, who got the job, is on a list of witnesses scheduled to testify later in the trial.

Baldwin, a former executive with Anschutz's Crusader Entertainment, dished on the stand about how the stars were chosen and how Cussler created a furor by constantly fiddling with the script.

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On June 17, 2002, Baldwin sent a two-page letter of reassurance to Cussler, who was frustrated over the development of the "Sahara" screenplay based on his Dirk Pitt series.

"I've had you on my mind all day today," Baldwin wrote. "You sounded so down when we spoke

In truth, Baldwin testified, the producers were nowhere close to a workable script.

"We were as far away from getting the movie done at this point as we'd been in a good, long time," she said.