On the day his latest film, The New World, enters wide release, Colin Farrell's lawyer was in a Los Angeles court to make sure that another one of the actor's projects doesn't.
Yes, Farrell's sex tape saga continued Friday, with a Los Angeles judge setting a July 17 trial date in the Alexander star's lawsuit with his Playmate ex-girlfriend over a videotaped romp she wants to hawk online.
The legal battle dates back to last July, when Farrell filed a lawsuit against Nicole Narain, aka Playboy's Miss January 2002, to block her and two online porn peddlers from releasing the supposedly salacious footage. In his filing, Farrell claimed he willingly made the tape about three years ago, but with the understanding that it was for private viewing only. A judge subsequently granted the actor a temporary restraining order to prevent distribution of the 15-minute video.
Despite the order, the tape was leaked online at DirtyColin.com for several hours Jan. 10, and another site, IDontLikeYouInThatWay.com, posted what it claimed were stills from the tape, before Farrell's camp could shut them down.
Farrell's attorney, Paul Berra, said he was adding the offending sites to the list of defendants in the lawsuit.
And the list could get longer.
Even as court was in session, yet another Website, MaleCelebsUnzipped.com, was advertising the video for download.
Narain and her fellow defendants have insisted that they didn't leak the footage.
There is still a possibility that the two sides could hash out an agreement before the trial date. Superior Court Judge Elihu M. Berle gave lawyers for Farrell and Narain until Apr. 20 to mediate the dispute. A post-mortem hearing on the talks is scheduled for Apr. 27.
Farrell, 29, wasn't in court Friday. The actor, who just finished shooting a big-screen Miami Vice, also recently completed a stint in rehab for exhaustion and an addiction to painkillers.