Editor's note: Rachel Abramowitz will be periodically checking in on the trial of Anthony Pellicano -- former private eye to the stars, who faces 79 counts of racketeering, wiretapping, conspiracy and other federal charges -- and writing about what the case means to Hollywood.
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Each day the trial goes on, it becomes clearer that Anthony Pellicano was Hollywood's favorite rage-aholic enabler. Got a grudge? Call Pellicano. Want to destroy a former wife? Call Pellicano. Feeling hostile? Call Pellicano.
Last week the government provided a textbook example on how it all allegedly worked. A mogul in career distress becomes convinced that his enemies are seeding negative stories about him in the press. In a tantrum of paranoia, he calls in attack dog Pellicano, who, prosecutors say, proceeds to destroy the life of the journalist, who was just doing her job, writing about a public figure. All of Hollywood was titillated, because the mogul in question was Michael Ovitz, the town's favorite bogeyman, onetime super agent. Back in 2002, Ovitz was reeling from his embarrassing tenure as the president of Disney and trying to save his fledging management-production-TV company, Artists Management Group. In public perception, he was rapidly becoming the Wizard of Oz -- all bluster and no beef. Ovitz didn't like being mocked by his competitors, as he explained on the stand last Wednesday.
Dressed in a blue suit and glasses, Ovitz was the very portrait of an upstanding businessman. The problem was with what he actually said. According to his testimony, Ovitz himself had nothing to do with the implosions of his business. It was a cruel and untrue whispering campaign, and ultimately press stories caused the roof to cave in and made investors wary about riding to the rescue of his enterprise or, alternatively, just buying the company.
"It was an extraordinarily difficult time for the company and for me. . . . We were in a consistent state of negative press . . . filled with innuendo that we were in ruins which wasn't true," he testified, adding that the stories were all "wildly embarrassing to me and my family."
"All I wanted," he continued plaintively, "was a graceful exit from the business and to leave my people with jobs." It sounds like a noble enough agenda, which is why he felt compelled to call Anthony Pellicano on April 11, 2002, right after the New York Times published a story that comedian Robin Williams had fired Ovitz's firm, AMG.
