Producer Sues Tarantino for Getting Medieval

Lunch punch gets filmmaker sued for $5 mil

By Joal Ryan, Daniel Frankel Nov 15, 1997 2:30 AMTags
It could be the $5 million slap fight.

Bad blood over a book about the making of Natural Born Killers apparently drove filmmaker Quentin Tarantino to "get medieval," in the words of one eyewitness, on a movie producer last month at a West Hollywood Italian eatery, punching (or at least slapping) the man in the face.

Now Don Murphy--a producer on NBK and partner of Jane Hamsher, who called Tarantino a "one-trick pony" in her book Killer Instinct--has sued the Pulp Fiction pugilist for $5 million. Murphy filed a claim in Los Angeles Superior Court Friday that contends Tarantino hit him so hard the band on his wristwatch broke. (They don't wear Timex in the movie business.)

Murphy also says he has been unable to work for the last month because of the pain he suffered, his attorney Martin Barab says.

If the whole October brawl wasn't surreal enough, the literal power lunch, at a restaurant called Ago on trendy Melrose Avenue, was short-circuited only when Miramax Films mogul Harvey Weinstein broke in and brokered a deal between the two men.

Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies were called to Ago, but no arrests were made. ("Whatever problems they had were resolved at the scene," a sergeant said.) Murphy declined to press charges at the time.

After the sparring match, Tarantino sounded almost pleased by his performance.

"I really think I slapped some respect into the guy," the 34-year-old Oscar-winning writer told Daily Variety.

The two shook hands and "agreed not to badmouth each other anymore," Tarantino added--legal stationary not withstanding.