Director Lee Tamahori Dragged In On Gay-Sex-For-Sale Charge

HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA - "Die Another Day" director Lee Tamahori wasn't filming a "Tootsie" remake, but he was in full "drag" when he was busted for prostitution by an undercover vice cop, officials said yesterday.
The 55-year-old director of thrillers like "The Edge" and "Mulholland Falls" was dolled up in a long black wig, a dress, make up and accessories when he offered to perform oral sex for a fee, said Frank Mateljan, a spokesman for the Los Angeles city attorney's office.
Available reports did not say what price the New Zealand-born filmmaker, who has worked with macho stars including Nick Nolte, Alec Baldwin, Pierce Brosnan and James Gandolfini, requested for the service.
LAPD Officer Jason Lee said the department will not release Tamahori's mug shot due to "department policy."
"The defendant was loitering on the sidewalk in drag and then approached an undercover officer in his car and offered to orally copulate him for money," Mateljan said.
Tamahori, who is free on $2,000 bail, is charged with misdemeanor counts of soliciting and agreeing to engage in an act of prostitution and loitering with the intent to commit prostitution, Mateljan said. He faces up to six months in jail and/or a $1,000 fine if convicted.
Arraignment is scheduled for Feb. 24, but Tamahori does not have to appear in court because it's a misdemeanor case.
His attorney, Mark Geragos, could not be reached for comment yesterday.
The high-powered action-flick director once told an interviewer, "Sex should not be in the movies and it should be in the home. And violence should be in the movies and not in the home." The son of a British mother and a Maori father, Tamahori has also directed television, including an episode of "The Sopranos" in the second season.
Tamahori's arrest occurred on the night of Jan. 8 on Santa Monica Blvd., just blocks from where actor Eddie Murphy picked up a transvestite hooker in May 1997. Murphy was not charged with any crime.
In June 1995, actor Hugh Grant was arrested for soliciting prostitute Divine Brown on nearby Sunset Strip. He got two years' probation, a $1,180 fine and was ordered to take AIDS education classes.
from The Daily News