'Great Wall of Lawyers' Planned as Michael Ovitz Faces CAA Wrath
Rumblings from the inner sanctum of the CAA Death Star hint that co-pilots Kevin Huvane and Bryan Lourd are taking an early lunch today to plot an legal attack of wonderfully (if predictably) bloodthirsty ferocity. Their target: Who else? CAA emperor emeritus Michael Ovitz, whose misadventures with Anthony Pellicano upon returning to the agent game almost 10 years ago reportedly involved wiretapping the old joint for a not-so-subtle stab at talent poaching:
Pellicano himself fed speculation that the CAA partners suspected the shamus of bugging their offices last week when Huvane and Lourd testified at his trial. Acting as his own lawyer, Pellicano asked Huvane if he knew a private investigator named Richard Di Sabatino.
The judge said Huvane didn't have to answer the question. But Di Sabatino is known to specialize in "electronic countermeasures" - detecting evesdropping devices - a service he reportedly provided Nicole Kidman during her divorce from Tom Cruise. Di Sabatino declined comment.
Pellicano's spectacular self-destruction — often accompanied by these gleeful grabs at anyone he can take down with him — are of course their own galactic phenomena; as such, a CAA rep dutifully denied reports that Lourd and Huvane are planning a lawsuit against Ovitz. Still, a well-placed source likes the duo's chances for "invasion of privacy and tortuous interference of business opportunity" if/when Pellicano gets sent away, as if they need an anonymous lawyer to excuse their urge to fire a hot, colorful conflagration into Ovitz's living room. The Death Star waits for no verdict.
[Photo Credit: Getty]