File this one under close encounters of the wrong kind.
Steven Spielberg asked for and received a restraining order last week against a California woman who not only was allegedly stalking the E.T. director, but also claimed the filmmaker implanted a mind-control device inside her brain.
Court papers filed by Spielberg's attorneys and obtained by People.com allege that 47-year-old Diana Louisa Napolis posed "a serious risk of violent confrontation" with the filmmaker, after the woman announced her intention to try and contact Spielberg at a movie premiere.
According to the legal documents, the Spielberg camp says Napolis suffers from a delusional disorder that necessitated the restraining order.
Spielberg's security staff said the woman penned a 13-page manifesto accusing the Oscar winner and wife Kate Capshaw of being members of a "satanic cult" who gathered in their basement lair to spy on Napolis' meet-and-greets with E.T.s. Napolis also reportedly complained that Spielberg put a microchip in her brain called a "soul catcher" designed to control her.
The New York Post reports that Napolis called Spielberg's office announcing plans to go public with her allegations. She also admitted passing out flyers at the September 19 premiere of The Tuxedo in Los Angeles and outside the Latin Grammy Awards stating Spielberg was acting like Big Brother and "monitoring a woman [Napolis] who had a devastating encounter with extraterrestrials."
Included in the court filing was a statement by Spielberg in which he said he viewed Napolis' bizarre behavior as "alarming and threatening."
"I am concerned for my safety and security and for the safety and security of my family and others around me," Spielberg said, adding that "to state the obvious, I am not involved with any form of manipulating Ms. Napolis' mind or body through remote technology or otherwise."
Through her attorneys, Napolis rejected claims that she wanted to hurt the director.
But she didn't convince the court. Considering Napolis had a prior record (a 2001 arrest in San Diego for unlawfully discharging a firearm and an alleged altercation involving another actress), a Los Angeles Superior Court judge agreed that she was a "credible threat" and granted the request of the 55-year-old director. The judge barred Napolis from coming within 150 yards of Spielberg, his family and his offices.
Spielberg is old hand at avoiding wackos. In February, Spielberg obtained a restraining order against 30-year-old Christopher Richard Hahn, who was arrested in January for allegedly sneaking onto the Universal Studios lot hoping to meet the movie mogul in his DreamWorks compound and get discovered as an actor. Instead, he got discovered by security guards and wound up behind bars.
In 1998, a judge sentenced a man named Jonathan Norman to 25 years to life in prison for devising a sick plan to rape the filmmaker and hold his family hostage.
Spielberg's reps refused to comment on this latest incident. When not dealing with crazies, the filmmaker's busy gearing up for the release of his latest flick, the Leonardo DiCaprio-Tom Hanks action-comedy Catch Me If You Can, due out this Christmas.