Wednesday, November 17, 2004

Tom Cruise Phone Conversation Off Limits



Above: A Pre-Urban Tom Cruise emotes


Maverick is litigious; then again, Every now and then say, "What the fuck." The Chicago Sun Times writes:

"Tom Cruise is threatening a tiny Chicago theatrical production with possible legal action for delving into his personal life. The irony? 'Verbatim Verboten' at the Royal George Theater uses staged readings of celebrities' recorded conversations to tweak their obsessions with image control!

"Cruise's lawyer, Charles N. Shepherd, has fired off a cease-and-desist letter to playwright Michael Martin protesting the use of a phone conversation between Cruise and his wife at the time, Nicole Kidman, recorded when the actors' marriage was disintegrating. According to Shepherd, the chat was 'illegally intercepted, neither Mr. Cruise or Ms. Kidman knew they were being recorded, nor did they consent to being recorded.' Shepherd also reminded Martin that the person who recorded the conversation, 'Eric Ford, pleaded guilty to a charge of federal wiretapping.'''

So, what's on the tape? At the time, E! Online wrote:

"'You feel like you're a fly on the wall listening to two people scream, shout and swear at each other,' one of the (people who heard the tape) tells the (The Globe). The woman on the tape complains about not getting flowers; the man complains about the woman missing a romantic hot bath, the article says."

The Chicago Sun Times concludes:

According to 'Verbatim' producer Vicki Quade, even though the transcript comes from 'quite a few published sources,' the production doesn't want to risk a legal battle. "Instead, I think we'll just read the lawyer's letter onstage in place of the transcript. In a way, I think that's even funnier."


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