Friends stand by embattled director Lee Tamahori

Friends and colleagues of Once Were Warriors director Lee Tamahori were standing by the Kiwi film-maker yesterday as details of his private life emerged following his arrest on prostitution charges - reports Stuff.

It was revealed on Friday the 55-year-old director, dressed in a black wig and off-the-shoulder dress, had allegedly approached an undercover police officer on Los Angeles' Santa Monica Boulevard, offering sex in return for cash.

Yesterday, Sunday newspapers reported that Tamahori was a frequent visitor to fetish clubs with girlfriend Sasha Turjak.

However, industry colleagues of Tamahori, who also directed the 2002 James Bond film Die Another Day, told The Press the scandal should not be allowed to detract from his career.

Dan Salmon, the president of the Screen Directors' Guild of New Zealand (SDGNZ), said: "I don't think it has anything to do with what he does professionally."

He declined to comment on Tamahori's private life, on the grounds the SDGNZ was "a professional organisation".

Brian Kassler of the Auckland-based film company Flying Fish – of which Tamahori is a director – also declined to comment.

He said he had not heard from Tamahori since details of the alleged incident on January 8 became public.

Neighbours at Tolaga Bay, north of Gisborne, where Tamahori has a house, were also reluctant to talk to the media, telling reporters his private life was "his own business".

The director's sister, Renaye Tamahori, and his father, Philip Tamahori, also declined to comment.

An unnamed friend, who described Tamahori as a "consummate professional", told one Sunday newspaper it was an "open secret" that he was a regular visitor to London fetish clubs.

"During the filming of Die Another Day in London, Lee used to dress up in latex and got to fetish clubs," it quoted the friend as saying. The source said Tamahori "definitely liked the alternative side of sex with black tight latex costumes, uniforms and so", but never let his private life affect his work.

A Los Angeles police media spokesman said that Tamahori could lose his ability to work in the United States, if convicted, and face penalties of up to a year in jail and a maximum fine of $US5000 ($NZ7391).

The spokesman said Tamahori, who is being represented by celebrity lawyer Mark Geragos, who also defended singer Michael Jackson on child-sex charges and actress Winona Ryder on shoplifting charges, had been charged with agreeing to engage in an act of prostitution and unlawfully loitering on Santa Monica Boulevard.

Tamahori, who was believed to be living in LA with a teenage son and Turjak, gained notice for directing the 1994 drama Once Were Warriors. His James Bond movie earned $US430 million, but his action film xXx: State of the Union bombed at the box office last year.

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