STEVEN SPIELBERG - GEFFEN, REDSTONE SQUARE OFF

Seeming to confirm that he and Steven Spielberg will cut off relations with Viacom and its Paramount and DreamWorks studios when their contracts expire next year, David Geffen has launched a broadside at Sumner Redstone in an interview set to appear in Vanity Fair. "I don't care for Sumner's behavior," Geffen said in the interview, "and I have that in common with a great many people in the entertainment business. I don't like the way he treats people. Most of all, nobody is going to treat me or my partner [Steven Spielberg] in that manner and stay in business with us. Nobody." Speaking "for background," one Redstone adviser told the magazine that the reason for Geffen's remarks is that "next year Paramount will have the hot hand. DreamWorks won't. Look at the slate [of planned movies]. Everything good is coming from Paramount. The DreamWorks films don't look anywhere near as good. So if you're Geffen and you want to negotiate, you want to do it now. He's looking for any leverage he can find on Sumner." Geffen denied that he was looking for such negotiating leverage. "I chose to sell this company to Paramount. It has turned out to be a poor choice," he said. "Redstone, he is accustomed to bullying people. And I will not be bullied. There is no fight I will run from. I am absolutely unafraid of Sumner Redstone." Nevertheless, the magazine reported that as it was going to press it received a phone call from Geffen, who remarked. "Sumner called up, he apologized to me for anything he said that may have upset me. I apologized for things that may have upset him. And we cleared the air."

06/11/2007