document.write(getElapsed("20061109T132804Z")); Thu Nov 9, 8:28 AMUPDATED 53 MINUTES AGO
So much for respecting your elders. Or other people's property.
Denise Richards launched a massively unsuccessful offensive against the paparazzi on the Canadian set of her new film Wednesday, hurling two photographers' equipment off her hotel balcony and inadvertently striking an elderly wheelchair-bound woman.
According to Royal Canadian Mounted Police Cpl. Peter Thiessen, the incident took place on the set of Blonde and Blonder, a comedy Richards is starring in alongside Pamela Anderson. The production was taking place at the River Rock Casino Resort in Richmond, just outside Vancouver, where several snap-happy cameramen were chronicling the 35-year-old actress' every candid move.
Thiessen said that Richards objected to the unauthorized paparazzi's invasive presence and approached two of the lensmen.
No doubt putting to use some evasive maneuvers gleaned from her days as a Bond girl, Richards somehow managed to wrangle their laptops away and subsequently hurled the equipment off the balcony of her hotel.
Unfortunately, she apparently failed to clear a path for the computers' destruction down below, as one of the laptops hit an 80-year-old wheelchair-bound woman in the arm.
"She was hit by two laptops and was slightly bruised on one arm," Thiessen told E! Online. "She didn't require hospitalization and she wasn't concerned with filing any criminal charges."
As for the film's production company, Blonde and Blonder rep Howard Blanks was attempting to downplay the incident as much as possible, telling People magazine that the situation was "getting blown way out of proportion."
In fairness, though, little old ladies getting struck by flying laptops aren't exactly de rigueur movie set activities.
As for the film's shoot, all's well that ends...without hospitalization.
The film's production company has agreed to pony up the damages for the computers, as well as, presumably, any subsequent medical attention. Though the cast and crew were "very upset" about the incident, Blanks told People, production resumed on the flick after just an hour break.
Blonde and Blonder, about gorgeous yet clueless friends who get mistaken for mob hitwomen, is due out next May.
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I'm no fan, and I feel bad for the poor old woman, but the equipment was ON HER HOTEL BALCONY!! That is freaking ridiculous! I probably would have lost my temper, too. I mean, it's one thing to photograph celebs with crazy zoom lenses, etc., but to camp out on her personal balcony is completely unacceptable, IMO.
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