Actor Files Suit to Block Sex Tape

Partners beware. Although Paris Hilton’s career was launched by an illicit sex tape, hunky Irish bad boy Colin Farrell is trying to squash a video of himself performing various sex acts with a former girlfriend.

On Monday, Farrell, the 29-year-old star of such films as “Alexander” and “Minority Report,” sued former girlfriend Nicole Narain in Los Angeles Superior Court in an attempt to halt the distribution of a sex tape made 2 1/2 years ago and “the intimate matters depicted on the videotape.”

According to Farrell’s complaint, the 15-minute video was made by Farrell and Narain, a model, actress and Playboy’s Miss January 2002, for their sole personal enjoyment. They agreed to jointly own the tape, and to never release it publicly or commercially.

And then they broke up.

The tape surfaced as an issue in mid-July, when Farrell’s talent agent was contacted by David Hans Schmidt, who said he was working with the 31-year-old Narain, and Paul Nash, according to the suit. Nash is described as the marketing director of the Internet Commerce Group, which owns pornographic websites, including one that features a prominent photo of Farrell on its home page.

Schmidt outlined several ways that he intended to “commercially exploit” the tape showing the couple “in various acts of copulation,” the suit contends, and proposed a meeting to discuss its “commercialization” potential.

The complaint also alleges that the trio have contacted various members of the media to discuss the tape and their efforts to sell it. Indeed, its existence has been rumored and discussed on the Internet blogosphere in recent days.

Farrell is seeking unspecified damages and a permanent injunction against distribution of the tape, and that all copies be returned to him. The suit, in part, argues that his career and public image would be irreparably damaged.

Attorneys for Farrell did not return calls by press time. Efforts to reach Narain, Nash and Schmidt were unsuccessful.

Farrell has a series of films in various stages of production, among them “Miami Vice,” in which he co-stars with Jamie Foxx; “The New World,” a period drama about 17th century America starring Farrell as explorer John Smith; and “Ask the Dust,” based on the Depression- era novel.

Narain’s credits include a string of Playboy videos, including “Playboy: Playmates in Bed,” and a recent episode of HBO’s Hollywood insider comedy “Entourage.”