Actor and film/stage director Nick Cassavetes has told a Superior Court judge in Santa Barbara that he cannot turn over interview notes for his 2006 movie, Alpha Dog,  to a prosecutor. According to the Associated Press, the director claimed he no longer has them. Alpha Dog, starring Bruce Willis and Justin Timberlake, was based on the 2000 kidnapping and murder of a San Fernando Valley youth allegedly planned by Jesse James Hollywood, who was a fugitive when the film was made. He was subsequently captured in Brazil and faces a capital-offense murder trial next month.

Not an actor: Jesse James Hollywood

Cassavetes, who interviewed some of the figures affected by the crime, said he turned over all his notes, including those pertaining to the interviews, to the film's production company. According to Internet Film Database, this was Sidney Kimmel Entertainment (Synecdoche, New York, The Kite Runner). He added that the company has probably destroyed them. Ironically, in 2006 some eyebrows were raised when Santa Barbara Deputy District Attorney Rob Zonen turned over his entire case file to Cassavetes to assist with the film project. At that time Hollywood's attorney threatened to file suit preventing distribution of Cassavetes' film.

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