The Verdicts Are In : ‘McMartin Trial’ Premiere a Chance to Judge Movie--and Media

The Scene: Tuesday’s premiere of HBO’s “Indictment: The McMartin Trial” at the Directors Guild. The movie represents at least one first--a Hollywood movie costing less than the notorious court case it portrays. (The bills came in at $8 million and $15 million respectively.)

Who Was There: The film’s stars, James Woods, Henry Thomas, Shirley Knight and Lolita Davidovich; screenwriters Abby and Myra Mann, producer Diana Pokorny, and director Mick Jackson. Among the 700 guests were Rip Torn, Milos Forman, Dana Delany, Maximilian Schell, Nick Reed, Janet Yang, Taylor Negron, Rick and Kathy Hilton, and Esai Morales.

The Viewpoint: The defendants were terribly wronged according to the filmmakers’ vision of the trial. “We definitely saw it as a witch hunt,” said HBO Vice President Richard Waltzer. “It’s not so much about innocence or guilt as the process gone awry. It’s fair to say these people were tried in the press.”

Quoted: Executive producer Oliver Stone said what drew him to the project was “the power of malice, the power to destroy reputation. The madness that can grow out of rumor and, if it finds the right wind, can become a forest fire. These people went through hell. It can happen to anybody.”

Upside: It gives a fresh look at the hysteria that surrounded the McMartin case.

Downside: Provides Stone with an opportunity to drum away at the media.

Noted: One screenwriter said the actor who portrayed former Dist. Atty. Ira Reiner “looked like a cross between a ‘Star Trek’ Vulcan and Leonid Brezhnev.”

Overheard: “How’s the movie?” asked a late-arriving guest. “You should have seen the Laker game, it was even better.”

Dress Mode: Much evidence of a “grunge goes to the Beverly Center” fashion trend--black leather motorcycle jacket worn with plaid mini-skirt, black tights and chunky loafers. Long blond hair parted down the middle is optional.

Fashion Standout: Woods, fresh from the set of Stone’s “Nixon” where he plays White House chief of staff H.R. Haldeman complete with a preternaturally alert crew-cut. “Now I know what women go through when they wear low-cut dresses,” said the actor.

“People come up to me and stare at my hair. I tell them, ‘Go ahead, touch it. Get it out of your system.’ Then we can talk.”