Hollywood movie mogul Steven Spielberg has won a restraining order after a close encounter with an alleged stalker who claimed that the director planted a mind-control device in her brain. The maker of out-of-this-world films, including ”ET: The Extra Terrestrial” was granted the order against 47-year-old Diana Napolis on Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court, court documents showed.
Spielberg’s security team fear Napolis suffers from a delusional disorder and poses ”a serious risk of violent confrontation” filmmaker after she warned them she intended to approach the film maker at a movie premiere.
Napolis authored a tract in which she claimed that Spielberg and his actress wife Kate Capshaw were members of a ”satanic cult” that had implanted a microchip in her brain called a ”soul catcher” that was controlling her.
She allegedly believed the cult was operating out of Spielberg’s basement, court documents seen by media showed. The 55-year-old director whose most recent move was the space age thriller ”Minority Report” with Tom Cruise, described Napolis’ actions as ”alarming and threatening,” the documents revealed.
”I am concerned for my safety and security and for the safety and security of my family and others around me,” he said. The makers of hits such as ”Jaws” and ”Raiders of the Lost Ark” explicitly denied controlling he woman’s mind.
”To state the obvious, I am not involved with any form of manipulating Ms. Napolis’s mind or body through remote technology or otherwise,” he said in a written statement to the court.
The New York Post said that Napolis called Spielberg’s office announcing plans to go public with her allegations. The paper also said that Napolis also admitted passing out flyers at the September 19 premiere of ”The Tuxedo” in Los Angeles as well as outside the Latin Grammys a day earlier accusing Spielberg of acting like ”Big Brother.”
Napolis’ lawyers rejected claims that she wanted to hurt the director. But the judge granted the movie maker a restraining order barring Napolis from coming within 150 metres of Spielberg, his family and his offices, noting that Napolis posed a ”credible threat.”
Billionaire Spielberg is no stranger to stalkers, having won in February a restraining order against a man who was arrested after apparently breaking into the Universal Studios lot to get into Spielberg’s Dreamworks’ offices.
Christopher Hahn (30) attempted to break into his office in a bid to meet the famous director in the hope of being discovered as an actor, the court heard. Four years ago, a 25-year-old man was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for allegedly devising a sick plan to rape the filmmaker and hold his family hostage. – Sapa-AFP