Fatal attraction: DiCaprio warns struggle with 'stalkerazzi' could end in death
By John Hiscock in Los Angeles
22 November 2004
Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake could be facing criminal charges in Los Angeles after police were called to investigate the latest incident in the increasingly violent clashes between stars and packs of photographers who shadow them, known as the "Stalkerazzi".
Detectives will present a case to prosecutors against Diaz, 31, currently the highest paid actress in the world, and her partner, the pop star Timberlake, following a fight with photographers outside a Hollywood hotel.
Celebrities complain that they are being overwhelmed by large groups of photographers who will do virtually anything to get a picture of them. Yesterday the film star Leonardo DiCaprio warned that someone could get killed unless a law is introduced to rein in the paparazzi.
With candid photographs of stars fetching huge amounts of money from the growing number of glossy celebrity magazines, competition is fierce and photographers are resorting to ever more aggressive tactics.
DiCaprio, who stars as Howard Hughes in Martin Scorsese's film biography, The Aviator, and is dating the supermodel Giselle Bündchen, is one of the photographers' prime targets. "Paparazzi are horrible people," he said yesterday. "I hate a lot of them to death and I wish they wouldn't follow me around and make my life miserable, but I have to find a way to deal with it until there's a law. I hope there is for my sake and the sake of many others because there may be an accident someday and we may lose somebody."
The photographers claim they are in the firing line and easy meat for any celebrity who wants to attack them without fear of the consequences.
Diaz and Timberlake's altercation occurred as photographers tried to take pictures of the couple near the Chateau Marmont hotel on Sunset Boulevard. Saul Lazo and Jose Gonzalez allege they were attacked by Diaz, who screamed and cursed at them. They told police that Diaz snatched Lazo's camera and tried to take the other one before Gonzalez fled.
Representatives for Diaz and Timberlake said they were "ambushed" and that they acted in self defence. The Los Angeles police captain Michael Dowling said: "We put a case together and now it's out of our hands." The city's district attorney's office will decide what charges, if any, will be pursued against Diaz and Timberlake, said a spokeswoman, Jane Robison.
Prince Harry also made headlines recently when he struck out against photographers who surrounded him as he left a West End nightclub, and Gwyneth Paltrow announced she was planning to press charges against paparazzi who follow her and her husband, the Coldplay singer Chris Martin, around London. "I think the tabloid media goes too far sometimes," Ms Robison said. "I think that people are entitled to a private life and private moments with their families."
Some photographers believe the recent film Paparazzi may have encouraged celebrities to go on the attack. Produced by Mel Gibson, who is famously intolerant of photographers, the film focuses on an action film star who is hounded by four villainous paparazzi and, after they nearly kill his family, resolves to exact bloody revenge.
Frank Griffin, one of the leading Los Angeles paparazzo and co-founder of the celebrity photography firm Bauer-Griffin, believes the film was "made out of spite". He said: "It's hypocritical because although they say photographers are the scum of the earth, celebrities love what we do for them."
After Arnold Schwarzenegger was harassed by two British photographers, who were jailed, and after George Clooney and Tom Cruise led a barrage of anti-paparazzi criticism, a law was introduced in California in 1999 making it illegal for photographers to intrude on private property for their pictures. The effect was to swell the hordes of photographers waiting outside anywhere where celebrities are known to frequent.
Some scuffles have resulted in injuries. The rock star Tommy Lee, the then-husband of the Baywatch star Pamela Anderson, fought with a photographer who suffered a fractured pelvis
At least one photographer believes the celebrities are partly to blame. "These people earn lots of money. They are very promiscuous with their love affairs. That leads to these pictures being taken," said Alan Zanger, who used to work for UPI until becoming a freelance celebrity photographer. "When the photographers came to take their [Diaz and Timberlake] picture, they should have posed for a picture and then went to their car, and that would have been the end of it," he said.
