Hollywood– Hollywood gossip columnists and bloggers are buzzing about who may testify in the trial of private eye Anthony Pellicano and what they may reveal about tactics used in movie-industry legal disputes.

A list of 244 names is attached to a jury questionnaire for the trial as “individuals related to this case.” They include actors Sylvester Stallone and Keith Carradine, former Walt Disney Co. president Michael Ovitz, and Paramount Pictures Corp. Chief Executive Officer Brad Grey. The trial begins tomorrow.

Pellicano, 63, was indicted two years ago on charges he tapped the telephones of Hollywood actors, including Stallone and Carradine, and that he bribed police officers to provide him with compromising information from law-enforcement databases that could help his clients in litigation.

“This trial has the potential to give a rare glimpse of the dark underbelly of Hollywood,” said Pierce O’Donnell, an entertainment lawyer whose clients have included Metro-Goldwyn- Mayer Inc. and actress Faye Dunaway. “It can reveal some of the bare-knuckled, no-holds-barred litigation that goes on.”

Two months after the Pellicano indictment in February, 2006, the New York Times reported the private investigator had worked on behalf of Ovitz and Grey. Both have said, through their lawyers, that they didn’t know about the illegal methods Pellicano is accused of using, and neither has been charged in the case.

Thom Mrozek, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles, said the 244 people were “a list of names that could come up in testimony during the trial,” not a witness list. The government will provide a roster of witnesses before jury selection begins in federal court in Los Angeles, Mrozek said.

Deadline Hollywood, a blog by columnist Nikki Finke, who writes for local newspaper the LA Weekly, reported on Feb. 14 that the Pellicano trial isn’t “going to disappoint,” based on who may testify for the government. Fox News reported on Feb. 19 that the trial will be a “hot ticket” even if only half of the names on the list would be called to testify.

“It’s a mixed bag” to call celebrities to testify, said Laurie Levenson, a professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles and a former federal prosecutor. “It spices up the case and it can make the jury pay more attention, but celebrity witnesses aren’t necessarily good witnesses because they can be too focused on themselves.”

It’s unlikely the government will call on Ovitz and Grey to testify against Pellicano because the charges don’t involve them, Levenson said.

“They won’t have anything to say, and they would be very reluctant to testify,” she said.

Ovitz has been subpoenaed, and he doesn’t know whether he will be asked to testify, said his lawyer, Bart Williams. Grey has been informed by the government he might be called to testify, Paramount spokesman Steven Rubenstein said.

Pellicano’s co-defendants are a former Los Angeles police officer, a former telephone company employee, a software developer and a Las Vegas businessman.

A lawyer indicted in the investigation, billionaire Kirk Kerkorian’s attorney Terry Christensen, succeeded in severing his trial from Pellicano and the other defendants. Christensen is accused of paying Pellicano $100,000 in 2002 to wiretap the telephone of the press-shy investor’s ex-wife during a child- support dispute. He pleaded not guilty in February 2006.

A trial memorandum filed by the government on Feb. 28 indicated that prosecutors intend to call the ex-wife of Los Angeles real-estate developer Robert Maguire, hedge-fund manager Adam Sender, and venture capitalist Alec Gores. All three will testify about illegal wiretapping Pellicano did on their behalf, according to the memo.

Gores spokesman Michael Sitrick declined to comment. Sender didn’t know Pellicano would use illegal methods when he hired him, Lawrence Barcella, Sender’s lawyer, said.

The government’s list of people who may come up during trial also includes comedian Garry Shandling, actor Chris Rock, Universal Studios President and Chief Operating Officer Ron Meyer, and “Survivor” producer Mark Burnett.

Also expected to testify, according to prosecutors, is Sandra Will Carradine, who is Keith Carradine’s ex-wife and Pellicano’s ex-girlfriend. She pleaded guilty to lying to investigators about Pellicano’s use of wiretaps, and has been cooperating with the investigation.

In a civil complaint, Carradine has accused his ex-wife of hiring Pellicano to wiretap his telephone during their divorce.

The case is United States v. Anthony Pellicano, CR05-1046, U.S. District Court, Central District of California (Los Angeles).