Die Hard Director John McTiernan Heading to Prison

By Stephen M. Silverman

01/16/2013 at 05:00 PM EST

This is a case for John McClane.

Die Hard director John McTiernan is headed to the slammer for a year, having lost his appeal to have his 2010 prison sentence overturned for lying to the FBI in a wiretapping case, says the Hollywood Reporter.

Like a scene out of a crime movie, the filmmaker, 62, pleaded guilty to hiring celebrity private investigator Anthony Pellicano to wiretap film producer Chuck Roven after they both worked on the movie Rollerball.

McTiernan had remained free on bail while he appealed the conviction (which was about lying, not wiretapping) to the U.S. Supreme Court. The highest court in the land has now declined to review the case.



This means a judge is expected to order McTiernan – besides the Die Hard franchise starring Bruce Willis, his other credits include The Hunt for Red October and Predator – to start serving his time and pay a fine of $100,000.

McTiernan is also to be on supervised release for three years after serving his prison time. His lawyer has declined comment, says the Reporter.

All told, former P.I. Pellicano – currently serving a 15-year sentence for racketeering, conspiracy and wiretapping – was convicted of 78 crimes related to obtaining the personal records of a number of Hollywood stars, among them Sylvester Stallone.