Price to be Director Peter Bogdanovich's assistant = $100,000

Director Peter Bogdanovich

MARCH 16, 2007

A Canadian businessman claims that he paid Peter Bogdanovich $100,000 to secure a job for his son, but that the position never materialized and the movie director has pocketed the money.

Businessman Iaroslav Jivov alleges that Bogdanovich, 67, and his business manager, William Peiffer, agreed in 2005 to give Jivov's son Matt a job as Bogdanovich's assistant on the director's next film.

According to a lawsuit filed by the Jivovs, in exchange for the $100,000, Bogdanovich, who was to "serve as mentor to Matt and train him for the assistant position and for future movie-making."

The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in New York, alleges that the employment deal was struck during a January 2005 meeting with Peiffer and Bogdanovich, who has directed films like "The Last Picture Show" and "Paper Moon," and has appeared recently as a psychiatrist on "The Sopranos."

As first reported by The Hollywood Reporter, the lawsuit charges that "as soon as the sum of $100,000 was wired to an account identified by Peiffer, the mentoring program between Bogdanovich and Matt would commence."

However, the complaint contends, the assistant's job never materialized, with Peiffer claiming that script changes and financing problems were delaying production.